Medical cannabis is at odds with adult-use cannabis industries in most states where recreational cannabis is legal. This is also the case for New Jersey, where its medical cannabis program patient numbers have decreased significantly.

According to a recent report published by the New Jersey Monitor, patients believe that the medical program isn’t being maintained. The news outlet spoke with Michael Wiehl, a local patient, about his concerns. “It’s like they’re not even faking an effort anymore, like feigning interest in saving the program. It just seems like there’s so much more they can do, and I don’t understand why they stopped caring about the medical program,” Wiehl said. “They just did.”

New Jersey’s medical cannabis program (established by the law also called the Jake Honig Compassionate Use Medical Cannabis Act) went into effect in January 2010, and later adult-use cannabis sales began in April 2022. Data reported on April 15 shows that there are roughly 80,000 medical cannabis patients in New Jersey, although at its peak, the state had more than 129,000 registered patients as of May 2022.

Medical cannabis sales have also decreased in recent years as well. Once at a height of $226 million brought in in 2022, 2023 numbers show that the state only collected $124 million. Adult-use sales on the other hand have continued to rise, with 2023 numbers showing $675 million.

The New Jersey Monitor stated that medical cannabis patients have access to extended dispensary operating hours, reserved parking, medical-only sales, are exempt from some taxes, and can purchase more cannabis products.

Coalition for Medical Marijuana New Jersey director Ken Wolski explained that medical cannabis needs to be a “very real part of health care in New Jersey” in order to keep it operating.

Leaders of the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission (NJ-CRC), such as executive director Jeff Brown, have said that they’re looking into a course of action to support its medical cannabis program with “an unwavering commitment to patient access.” This included a move to reduce medical cannabis card fees from $200 to $10, and giving patients a digital card for free.

However, the CRC has stated that the reason for the decrease in medical cannabis patient enrollment is because patients must sacrifice paying for medical cannabis in lieu of the cost for higher priced doctor appointments. “Despite what the NJ-CRC has done so far—eliminating registration fee and requiring Alternative Treatment Center to preserve priority access for patients—patients are seemingly leaving the program because they cannot afford the fees they are being charged by some doctors,” Brown explained.

State law requires that doctors certify patients who qualify for medical cannabis. This includes patients suffering from conditions such as epilepsy, post-traumatic stress disorder, glaucoma, cancer, anxiety, chronic pain, opioid use disorder, and more. There are approximately 1,500 doctors who are allowed to certify patients, but many of them are not taking new patients at this time.

During the pandemic, legislation was passed to enable telehealth renewal for medical cannabis patients. This costs between $100-$150, and $150-$200 for a physical visit. Doctors are permitted to require patients to renew this fee anywhere between every 90 days or up to once a year. “We hear from [patients] that the significant obstacles they are facing are centered around costs that are outside the purview of the NJ-CRC: cost associated with the fees charged by doctors to provide authorization forms, and the cost of cannabis and cannabis products,” Brown added.

Legislators have attempted to pass bills that would have extended insurance to cover medical cannabis costs such as this, but none have been passed. Most recently, Assembly Bill 898 (introduced by Rep. Verlina Reynolds-Jackson in January 2024) would “subsidize purchase price of medical cannabis for registered qualifying patients enrolled in Medicaid or NJ Family Care programs.”

Wiehl also told the New Jersey Monitor that legislators should introduce a bill to help cover bills related to doctor’s visits, or expand the number of doctors who can certify patients for medical cannabis. He stated that he spends $15,000 annually on medical cannabis for himself, and would like to see legislation help patients avoid such high prices. “$1,200 a month and that’s on the cheap side. This is a lot to ask someone to pay for their medicine. If it could get covered by insurance, that’d be great, but if the medical program goes away, that’s never going to happen,” Wiehl said.

Unlike other states with medical and adult-use cannabis programs, New Jersey does not permit home cultivation. Wolski and Wiehl told the news outlet that changing the law to make growing legal could potentially lead to an increase in patients. Wiehl added that if specific products were limited to medical-only patients, such as high dose edibles or THC beverages, it could offer more incentive to keep people applying for medical cards.

