Replies to post #1122 on Green Thumb Industries Inc (GTBIF)

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LOL

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Listen to this pod cast for some cannabis answers, and what's good for Green Thumb.

https://seekingalpha.com/article/4316955-cannabis-focus-shifting-from-expansion-to-profitability-debra-borchardt-podcast


The next round of Illinois licenses to be issued in the spring will come with some unique restrictions.

For a period of 6 - 12 months, the new dispensaries will have to buy their flower from existing Illinois cultivation facilities.

Very interesting few minute segment near the 45 minute part was about de-scheduling cannabis altogether. OMG it will blow up the existing industry, and reinvent it.

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Price/$10.44/Day's Change/0.3246 (3.21%)/

Volume(Heavy Day)/30,485/January 16, 2020 9:42am ET


I'm wondering if the cannabis sector euphoria is fueled by overeating some gummies :-)

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LEGALIZING CANNABIS LINKED TO LESS OPIOID PRESCRIPTIONS, COULD HELP COMBAT EPIDEMIC, SCIENTISTS SAY

BY KASHMIRA GANDER ON 12/17/19 AT 8:03 AM EST

https://www.newsweek.com/legalizing-cannabis-linked-less-opioid-prescriptions-could-help-combat-epidemic-scientists-say-1477621

There are less opioid prescriptions on average in U.S. states where medical and recreational marijuana are legal, research has revealed.

Access to recreational cannabis in the U.S. was tied with a 11.8 percent lower rate of opioids prescriptions each day, and 4.2 percent for medical marijuana. The authors of the paper published in the Journal of Health Economics said recreational weed laws could make it easier for patients to access the drug, and use it to treat pain and other conditions.

Both types of law also appeared to cut down the total number of patients receiving opioids, as well as the total days opioids were supplied, and the likelihood of a healthcare provider prescribing the painkillers. The study also showed family physicians gave out more opioids than any other healthcare speciality, such as dentists or nurses.

The authors looked at data on over 1.5 billion individual opioid prescriptions between 2011 and 2018, representing around 90 percent of all of this type of drug given out over the time period.
The research comes amid the opioid overdose epidemic in the U.S., which kills 130 Americans every day according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"Cannabis access laws could be a useful tool in combatting the prescription opioid epidemic," the researchers wrote.

"While state governments have enacted various policies to curtail opioid prescriptions, e.g., prescription drug monitoring programs, many of these policies simply limit access to opioids and may push individuals already dependent on prescription opioids to more dangerous drugs, such as heroin," they said.

"Thus, policies that reduce opioid prescriptions without leading individuals to substitute more dangerous drugs may be preferable to policies that simply restrict opioid prescriptions." One option could be legalizing cannabis, the researchers argued.

Addressing concerns that cannabis may be a gateway drug which could lead users to opioids in the long-term, the team said: "While cannabis may be a gateway drug that encourages use of opioids in some patients, on balance for the population generally both recreational and medical cannabis access laws decrease opioid use."

The researchers said the study was limited because they did not have access to data on patients because of confidentiality, meaning they couldn't look for patterns of problematic patterns of opioid prescription. They also couldn't examine which conditions the painkillers were given for.

The authors wrote: "While the results here do not suggest that cannabis access laws are the only tool to address prescription opioid use, they do suggest that cannabis access laws could play a meaningful role in addressing the opioid epidemic."

Benjamin J. McMichael, assistant professor at the University of Alabama School of Law, told Newsweek: "While we expected that recreational cannabis access laws would have a stronger effect on opioid prescriptions, I would say we were surprised that the effect was so much larger than medical cannabis access laws."

McMichael said: "This study is significant because it analyzed more data that provided more specific information than has been available in previous studies. It therefore provides more precise estimates of the effect of cannabis access laws on opioid prescriptions and controls for more potential confounding factors than prior work.

"Because this research provided insight into the effect of cannabis access laws across payers (e.g., Medicare and private insurance) and medical specialties, it can provide policymakers with specific targets in how they evaluate cannabis access laws."

