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Pharmaceutical Independence Day – Majority of Americans Now Prefer Weed over Prescription Drugs Says New Study
Around 131 million people in the United States take prescription drugs.
That translates to 66% of the population, most of whom belong to the elderly and those who have chronic illnesses. Most adults have one of 5 common chronic conditions that require the use of prescription drugs – these are heart disease, diabetes, cancer, arthritis, and hypertension. Prescription drugs need to be refilled often, so it’s no surprise that the global pharmaceutical industry was worth a staggering 1.42 trillion dollars in 2021.
However, the good news is that more people are seeing the benefits of using cannabis instead.
In a new survey by The Harris Poll and Curaleaf, they found that 91% of American adults aged 21 and up who consume marijuana, do so for health and wellness. They also found that 75% of Americans prefer natural solutions instead of pharmaceutical drugs for treating a condition whenever it’s possible, and 62% of participants said that they prefer to use cannabis as opposed to pharmaceuticals for treating medical problems.
Furthermore, the survey revealed that 88% of people who use cannabis as an alternative or together with pharmaceutical treatments report an improvement in well-being. Meanwhile, 86% of those who have used cannabis would recommend it to their family or friends for treating medical conditions.
“Educating consumers on how cannabis can be leveraged to support everyday health and wellness needs is critical to destigmatizing the plant and providing consumers with more choices to best fit their personal lifestyle,” explains Curaleaf’s Clinical Cannabis Pharmacist, Dr. Stacia Woodcock. “There are a wide variety of ways to consume cannabis safely, and many formulations actually have minimal intoxicating effects. Different product options with various ratios of THC and CBD give patients the opportunity to consume cannabis in a way that works with their lifestyle and comfort level,” she says.
Why People Should Choose Cannabis Over Prescription Drugs
Heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, hypertension, and cancer – these five common chronic conditions can all be treated with medical marijuana, or with marijuana and conventional drugs. There is a growing body of research supporting the safety and efficacy of marijuana for these conditions, and can even help where Big Pharma fails.
Common pharmaceutical drugs that are used to treat these conditions come with undesirable side effects which can even occur when patients take the incorrect dosage, have an allergic reaction to an ingredient used in the medication, when the drugs kill harmful cells AND healthy cells (commonly occurring in the case of chemotherapy), drug interactions with other medications (even supplements and food), and many more. Common side effects include constipation or diarrhea, insomnia, nausea, dizziness, drowsiness, and headaches. However, more dangerous side effects can also occur: internal bleeding, abnormal heart rhythms, cancer, and suicidal thoughts to name a few.
In a study from 2018, researchers analyzed data in the Releaf App, which the study’s authors say is “the largest repository of user-entered information on the consumption and effect of cannabis use in the United States,” it says. There were around 100,000 entries on the site. In one study, they found that users who had one or more of 27 various health problems with different symptoms ranging from depression to seizures reported a reduction of symptoms from 2.6 to 4.6 on a scale of 10, following consumption of medical marijuana.
In another study, researchers found that Releaf App data showed that 94% of marijuana users who were diagnosed with numerous health problems reported that marijuana consumption was effective in reducing the intensity of their symptoms. They also said that marijuana use wasn’t associated with any serious side effects. “If the results found in our studies can be extrapolated to the general population, cannabis could systematically replace multi-billion dollar medication industries around the world. It is likely already beginning to do so,” said the study’s co-author, Jacob Vigil.
In a more recent study, researchers in Canada and Italy analyzed the impact of cannabis use among 214 Canadian patients, most of whom were over 50 years old and who were given authorization by the government to use cannabis products. The researchers analyzed the symptoms of patients as well as quality of life before they took cannabis then 6 weeks after. These patients either had chronic pain, rheumatic disorders, anxiety, sleep disorders, or post-traumatic stress.
All patients who had chronic pain, sleep troubles, arthritis, and post-traumatic stress reported improvements in their symptoms after using cannabis for just 6 weeks. They did however, say that cannabis made them sleepy and gave them a dry mouth.
“Aligning with previously published studies, we report that over 60% of the medical cannabis cohort reported improvements in their medical conditions,” said the authors. “Overall, we have provided new real-world evidence to support the use of medical cannabis in a number of different medical conditions as a means to immediately provide the scientific evidence healthcare practitioners routinely state they require and to inform the future clinical studies needed to generate efficacy and safety data that will ultimately support the drafting of future regulatory guidelines surrounding medical cannabis use,” they concluded.
These are only a few of the many studies available backing up the efficacy of marijuana for a range of health conditions. Patients suffering from nearly any condition can somehow benefit from cannabis use, and there are so many ways you can take it. From smoking to edibles, infused beverages, topicals, patches, and so much more, the possibilities of medicating in a way that benefits you personally is endless. There’s no reason to feel like pharmaceutical drugs is the only choice left if you are struggling with a condition, so talk to your doctor today about integrating cannabis into your treatment.
New Mexico regulators fined a cannabis operator nearly $300,000 and revoked its license after the company allegedly created fake reports in the state’s traceability software.
The New Mexico Cannabis Control Division (CCD) accused marijuana manufacturer and retailer Golden Roots of 11 violations, according to Albuquerque Business First.
Golden Roots operates the The Cannabis Revolution Dispensary.