Wiehl added that while the CRC has done its job well, he believes that the program might “wither away and die” if nothing changes. The state is home to 73 adult-use dispensaries and only 52 medical cannabis dispensaries, which forces patients to end their cardholding status and just become adult-use consumers. “[The CRC] let everyone come in and open up all these rec shops without forcing them into the medical side,” Wiehl said. “You let all this happen, you didn’t do anything to stop it, and now we’re here. At this point, let’s just wrap it up and move everything over to the recreational side. It’s backwards, and it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.”

Brown has confirmed that the CRC isn’t going to just abandon patients, and that a current review is being conducted. “We are reviewing the medicinal cannabis rules and looking for ways we can better serve patients within the purview of Jake Honig Law,” Brown said. “We believe in the capacity of cannabis in medical treatment—and Jake Honig’s Law guarantees access for patients in New Jersey.”

The post Medical Cannabis Program on the Decline in New Jersey first appeared on High Times.

The post Medical Cannabis Program on the Decline in New Jersey appeared first on Paradise Found.

On April 26, multi-state cannabis operator MedMen announced that it has filed for bankruptcy with the Canadian Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, as of April 24. Recorded liabilities include approximately $561 million CAD, or $411 million USD.

MedMen’s bankruptcy trustee B. Riley Farber Inc. was appointed to represent the company and manage outstanding business obligations (debt, assets, etc.). Its California-based subsidiary, MM CAN USA, Inc., entered receivership by the Los Angeles Superior Court on April 23, and an appointed receiver through “Santa Monica Division” to “to effectuate an orderly dissolution and liquidation of its California based assets.”

Amit Pandey, MedMen Chief Financial Officer, resigned on February 13, but all other MedMen directors resigned prior to the announcement of bankruptcy proceedings.

In a press release, MedMen wrote that receivership proceedings will also be held in other states where MedMen operated. “It is contemplated that ancillary receivership proceedings will be sought in those U.S. states where MM CAN USA, Inc. controls or owns assets,” MedMen stated. “As a result of such receivership proceedings, the operations and assets of MedMen’s subsidiaries will be dissolved or liquidated pursuant to applicable laws in the United States.” Prior to bankruptcy MedMen had operations in California, Illinois, New York, Nevada, and Massachusetts.

A statement prepared for the press release also briefly speaks about why bankruptcy was pursued. “The difficult decision to shut down operations and commence the Bankruptcy Proceedings and Receivership Proceedings was made after careful consideration of the current financial condition of the Company and its subsidiaries, their inability to pay their liabilities as they become due and the anticipated enforcement actions of secured creditors,” MedMen wrote. “After careful consideration of these factors and in the absence of other available alternatives, the board of directors of the Company determined that it was in the best interests of the Company to proceed with the commencement of the Bankruptcy Proceedings and Receivership Proceedings.”

Fortune spoke with industry analyst Alan Brochstein about the collapse of this once massive and successful company. “MedMen has been ‘DeadMen’ to most investors for a long time,” Brochstein said to Fortune. “The world should have seen this coming, but not everybody did.” Brochstein shared that by the time that 2020 rolled around, MedMen was already deep in debt.

MedMen was founded in 2010 by Andrew Modlin and Adam Bierman. The brand later went public in 2018 for $3 a share. At its height MedMen was valued at $3 billion, and was often compared to an Apple store because of its clean and crisp design aesthetic in dispensaries.

In March 2018, MedMen partnered with Cronos Group (a Canadian-based cultivator) to begin selling MedMen products in Canada. “We want to change the perception of cannabis worldwide, and bring it to the mainstream,” said Mike Gorenstein, Cronos Group CEO. “It was really clear MedMen offered, by far, the best retail experience. We wanted to make sure we could bring that to Canada.”

Daniel Yi, MedMen’s spokesperson, spoke about the historic move at the time. “I think this is a milestone for the industry,” Yi said. “You have an American and Canadian company with track records and resources to execute this venture—a meeting of giants. This speaks to the larger movement in mainstreaming marijuana and it shows that it is a global movement.”

Going public launched the brand into numerous deals and partnerships to continue growth.

In March 2018, MedMen opened its dispensary in New York. In June, it was among the first dispensaries to open in California after adult-use licenses were approved.