Ian Hamilton, an expert in drug use and mental health at the Department of Health Sciences at the U.K.'s University of York who did not work on the research, told Newsweek the study builds on others exploring the impact of opening up access to cannabis on opiate prescribing, but using a larger data set and more sophisticated analyses.

"The main problem with this study is that it doesn't take into account the efforts made by many states and prescribers at reducing opiate prescriptions in light of the record numbers overdosing on opiates," said Hamilton.

"Over the last few years awareness of inappropriate opiate prescribing has increased, so it could be that some of the reduction in opiate prescriptions is due to concern by doctors and healthcare providers rather than individuals switching to cannabis," he argued.

Hamilton cautioned that as the awareness of cannabis products has increased in recent years, so have the claims about its health benefits—despite some being untested.

He said: "The problem with switching to cannabis is that there is very limited research so far to suggest that it is beneficial for anything other than a few minor health problems.

"That may change as evidence emerges but as it stands some people could be disappointed with the results of using cannabis and may risk their health deteriorating if they delay obtaining the right treatment," Hamilton said.

Earlier this year, a separate team of researchers pinpointed a different way that cannabis could help tackle the opioid crisis. Cannabidiol (CBD), a non-psychoactive chemical in marijuana, was found to ease the cravings and anxiety associated with giving up heroin in former addicts. It also appeared to lessen signs of stress, such as an increased heart rate and levels of the stress hormone cortisol. The findings were published in The American Journal of Psychiatry.

This article has been updated with comment from Benjamin J. McMichael.

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Rotary members learn about the impact of legalized marijuana

By Larry Eskridge
Daily Ledger Reporter
Posted at 1:01 AM

https://www.pontiacdailyleader.com/news/20200117/rotary-members-learn-about-impact-of-legalized-marijuana

Members of Canton Rotary learned about the impacts of newly legalized recreational marijuana during their regular meeting Wednesday at Graham Hospital.

CANTON-Members of Canton Rotary learned about the impacts of newly legalized recreational marijuana during their regular meeting Wednesday at Graham Hospital.

Manager Greg Gossett told the group Rise, formerly Salveo Health and Wellness, the marijuana dispensary in Canton changed its name after merging with Green Thumb Industries (GTI) which is headquartered in Chicago, to help the business compete in the future. He said the merger would help the dispensary have access to better product and improve consumer services.

Gossett said Rise was a proud member of the community, noting as of July 1, the city of Canton would receive an additional 3 percent of tax revenue from the sale of recreational marijuana and Fulton County would an additional .75 percent which could be used for such things as education and drug addiction programs.

And while Gossett noted marijuana was still listed as a narcotic by federal law enforcement officials he was quite certain the federal government would eventually legalize cannabis. And when that happened, Gossett said the federal government would probably lose a substantial amount of money.

Gossett also told the group the security situation at the dispensary was extremely tight and that no attempted robberies or break-ins had been attempted since the dispensary had been opened.

Product safety was also a major concern, and Gossett said everything sold at the dispensary was tested by an independent lab. He added no pesticides were allowed for growers in Illinois. And while the dispensary did sell vape cartridges, none of them were compatible with JUUL products.

In order to operate legally, Rise was regulated by three government agencies, the Agricultural Department, the Office of Finance and Professional Services and the State Police. Regulations included prohibiting cannabis dispensaries from being within a certain distance of schools or licensed day care centers. Transportation of cannabis across state lines was illegal and there was a limit on how much cannabis a person could possess. Cannabis use was also limited to consumption in private.

Gossett said over 800 people were in line to buy cannabis Jan. 1. Despite the large number of customers, no tickets or arrests were made, and while there were a few 911 calls they stopped after an announcement was made to stop them.

He remarked the dispensary actually had a customer who had come from the UK.

When Gossett, who was a former warden, was asked why he decided to get into the cannabis business while law enforcement was officially against it, Gossett remarked many officers said they were opposed to legalized marijuana because they had to be.

