TNMNews Live Broadcast: June 22, 2018 Cannabis News Week in Review

Happy Friday everyone, Todd Denkin here with on June 22nd, 2018 for TNMNews.com. Thank you all for joining us again for our weekly update on marijuana news around the country. We have some research, international and business news for you today. Let’s get started.

Canada FInalizes Cannabis Act

In our broadcast from two weeks ago we mentioned the Canadian Senate passing the Cannabis Act or C-45 which legalized cannabis nationally for our northern neighbors. The bill was sent back to the Senate with quite a few changes and on Tuesday the legislative body once again passed the bill 52 to 29, and this time everyone up in Canada seems to be happy with the legislation including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. He sent out a tweet that night that read, “It’s been too easy for our kids to get marijuana – and for criminals to reap the profits. Today, we change that. Our plan to legalize & regulate marijuana just passed the Senate.” He followed the tweet up with an hashtag ‘promisekept.’ According to Trudeau the bill is built around the protection of children.

https://thenationalmarijuananews.com/justin-trudeau-says-he-kept-his-promise-about-marijuana-legalization-in-canada/

Interview with Ray Gracewood from OrganiGram Holdings Inc.

Continuing with Canada for a moment. C-45 has many restrictions and allows the different Canadian provinces like Ontario and Alberta to build on the restrictions in the federal bill such as increasing the minimum adult-use age from 18. Another major restriction concerns cannabis marketing. We had the opportunity to speak with Ray Gracewood this week, the CCO for OrganiGram Holdings Inc., one of the large cannabis companies up in Canada. He expressed a lot of concern over the marketing restrictions telling our reporter that if you held up a package of legal cannabis versus a package of illegal cannabis, consumers would have a lot of trouble telling the difference. It will be interesting to see if the legalization of cannabis in Canada is really able to curtail the illicit market like Trudeau hopes or whether the restrictions allows the black market to flourish still.

https://thenationalmarijuananews.com/tnmnews-interview-ray-gracewood-cco-organigram-holdings-inc-marijuana-news/

No Cannabis Dispensaries to be Open in Massachusetts for start of Adult-Use Cannabis

Back here in the states, Massachusetts is supposed to start the commercial sale of adult-use cannabis after voters approved an amendment in 2016 to legalize cannabis. The start date was originally supposed to be January 1st of this year like California, but the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission delayed it until July 1st. While the commission has had the ability to issue adult-use licenses since June 1st, not a single license has been issued. We spoke with Kamani Jefferson of the Mass Rec Council which played a significant role in the cannabis amendment being added to the ballot in 2016 and he very frankly told us he would be surprised if there was even one open store in Massachusetts for the entire month of July. Lawmakers in Massachusetts have said they care much more concerned about issuing licenses correctly rather than rushing to get it done by the start date.

https://thenationalmarijuananews.com/not-single-adult-use-cannabis-dispensary-open-massachusetts-july-marijuana-news/

Cannabis May Not be a Great Treatment for Glaucoma and Here is Why

Turning to some research cannabis news. Cannabis has been considered a treatment for Glaucoma for a long time, but new research is questioning its merit as a viable treatment. Glaucoma involves intraocular pressure in the eye and cannabis can act as an anti inflammatory which works to reduce the eye pressure as nearly all treatments for Glaucoma aim to do. However, cannabis can only reduce the pressure for 3 to 4 hours and THC plays a large role which means the patient is high while medicating. It means that for cannabis to be a real treatment for Glaucoma and to reduce the patient’s discomfort, the patient has to be high almost all day long. The American Academy of Ophthalmology has stated that other prescription based alternatives may be a better form of treatment.

https://thenationalmarijuananews.com/can-marijuana-help-treat-glaucoma-marijuana-news/

How the Pineal Gland Affects Your High

Sticking with research. Have you ever hear of the Pineal gland? It is in the very center of our brain and the tiny gland is part of our endocrine system. It is responsible for the production of a hormone calls melatonin which helps control our sleep patterns. The gland has often been referred to as our third eye because it is responsive to light. When sunlight shines on the gland it produces less melatonin and let’s us stay awake, but as the sun goes down it produces more of the hormone making us sleepy. When a person consumes cannabis the cannabinoids connect with the CB receptors in the gland affecting the production of melatonin which ends up having a dramatic effect on the type of high a person feels. In other words, if you haven’t noticed, the time of day you smoke weed plays a large part in how you feel. Check out our article, ‘The Incredible Pineal Gland and Its Massive Role on the Effects of Cannabis’ at TNMNews.com.

https://thenationalmarijuananews.com/incredible-pineal-gland-massive-role-effects-of-cannabis-marijuana-news/

That is all for this week everyone. There is a lot happening in the world of cannabis so stay tuned and we will continue to bring you the most up-to-date marijuana news out there. Thanks and have a great weekend everyone. This is Todd Denkin with TNMNews.com.

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C-45canada cannabisCannabis ActCannabis Control Commissioncannabis newsGlaucomajustin trudeauKamani Jeffersonmarijuana legalizationMarijuana NewsMassachusetts dispensariesOrganigram Holdings Incpineal glandRay Gracewood