In August 2018, it obtained an exclusive licensing agreement with the Woodstock Cannabis Company. In that same month, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa joined the MedMen Board to provide expertise as a former politician. In November 2018, MedMen attempted to file a trademark application for the word “cannabis” (the trademark application was abandoned in August 2019).

MedMen was involved in a class action lawsuit in late 2018 and was accused of committing multiple labor violations, which was just the first of various lawsuits involving the company. Another lawsuit in 2019 targeted MedMen for a wrongful termination. In 2022, additional litigation accused MedMen of owing $950,960.02 in unpaid rent in New York.

MedMen’s stock also dropped for most of 2019, as it paid high taxes as a legal cannabis business but had trouble competing with illegal sales. The company initiated the purchase of PharmaCann, but announced that it would be backing out in fall 2019. “The underperformance has made it increasingly more critical to allocate capital efficiently, given the current industry headwinds,” MedMen wrote in a press release.

However, the 2020 pandemic led to a major increase in sales as countless people lost their jobs, which helped MedMen and other cannabis business owners survive through the year.

The start of January 2024 signaled trouble for MedMen when its stock price hit zero on the Canadian Stock Exchange. By March, all MedMen stores closed except one location in San Diego and another near Los Angeles International Airport.

The post MedMen Files for Bankruptcy first appeared on High Times.

The post MedMen Files for Bankruptcy appeared first on Paradise Found.

The number of legal cannabis retailers has exploded in North America the last decade, but that hasn’t resulted in easier access for kids. 

That is the takeaway from newly published survey data that examined perceptions of cannabis among youth in Canada.

“Very little research has examined how perceptions of cannabis access among underage youth in Canada have changed since cannabis was legalized and since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. As such, this paper examines the effect of the early and ongoing stages of the COVID-19 pandemic period on youth perceptions of cannabis access over time since the onset of the Cannabis Act in 2018 in a large sample of Canadian youth,” the researchers wrote in the introduction of the study, which was published this month in Archives of Public Health.

The authors of the study said that they “used both repeat cross-sectional data [T1 (n = 38,890), T2 (n = 24,109), and T3 (n = 22,795)] to examine overall trends in perceptions of cannabis access, and sequential cohort longitudinal data [n = 4,677 students linked from T1 to T3] to examine the differential changes in perceptions of cannabis access among students over time.”

“In the cross-sectional sample, the frequency of students reporting that cannabis was easy to access decreased by 26.7% from T1 (51.0%) to T3 (37.4%), although respondents who have used cannabis were more likely to report access was easy. In the longitudinal sample, perceptions of cannabis access being easy increased over time, especially among cannabis users. Perceived ease of access appears to have been slightly impeded during the initial pandemic period but rebounded during the ongoing pandemic period,” they wrote in their summary of the results.

In conclusion, the researchers said that although “the prevalence of youth reporting that cannabis is easy to access has declined since legalization and throughout the early and ongoing pandemic periods, a substantial number of underage youth continue to report that cannabis is easy to access,” which they said suggests “that there is an ongoing need for continued cannabis control efforts to address this issue.”

“While there has been a growing number of studies focused on examining changes in cannabis use among Canadian youth since the onset of the Cannabis Act, and more recently since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, there appears to be a paucity of research dedicated to examining changes in youth perceptions of cannabis availability over the same period of time. In response, this study provides unique and novel evidence of how youth perceptions of cannabis access have changed since the onset of the Cannabis Act,” they said in their conclusion, as quoted by NORML, “Our data suggest that in our large samples of youth, perceptions of cannabis access as being easy has declined in prevalence since legalization and through the early and ongoing pandemic response period.”

The Cannabis Act in 2018 made Canada just the second country to legalize marijuana, following Uruguay, which legalized pot in 2013.

In the United States, legalization is a phenomenon that exists on the state and local level, as cannabis remains prohibited under federal law. 

But in states where adult-use cannabis has been made legal, there has been a similar trend as the one identified in the Canadian study.

A study last year found that recreational cannabis laws were not associated with a change in perception among marijuana among youth.