“I was one of them,” Gossett said. “But my eyes were opened when I saw my first MS patient walk.”

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Congressional Committee Hearing Discusses Future of Cannabis Regulation, Illinois Adult-Use Sales Reach Nearly $20 Million in 12 Days: Week in Review

Members of the U.S. House of Representatives’ Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Health held a hearing Jan. 15 titled “Cannabis Policies for the New Decade.”

January 18, 2020
Melissa Schiller

https://www.cannabisdispensarymag.com/article/week-in-review-january-13/

This week, the U.S. House of Representatives’ Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Health held a hearing on the future of cannabis regulation, titled “Cannabis Policies for the New Decade.” Elsewhere, the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation announced that adult-use cannabis sales from Jan. 1 through Jan. 12 totaled nearly $20 million.

Here, we’ve rounded up the 10 headlines you need to know before this week is over.

* Federal: On Wednesday, members of the U.S. House of Representatives’ Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Health held a hearing on the future of cannabis regulation. Titled “Cannabis Policies for the New Decade,” the meeting included testimony from committee members and three witnesses: Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Nora Volkow, DEA Senior Policy Adviser Matthew Strait and FDA Deputy Director for Regulatory Programs Douglas Throckmorton.

This info is sourced from here:
https://www.cannabisdispensarymag.com/article/congress-subcommittee-hearing-cannabis-policies-law/

The committee was convened to discuss six cannabis reform proposals currently undergoing congressional consideration:

H.R. 171 Legitimate Use of Medicinal Marijuana Act (LUMMA)
H.R. 601 Medical Cannabis Research Act of 2019
H.R. 1151 Veterans Medical Marijuana Safe Harbor Act
H.R. 2843 Marijuana Freedom and Opportunity Act
H.R. 3797 Medical Marijuana Research Act of 2019
H.R. 3884 Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act of 2019 (The MORE Act).
The ongoing congressional interest in cannabis policy reform after the Senate Caucus panel voted in favor of the MORE Act late last year is promising, to be sure, but arguments continued to highlight the contradictory policies surrounding cannabis research. Pressed by committee members, the witnesses repeatedly acknowledged that the current Schedule-I status of cannabis drastically hinders empirical research while, at the same time, continuing to push the “more research is needed” mantra that has kept policy progress at a stand-still.

"We're in the biggest catch-22 that you could ever see or imagine," U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI) said, summarizing much of the day’s conversation.

The need for research on publicly available product was on everyone’s radar. When asked by U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) whether researchers should have access to the cannabis sold at state-licensed dispensaries, Strait responded that the DEA had announced 33 pending applications in August 2019 and that an agency team would be reviewing and discussing the draft regulation already in the pipeline this week.

Meanwhile, Volkow and Throckmorton were hesitant to jump on board the call for de-scheduling in light of the risk-focused research their government health agencies have been so keen to concentrate on, instead highlighting the need for improved but controlled access for researchers.

“Everyone up here has expressed the same concern: We need more research,” U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA) said after insisting that cannabis is a “gateway drug.” He went on to press Strait on action items, next steps, policy implementation. “Tell us what we need to do. Mr. Strait, what do you need? Do you need a ‘Schedule-I-a’ that’s not going to have anything in this except for marijuana? That’s fine with me! I’ll create it. I’ll legislate that. But tell me what it’s going to take.”

Strait responded by pointing out a 150% increase in the number of Schedule-I cannabis researchers in the last five years. He referenced proposals from the NIDA and the DEA to streamline access to cannabis for researchers interested in the plant.

Not known for having the same deeply embedded conservative demeanor as the U.S. Senate, participating House committee members were vocal in demonstrating their collective cognitive dissonance over slow-moving federal agencies.

Amidst the expected, but only occasional, “gateway drug” myth mentions, important questions were raised. When questioned by U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA), the witnesses agreed that the single-source NIDA product coming from the University of Mississippi was inadequate, that researchers should be able to access a wider variety of products, and that there were real life consequences due to lack of access to public products.