The majority of the violations are related to the Albuquerque company’s improper use of BioTrack, which has been New Mexico’s track-and-trace vendor since 2015.
The CCD alleges Golden Roots reported marijuana production only two months after it had received its vertically integrated license, according to Albuquerque Business First.
Because cannabis takes longer than two months to be cultivated, the CCD was suspicious of the report.
After inspecting the company’s premises, the CCD alleged Golden Roots reported cultivation, transportation and sales in BioTrack but wasn’t able to provide officers who inspected the site evidence that the operator was cultivating cannabis.
In April, the CCD revoked Golden Roots’ license and issued a $10,000 fine, according to the news outlet.
The company requested a hearing, which the regulator scheduled for Sept. 1.
At the hearing, the CCD testified that the company’s dried-cannabis weights in BioTrack were suspicious because they didn’t seem to accurately reflect how much weight marijuana loses as it dries.
Company employees also poorly accounted for why they were making adjustments in the system of up to 24 pounds of cannabis, making comments such as “bad” or “mistake” in the software, Albuquerque Business First reported.
Golden Roots was fined $298,972.05 – the amount regulators allege the company made selling products that weren’t properly accounted for in BioTrack.
The CCD has been cracking down on cannabis operators accused of selling products procured from out-of-state or not grown legally:
- Regulators alleged in August that Albuquerque dispensary Sawmill Sweet Leaf sold out-of-state products and didn’t have a license for extraction.
- Paradise Exotics Distro lost its license in July after regulators alleged the company sold products made in California.
Golden Roots was the first alleged rulebreaker in New Mexico to be asked to pay a large fine.
Source: https://mjbizdaily.com/new-mexico-cannabis-operator-fined-loses-license-for-alleged-biotrack-fraud/
Four marijuana companies, including a multistate operator, have filed a lawsuit against U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland in which they allege the federal MJ prohibition under the Controlled Substances Act is no longer constitutional.
According to the complaint, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, retailer Canna Provisions, Treevit delivery service CEO Gyasi Sellers, cultivator Wiseacre Farm and MSO Verano Holdings Corp. are all harmed by “the federal government’s unconstitutional ban on cultivating, manufacturing, distributing, or possessing intrastate marijuana.”
Verano is headquartered in Chicago but has operations in Massachusetts; the other three operators are based in Massachusetts.
The lawsuit seeks a ruling that the “Controlled Substances Act is unconstitutional as applied to the intrastate cultivation, manufacture, possession, and distribution of marijuana pursuant to state law.”
The companies want the case to go before the U.S. Supreme Court.
They hired prominent law firm Boies Schiller Flexner to represent them.
The New York-based firm’s principal is David Boies, whose former clients include Microsoft, former presidential candidate Al Gore and Elizabeth Holmes’ disgraced startup Theranos.
Similar challenges to the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA) have failed.
One such challenge led to a landmark Supreme Court decision in 2005.
In Gonzalez vs. Raich, the highest court in the United States ruled in a 6-3 decision that the commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution gave Congress the power to outlaw marijuana federally, even though state laws allow the cultivation and sale of cannabis.
In the 18 years since that ruling, 23 states and the District of Columbia have legalized adult-use marijuana and the federal government has allowed a multibillion-dollar cannabis industry to thrive.
Since both Congress and the U.S. Department of Justice, currently headed by Garland, have declined to intervene in state-licensed marijuana markets, the key facts that led to the Supreme Court’s 2005 ruling “no longer apply,” Boies said in a statement Thursday.
“The Supreme Court has since made clear that the federal government lacks the authority to regulate purely intrastate commerce,” Boies said.
“Moreover, the facts on which those precedents are based are no longer true.”
Verano President Darren Weiss said in a statement the company is “prepared to bring this case all the way to the Supreme Court in order to align federal law with how Congress has acted for years.”
While the Biden administration’s push to reschedule marijuana would help solve marijuana operators’ federal tax woes, neither rescheduling nor modest Congressional reforms such as the SAFER Banking Act “solve the fundamental issue,” Weiss added.
“The application of the CSA to lawful state-run cannabis business is an unconstitutional overreach on state sovereignty that has led to decades of harm, failed businesses, lost jobs, and unsafe working conditions.”
Alabama regulators are targeting Dec. 1 to award the first batch of medical cannabis business licenses after the agency’s first two attempts were scrapped because of scoring errors and litigation.
The first licenses will be awarded to individual cultivators, delivery providers, processors, dispensaries and state testing labs, according to the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission (AMCC).
Then, on Dec. 12, the AMCC will award licenses for vertically integrated operations, a designation set primarily for multistate operators.
Licenses are expected to be handed out 28 days after they have been awarded, so MMJ production could begin in early January, according to the Alabama Daily News.
That means MMJ products could be available for patients around early March, an AMCC spokesperson told the media outlet.
Regulators initially awarded 21 business licenses in June, only to void them after applicants alleged inconsistencies with how the applications were scored.
Then, in August, the state awarded 24 different licenses – 19 went to June recipients – only to reverse themselves again and scratch those licenses after spurned applicants filed lawsuits.
A state judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by Chicago-based MSO Verano Holdings Corp., but another lawsuit is pending.
Source: https://mjbizdaily.com/alabama-plans-to-award-medical-cannabis-licenses-dec-1/
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