In the study, which was published in the journal Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research, the researchers “aimed to discover whether children in states with [recreational cannabis laws] had decreased perception of risk from cannabis compared with children in states with illicit cannabis,” noting that as “more states pass recreational cannabis laws (RCLs) for adults, there is concern that increasing (and state-sanctioned) cannabis acceptance will result in a reduced perception of risk of harm from cannabis among children.”

The researchers said they “analyzed data from the multisite multistate Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development Study to determine how the perception of cannabis harm among children changes over time in states with and without [recreational cannabis laws].” 

“Using multilevel modeling, we assessed survey responses from children longitudinally across 3 years, adjusting for state-, family-, and participant-level clustering and child-level factors, including demographics (sex, race, and socioeconomic status), religiosity, and trait impulsivity,” they said in their explanation of the methodology. 

The researchers said that there “was no significant main effect of state [recreational cannabis laws] on perceived risk of cannabis use, and no differences in change over time by state [recreational cannabis laws], even after controlling for demographic factors and other risk (e.g., impulsivity) and protective (e.g., religiosity) factors.” 

“This analysis indicates that state-level [recreational cannabis laws] are not associated with differential perception of cannabis risk among children, even after controlling for demographics, trait impulsivity, and religiosity,” they said. “Future studies could assess how perception of risk from cannabis changes as children and adolescents continue to mature in states with and without [recreational cannabis laws].”

The post Despite Widespread Legalization, Fewer Young People Find it ‘Easy’ To Get Pot appeared first on High Times.

The post Despite Widespread Legalization, Fewer Young People Find it ‘Easy’ To Get Pot appeared first on Paradise Found.

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. 

The post Survey Shows Post-Pandemic Teen Cannabis Use Has Not Surpassed Pre-COVID Levels appeared first on High Times.

The post Survey Shows Post-Pandemic Teen Cannabis Use Has Not Surpassed Pre-COVID Levels appeared first on Paradise Found.

The Colorado Department of Revenue (DOR) released a monthly cannabis sales report for August, the latest month available, showing that adult-use and medical cannabis sales surpassed $15 billion.

While the overall picture looks good, sales are actually down during the past few years since peaking during the pandemic, and the downward trend worries some analysts.

The data shows Colorado adult-use and medical cannabis sales reached a total of $15,028,995,376. Since 2016, the state has sold $1-2 billion in cannabis each year. But because of oversupply issues ultimately leading to lower prices, Colorado sales are expected to be lower in 2023 than prior years.

The DOR’s Marijuana Sales Reports summarize total sales made by medical and retail cannabis stores monthly by county. The Marijuana Sales Report has monthly total sales for the state, and the Marijuana Sales by County Report shows monthly sales by medical and adult-use cannabis stores by county.

Adult-use cannabis sales launched in Colorado in January 2014. 

Sales are still up compared to when the market launched in 2014, but has fallen precipitously since its peak during the pandemic.

The Colorado cannabis market sold almost $2.2 billion in 2020 and more than $2.2 billion in 2021, as many residents  were forced to quarantine at home, and government stimulus checks provided people with some extra cash.

That’s because the state’s dispensaries are struggling amid an economic downturn.

Sales of both medical and adult-use cannabis in Colorado plummeted in June 2022—marking a downward trend that extends to today.

Unless cannabis sales pick up in Q3 of 2023, full-year cannabis sales could be down from 2022, when Colorado cannabis companies sold $1.7 billion in cannabis, matching sales in 2019. As of the end of August, year-to-date sales tallied in at just over $1 billion.

Cannabis Sales in Denver, the State’s Largest Market

In Colorado’s largest city and capital, and the corresponding county, the drop in sales is acute. A July report from the City and County of Denver shows a 22% decline in annual cannabis sales revenue from 2021 to 2022, the largest annual drop since legalization launched.

Consumers who are strapped for cash are buying fewer expensive products, Truman Bradley with the Marijuana Industry Group told 9 News.

“The ripple effect to employees and customers can’t be overstated either,” he said. “As cannabis sales drop, so do the tax revenues.” 

Denver makes up about a third of the state’s entire cannabis sales.

“In 2021, 31% of Colorado’s total marijuana sales occurred in the City and County of Denver,” a Municipal Marijuana Management report from 2022 reads. “From 2014 to 2021, the proportion of marijuana sales in Denver out of all Colorado marijuana sales has fallen by 17%, going from 48% to 31%. This downward trend, which has been consistent since the implementation of retail marijuana sales in 2014, indicates marijuana sales growth outside of the City and County of Denver has been increasing faster than within the city.”