U.S. Rep. John Sarbanes (D-MD) submitted a letter from the University of Maryland, whose Master of Cannabis Therapeutics program is the first of its kind, discussing their desire for better access to legal market products for research without fear of losing federal funding. This brought up the need for better medical education that teaches providers about cannabis. Volkow responded that the scientific community doesn’t yet know enough to develop these programs. No mention was made of including the study of the endocannabinoid system as core curriculum within medical courses.

Notable testimony came from U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedy (D-MA) who observed that federal policy still rests on the impediments and rhetoric created during the Nixon administration:

“Meanwhile, millions of Americans—mostly black and brown—have been locked up for non-violent drug offenses,” he said. “Meanwhile, desperate parents are forced to turn to a black market with no concern for patient safety to get their children the relief that they need. Meanwhile our cities and states are trying, and at times stumbling, to put in place thoughtful and thorough regulatory frameworks with zero support from federal partners. And meanwhile, a brand new corporate industry is rising up, rife with predictable economic injustices that spring up whenever government fails to regulate. Prohibition has clearly failed and America isn’t waiting for its government anymore.”

While the continued congressional dialogue around pushing forward cannabis legislation that opens up research access, patient access and helps repair the deep damage caused by the drug war is novel and important, it remains unlikely that this administration will see these needed changes through. What can be said after hearing legislators repeatedly ask why federal health agencies have not been able to work together to come up with a solution that allows research on products that people are already consuming right now, is that the lack of knowledge, research and regulation is more of a public health concern than the cannabis itself.

Digital editor Eric Sandy contributed to this report.

Missouri: The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) has started the process of awarding medical cannabis manufacturing licenses to 86 facilities that will be able to manufacture cannabis-infused products such as edibles, tinctures and concentrates. DHSS issued 60 medical cannabis cultivation licenses last month, as well as 10 testing lab licenses, and is expected to issue dispensary licenses and select seed-to-sale tracking systems by the end of the month. Read more here https://www.cannabisdispensarymag.com/article/missouri-issues-medical-cannabis-manufacturing-licenses/

Illinois: The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation has announced that adult-use cannabis sales from Jan. 1 through Jan. 12 totaled nearly $20 million. Dispensaries processed 495,385 transactions and raked in $19,709,345.10 during the first 12 days sales. Read more

At Cresco Labs’ cannabis cultivation facility in Joliet, Ill., employees voted 58-37 in favor of joining United Food and Commercial Workers Local 881. The vote signals the first successful unionization attempt in Illinois—and just one case in a growing history across the U.S. cannabis industry. Read more

Montana: New Approach Montana, a statewide campaign working to legalize, regulate and tax marijuana, has submitted two complementary 2020 ballot initiatives to the state government for review. The first is a statutory initiative that would legalize marijuana in Montana for adults aged 21 and over and establish a regulatory framework for cultivation and sales. The second is a constitutional amendment that would allow the legal minimum age for marijuana consumption to be 21. Read more here: https://www.cannabisdispensarymag.com/article/new-approach-montana-submits-2020-marijuana-legalization-ballot-initiative-for-state-review/

Florida: Sen. Jeff Brandes (R-Pinellas County) filed legislation Jan. 13 that would legalize adult-use cannabis in the state. The move comes after two political action committees suspended their efforts to get legalization initiatives on the state’s 2020 ballot. Read more

Minnesota: An audit of the Minnesota Health Department’s controls and compliance has revealed several ways that the state’s medical cannabis program is not being correctly monitored. Department of Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm submitted a response to the audit, indicating that health officials agree with the findings and that they have made efforts throughout the past year to improve their oversight of the program, and that further improvements may require legislative action. Read more

New Mexico: Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is renewing her push to legalize adult-use cannabis this year, and has officially added the issue to the state’s 2020 legislative agenda. Grisham announced in March 2019 that she would like to tackle cannabis legalization in this year’s 30-day legislative session, after a legalization proposal stalled in the Senate last year. Read more here: https://www.cannabisdispensarymag.com/article/new-mexico-governor-adds-adult-use-cannabis-legalization-to-2020-legislative-agenda/

