Business
Should Cannabis Products Have Mental Health Warnings on the Packaging?
Over the last few years, high THC cannabis has caught the attention of medical professionals and parents alike – but not in a good way.
There has been an increased incidence of schizophrenia and psychosis cases attributed to consuming high THC cannabis, particularly among the youth. On the other hand, for recreational users and other types of medical marijuana patients (including those struggling with severe depression, treatment-resistant post-traumatic stress disorder, cancer, and many more), the recent development of extremely potent cannabis – with concentrates sometimes reaching as much as 95% THC – has been nothing but good news. Sure, people say that the choices we have today are definitely not your grandparents’ weed.
Thanks to developments in genetics, we now have a wide array of THC products to choose from. These range from 0.3% THC all the way up to the high 90’s. And these types of products are available in dispensaries around the nation wherever it’s been legalized for adult use, medical use, or both.
Cannabis is Safe, But Has Never Been Touted as a Cure-All
A quick look at any search engine will show you a vast array of clinical studies done that show the efficacy and safety of cannabis for treating long list of mental and physical health disorders. There has also been a great emphasis on its efficacy with mental health issues, a serious medical problem that the industry is struggling to treat with effectiveness and precision.
According to the National Alliance on Mental Health, untreated mental health disorders costs the United States some $300 billion annually due to productivity losses. In addition, mental health illness and substance abuse disorders are commonly co-occurring issues, with many of those struggling with mental health disorders turning to dangerous antidepressants that one can easily overdose on. This leads to a (preventable) increase in the death toll. People with untreated mental health disorders, especially the more serious types such as psychosis and schizophrenia, tend to self-medicate which is why they often struggle with substance use disorders.
The real problem here is the absurdly high costs of mental health care in the country. Being able to afford a therapist or psychiatrist is something that is exclusively for the rich, while only very few can access programs that are designed to help the impoverished. I mean – average therapist and psychiatric fees start at least at $100 up to $300 PER APPOINTMENT. Can we wrap our heads around this fact? And one with serious mental health problems would need several of these sessions throughout the year, maybe several a month even, just to get better.
No wonder people are self-medicating.
And with the increased access of marijuana thanks to legalization, people are self-medicating with it. And we’re seeing results that are unfortunate.
“Studies have suggested that high potency cannabis is linked to higher likelihood of psychosis, depression, anxiety, and cannabis dependence, but these studies hadn’t been able to account for people’s early mental health symptoms, and hadn’t always taken into account whether the risks of high potency use were over and above the risks from using cannabis everyday,” says a 2020 study from JAMA Psychiatry. Find Cannabis Stores Near me in the Local Directory.
So while a great majority of the population is enjoying tremendous relief from conditions that pharmaceutical drugs weren’t able to help them with, or because they simply do not want to use synthetic medications, there’s the growing minority of cases that are sounding the alarm on the easy accessibility of high THC cannabis particularly among those prone to psychosis and schizophrenia.
Cannabis advocates, even medical professionals who support the use of the drug, have never said that this miraculously medicinal plant should be seen as a cure-all.
There are certainly some circumstances wherein patients have to learn not to self-medicate with it, just in the way they could practice restraint in ensuring to follow the correct dosage for prescription drugs, or not mixing it with alcohol for fun.
Data Show Cannabis Is Generally Safe & Well-Tolerated
In numerous studies showing the efficacy of cannabis for treating a myriad of conditions, patients report that it’s usually well-tolerated.
Sure, cannabis has some well-known and common side effects. These can include paranoia, anxiety, dry mouth, red eyes, and feeling high – so much so that you’d be too impaired to drive. These are simply part of the psychoactive effects of cannabis, and science tells us that because each human being has such a unique biochemistry, we will all react to cannabis in different ways.
However, you also have to remember that cannabis is recognized as one of the safest recreational drugs in the world, even despite these minor side effects that people can experience while on it. Magic mushrooms ranks the safest, with cannabis not far behind at second place.
Furthermore, one would have to consume a ridiculously large amount of marijuana within a short time to even overdose. To date, there has not been a single case of a person overdosing from marijuana. Yes, it’s possible to take such a high amount of THC that you would feel unhinged from reality – but that would subside in a few hours.
And yes, people with cardiovascular problems should not take high THC substances. That also goes for people with severe mental health disorders, people who drive, people who have asthma, and a couple more. It’s not for everyone, but it’s certainly helping a significant percentage of the human population lead healthier and better lives.
Conclusion
To end this article, I think that cannabis should indeed have mental health warning labels. As someone who thinks that consumers should be armed with all the information they can when it comes to making a decision on their own well-being, I think that cannabis products particularly those with over 10mg of THC should indeed have warning labels – the same way that we regulate tobacco products.
If that is what it takes to increase access on marijuana and improve awareness as well as education of it, it means going on the right path to more widespread legalization, then it’s certainly for everyone’s best interest.
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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