A recent report from The Denver Post analyzes the fallout of the post-pandemic cannabis industry in Colorado.  “The market’s just bad. It’s bad right now,” cannabis salesperson Val Tonazzi told The Denver Post. “There’s businesses closing, left and right.”

Federal Law Impacts Sales in Colorado

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis recently sent a letter to President Joe Biden on Sept. 5 regarding the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) recommendation for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to reschedule cannabis from a Schedule I substance to a Schedule III substance.

 “We are pleased to hear that you have recently received Health and Human Services’s (HHS) recommendation to move cannabis to Schedule III,” Polis began in his letter. “It’s about time.”

“This is an historic moment and we owe you and your administration a debt of gratitude for your leadership on catching up with where the science is,” Polis continued.

 “Cannabis’ current classification under federal law as a Schedule I drug is contradicted by the scientific evidence. The notion, as previously considered, that cannabis has no accepted medical use, a high potential for abuse, and no accepted safety standards even under medical supervision has been widely disproven, HHS’s recommendation is evidence-based and a move in the right direction.”

Polis also addresses the issues that still need to be resolved, such as banking. He wrote that if cannabis becomes a Schedule III substance, banks would be free to serve cannabis businesses and that tax code 280E would no longer be necessary.

Oversupply, lack of demand, competition with neighboring legal states, and black market sales, puts Colorado cannabis businesses in a bind. 

The post Colorado Has Sold Over $15B in Cannabis Since Legalization appeared first on High Times.

The post Colorado Has Sold Over $15B in Cannabis Since Legalization appeared first on Paradise Found.

A recent report from The Denver Post analyzes the fallout of the post-pandemic cannabis industry in Colorado. While once the state reached a peak of $226 million in combined recreational and medical cannabis sales, current sales have decreased and small businesses struggle to stay afloat.

“The market’s just bad. It’s bad right now,” cannabis salesperson Val Tonazzi told The Denver Post. “There’s businesses closing, left and right.”

In February, Colorado’s medical cannabis sales decreased to $15 million, the lowest collection since retail sales began in 2014. March brought a slight increase in medical cannabis sales, approximately $17 million, but was $5 million less than March 2022. Likewise, March recreational sales were recorded at $122 million this year, but it’s a $17 million decrease from last year’s numbers.

On May 9, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced a fact sheet detailing the “End of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency.” While the nation and many of its industries return to normal operations, cannabis business owners continue to see ripples of oversupply of cannabis products, lack of demand, pricing dropping to record lows, and lack of cannabis tourism.

Over the past few years, many states bordering Colorado have approved recreational cannabis. This includes Montana and Arizona in 2020, and New Mexico in 2021, creating competition for Colorado.

Vangst, a cannabis job company, recently released its 2023 Vangst Jobs Report. The report states that there was a 2% drop in cannabis jobs, and Colorado was ranked as the second highest state for cannabis job losses. It was also ranked number six on a list of top cannabis jobs with less positions than states like California, Michigan, Illinois, Florida, and Massachusetts.

It isn’t just small cannabis businesses falling under hard times. Bigger companies, like Curaleaf, are also pivoting as well. In January, Curaleaf  closed down its offices in Colorado, California and Oregon, “as part of its continued effort to streamline its business.” According to Curaleaf CEO Matt Darin, this move was also made due to thriving black market competition. “We believe these states will represent opportunities in the future, but the current price compression caused by a lack of meaningful enforcement of the illicit market prevent us from generating an acceptable return on our investments,” Darin said in a press release.

The closure of cannabis businesses is affecting the real estate market as well. A National Association of Realtors report recently explained “a decline in commercial property purchases by marijuana industry-related businesses and a corresponding increase in leasing activity.”

The Denver Post spoke with local entrepreneur Renée Grossman, who founded five retail storefronts in Colorado since 2013, and also moved into cultivation and manufacturing as well. “There’s too many stores, there’s too much cultivation, there’s too many products,” Grossman explained to The Denver Post. “Right now, all the investors are sitting on the sidelines, and kind of waiting to time the bottom—and nobody knows exactly when that’s going to happen.”

Amidst the uncertainty of the situation, Grossman and many other business owners have had to lay off many of their staff to continue paying the bills. “Most companies I know are losing money, or they’ve shut down and scaled back,” said Grossman. “A lot of companies that are my size or smaller are really feeling the burn.” She also suggested that more mergers may take place in order to help bolster smaller businesses against larger companies.

Initially there was a drive for cannabis tourism to bring people to Colorado, but even as travel has become safer in the wake of COVID-19, the increase in states with recreational cannabis has caused a shift in interest. According to Native Roots Cannabis Company vice president of marketing, Buck Dutton, sales for 4/20 decreased from recent years: “…people don’t see the need to travel here to spend their 4/20 with us,” Dutton told The Denver Post. “The only expectation that it lived up to is that we thought it was going to be bad.”

Marijuana Industry Group executive director Truman Bradley likens Colorado’s current situation to “the ghost of Christmas future.” The excitement that drove sales for Colorado as the first state to legalize recreational cannabis has since slowed. Bradley stated that the only way Colorado can survive now is for the industry to “get leaner,” in terms of competition being thinned out. He also calls on state legislators to reevaluate legalization. “It’s critical that lawmakers understand that decade No. 2 of legalization needs to look fundamentally different from decade No. 1,” Bradley stated.

The post Colorado Cannabis Industry Continues to Face Uncertainty appeared first on High Times.

The post Colorado Cannabis Industry Continues to Face Uncertainty appeared first on Paradise Found.

The Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) released a report on May 1 with data regarding cannabis tax revenue generated by states with legalization. Between 2014 and the end of 2022, the report shows that states had collected over $15.1 billion in tax revenue.

According to MPP President and CEO Toi Hutchinson, states with legalization are seeing great benefits from cannabis sales. “States that have made the decision to legalize and regulate cannabis are benefiting from hundreds of millions in tax revenue each year,” Hutchinson said in a press release. “These new streams of revenue are helping to fund crucial social services and programs across the country, such as education, alcohol and drug treatment, veterans’ services, job training, and reinvestment in communities that have been disproportionately affected by the war on cannabis. The states that lag behind will not only be doing a disservice to their constituents—they will also be leaving money on the table.”

Tax revenue from 2022 alone showed more than $3.77 billion collected, which was actually the first year that total state cannabis tax revenues decreased in comparison to 2021 with $3.86 billion. Even with seeing mature cannabis states collecting a decreased amount in cannabis tax revenue and newer states collecting an increased amount, MPP notes that the numbers are influenced by sales comparisons from the pandemic. “It is important to note that while ’22 figures were down from ’21 in more mature markets, they were still higher than any year pre-COVID for each state.”

MPP cited Vicente LLP Director of Economics and Research Andrew Livingston, who elaborated on the demand of cannabis during the pandemic. “While 2022 cannabis taxes are lower in some established markets than they were in 2021, it’s important to know how COVID-19 and pandemic initiated lockdown orders increased cannabis demand,” Livingston stated. “People could not spend their money going to concerts, going out to dinner, or vacation travel. So many people increased their consumption of consumer packaged goods. Cannabis was a product that could still be purchased and made the difficulty of staying at home for months on end watching TV shows and movies a bit more enjoyable.”

MPP’s tax revenue report shows the individual 2022 tax revenue for 16 states. Among the highest amounts included California ($1,074,560,287), Illinois ($562,119,019), Washington ($529,443,420), Michigan ($326,049,074), and Colorado ($305,034,034). On the lower end were states including Rhode Island ($579,439), Vermont ($2,363,000), New Jersey ($20,139,655), Maine ($25,329,534), New Mexico ($36,684,235), Montana ($41,989,466).

The report also includes a year-by-year total of collected tax revenue as well. In 2014, tax revenue reached $68,503,980 and 2018 was the first year that cannabis tax revenue passed the million mark at $1,308,693,928. During the pandemic, tax revenue soared to $2,814,837,199 in 2020, $3,866,974,690 in 2021, and dipped slightly to $3,774,783,548 in 2022.

While cannabis tax revenue is at an all-time high, the topic of taxes has long been a concern for consumers and business owners. Most recently on April 17, Oregon Rep. Earl Blumenauer introduced legislation called the Small Business Tax Equity Act which would allow cannabis businesses to remain in compliance with state law by creating an exception to Internal Revenue Code Section 280e.

“State-legal cannabis businesses are denied equal treatment under 280E. They cannot fully deduct the cost of doing business which means they pay two or three times as much as a similar non-cannabis business,” Blumenauer said. “This grotesquely unfair treatment incentivizes people to cut corners. If Congress wants to get serious about supporting small businesses and ending the illicit cannabis market, it is commonsense that we allow legal cannabis operations to deduct business expenses, just like any other industry.”

The post New Report From Marijuana Policy Project Examines Eight Years of Cannabis Tax Revenue appeared first on High Times.

The post New Report From Marijuana Policy Project Examines Eight Years of Cannabis Tax Revenue appeared first on Paradise Found.

Harvest and sales numbers both plunged last month in Oregon, and the result could be cheaper cannabis for consumers.

That is the upshot of a report by local news station KOIN, which cited the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission’s data showing “that in October 2021, nearly $94 million went to the state’s cannabis industry,” while last month, the industry received only about $79 million in total sales.

The station reported that the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission also “reported 5.3 million wet pounds harvested by all producers” in October of last year, while last month, “that number fell to 4.1 million.”

“The September/October time frame is a harvest ‘window’ for outdoor cannabis grows in southern Oregon,” Mark Pettinger, spokesperson for the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission told the station. “The actual harvest time is based on when cannabis farmers get their crop in the ground. Late rains pushed out the planting time this year. Also, the lengthy sunny and warm weather this fall probably affected decisions about when to harvest.”

“On the demand side, cannabis sales saw some significant spikes during the pandemic when consumers had fewer choices on how to use their discretionary income. Also, there was a fair amount of federal stimulus money that probably accounted for some of those increases. Since legalization in 2016 Oregon cannabis sales had been experiencing steady year-over-year increases,” Pettinger added.

Indeed, after cannabis retailers across the country saw a dramatic bump in sales in the age of quarantine, the industry has careened back to earth in recent months, particularly as inflation continues to tighten consumers’ pocketbooks. 

KOIN reported in August that the “pandemic boom may be coming to an end for Oregon’s cannabis industry,” with the state experiencing a steady decline in revenue from April onward. That downward trend followed two consecutive years in which the state topped $1 billion in sales.

“In June, sales totalled $82,723,244. It’s only the second time sales have dropped below $84 million since the start of the pandemic,” the station reported at the time. Experts said there are several factors contributing to the decrease in dollars sold, a few of which include consumer trends, the role inflation is playing on the market and the price at which retailers can sell their products.”

Oregon marijuana consumers who are feeling the pinch of inflation may enjoy some relief from this trend. As KOIN reported, the drop in prices “may benefit consumers who want the same quality of cannabis for less money, but buyers and sellers in the industry are put at a disadvantage.”

“The way that all states have set up their system is that whatever you grow and produce and do product manufacturing for and retail, it all has to be contained within the state,” Beau Whitney, a cannabis industry consultant, told the local station. “When you have an ‘everything contained in the state’ mentality, there’s not enough consumers to go around to handle all of that supply right in the state… when there’s oversupply and not enough demand, then prices go down because firms will get desperate. They’ll want to sell their product.”

“What cultivators have done is they’ve stopped cultivating,” Whitney added. “They’ve reduced the amount of square feet or acres that they’re deploying for further cannabis cultivation because if they grow it, but they can’t sell it, then what’s the point? It’s just like throwing money down the toilet.”

Oregon voters legalized adult-use cannabis by approving a ballot measure in 2014. Legal pot sales began the following year. 

The post With Demand Outpaced by Supply, Oregon Weed Retailers Lower Prices appeared first on High Times.

The post With Demand Outpaced by Supply, Oregon Weed Retailers Lower Prices appeared first on Paradise Found.

As the masks come off, cannabis purchasing is retreating to pre-Covid levels.

The post Looks like America’s pandemic weed-buying spree is over appeared first on Leafly.

The post Looks like America’s pandemic weed-buying spree is over appeared first on Paradise Found.

A study on the COVID-19 outbreak’s impact on mental health has found that users of psychedelics experienced less stress during the pandemic than those who had not used the drugs. 

Before the pandemic, approximately 8.5 percent of U.S. adults reported being depressed. But as the nation experienced the fear, lockdowns, and isolation associated with the COVID-19 outbreak, the figure spiked to 27.8 percent, according to data published last year. Prof. Sandro Galea, a dean at Boston University School of Public Health, said that the impact on mental health caused by the pandemic is unprecedented.

“Depression in the general population after prior large-scale traumatic events has been observed to, at most, double,” he said after publishing research on mental health aspects of the pandemic last year.

Anxiety levels also increased during the pandemic, with researchers reporting a 14 percent rise in anxiety among residents of the U.S., U.K., Canada, and Australia.

Psychedelics and Depression

Other research has shown that psychedelic drugs including psilocybin have potential as treatments for mental health conditions including depression, anxiety and addiction. To learn if the use of psychedelic drugs affected the impact that the coronavirus pandemic had on mental health, researchers affiliated with organizations in the Netherlands, Spain and Brazil conducted a study of how previous psychedelic use affected mental health. The study was performed from April through July of last year, when much of the world was under lockdown to help stem the spread of the virus.

The researchers conducted an online survey of 2,974 people, with most respondents living in Spain, Brazil and the United States. Among the participants, 497 said they regularly used psychedelic drugs, 606 were occasional users and 1,968 said they had never used psychedelics. During the study period, most of the United States and Spain were under lockdown, although that was not the case in Brazil.

The survey asked participants about their use of psychedelic drugs including psilocybin, peyote, MDMA, ayahuasca, LSD, San Pedro, and 5-MeO-DMT, both before and after the outbreak began, as well as information about the settings in which the drugs were used. Study subjects also completed a series of questionnaires on psychological distress, perceived social support, post-traumatic stress symptoms, psychological status and measures of personality.

“Psychedelic drug users, especially regular ones, reported less psychological distress, less peritraumatic stress, and more social support,” the authors of the study wrote.

Half of the participants who had used psychedelics said that their previous use of the drugs had a significant positive impact on their ability to cope with the stress associated with the lockdowns. About a third (35 percent) said their past use of psychedelic drugs did not impact their ability to cope, and 16 percent said their experience with the compounds had a small beneficial impact.

Psychedelic drug users also reported having more access to outdoor spaces and spending more time outside. Regular users of psychedelics also reported more engagement with activities including music, meditation, yoga and Pilates, while those who do not use psychedelics said they spent more time doing aerobic exercise, playing video games and watching television, movies and news coverage related to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Regular users were also less likely to follow suggested public health measures such as wearing face masks and gloves. In personality tests, people who reported using psychedelics scored higher on scales for novelty seeking and self-transcendence, and lower for cooperativeness.

Correlation or Causation?

The study also revealed other consequences of the pandemic that could have an impact on mental health. Nearly a fifth of participants reported losing their job, while almost half said their income had declined during the outbreak.

The researchers wrote that although psychedelics users reported experiencing less stress during the pandemic, it is unclear if the drugs are responsible for the difference. They called for continued research, noting that other factors including more access to outdoor space, spending more time outside, healthier eating habits, and spending less time viewing or listening to news coverage about the pandemic could also have an impact on mental health.

“Our findings showed that regular users of psychedelic drugs had less psychological stress and some personality differences when compared to occasional users and non-users,” the study’s authors concluded. “This suggests that either the use of psychedelics might be a protective factor itself or people with certain previous traits are more prone to frequently using psychedelic drugs.”

An article on the research, “Cross-Sectional Associations Between Lifetime Use of Psychedelic Drugs and Psychometric Measures During the COVID-19 Confinement: A Transcultural Study,” was published online by the peer-reviewed journal Frontiers in Psychiatry.

The post Study Shows Psychedelics Users Had Less Stress During Pandemic Lockdowns appeared first on High Times.

The post Study Shows Psychedelics Users Had Less Stress During Pandemic Lockdowns appeared first on Paradise Found.