New Jersey: An appeals court in New Jersey has ruled that an employer must reimburse a former employee for the cost of medical cannabis in a move that could have far-reaching effects for the industry. Courts in other states, such as Connecticut, New Hampshire and New Mexico, have also ruled that injured employees must be reimbursed for their medical cannabis costs, but this marks the first ruling that dismisses employer’s arguments about running afoul of federal law. Read more here:
https://www.cannabisdispensarymag.com/article/appeals-court-rules-new-jersey-company-must-cover-employee-medical-cannabis-costs/

Rhode Island: Gov. Gina Raimondo released a state budget plan Jan. 16 that includes a proposal to legalize adult-use cannabis and distribute the products through state-run retailers. This is the second year Raimondo is including adult-use cannabis legalization in the state budget; she introduced a similar proposal last year, which was ultimately unsuccessful. Read more here: https://www.cannabisdispensarymag.com/article/rhode-island-governor-includes-cannabis-legalization-proposal-state-budget-plan/

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Green Thumb Industries (GTI) - “It’s time to get the data and let the decision be driven by the data,” U.S. Rep. Michael Burgess said during the hearing of the Health subcommittee of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. #cannabisresearch

“It’s time to get the data and let the decision be driven by the data,” U.S. Rep. Michael Burgess said during the hearing of the Health subcommittee of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. #cannabisresearch https://t.co/HuVGxBIoNy

— Green Thumb Industries (GTI) (@GTIGrows) January 20, 2020

US House panel calls for stepped-up marijuana research, which could prove critical to federal reform

https://mjbizdaily.com/us-house-panel-calls-for-stepped-up-marijuana-research-which-could-prove-critical-to-federal-reform/

Published January 15, 2020
By Jeff Smith

In a positive signal for the cannabis industry, lawmakers from both parties and three government witnesses told a U.S. congressional subcommittee Wednesday the federal government urgently needs more access to research around marijuana.

But it remains unclear when that will occur, which could hinder the cannabis industry’s prospects if additional research findings are needed to overcome the skepticism that is holding back federal legalization reform.

During the hearing, lawmakers spoke of a catch-22: Research is restricted because cannabis is currently considered a Schedule 1 drug under the Controlled Substance Act, yet more research would better determine if marijuana should be rescheduled or descheduled.
“It’s time to get the data and let the decision be driven by the data,” U.S. Rep. Michael Burgess, a Texas Republican, said during the hearing of the Health subcommittee of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. Burgess is the leading Republican on the subcommittee.

Research could take years, however.

The marijuana industry and a number of lawmakers – especially Democrats from the progressive wing – say it’s time to deschedule cannabis now.

Subcommittee Chair Anna Eshoo, a California Democrat, said the hearing was the first ever on cannabis by the Energy and Commerce Committee, the oldest committee in the House of Representatives.

She opened the hearing saying its purpose was to consider six bills, including three cannabis research bills and some descheduling measures, but the meeting focused more generally on what is currently known about the health effects of marijuana use and the impediments to further research.

No one from the cannabis industry was invited to testify, but Eshoo said she would have a follow-up hearing “with additional stakeholders.”

The status of cannabis as a Schedule 1 drug means that research needs to be approved by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and, although the DEA supports expanding research, it has yet to act on 33 pending research applications.

Critics have charged that the DEA is dragging its feet.

Matthew Strait, a DEA senior policy adviser, insisted in his testimony the agency is “fully committed” to supporting cannabis research.

But he received push back from U.S. Rep. Doris Matsui, a California Democrat, when he suggested delays were caused in part by incomplete research applications. Matsui said she believes the University of California, Berkeley, knows how to submit a complete application.

More to the current delay, the DEA determined it needed to establish new policies for evaluating cannabis research applications and for the research program in general.

A notice of proposed rule making is under review by the Trump administration’s Office of Management and Budget, according to Strait’s testimony.

But Strait didn’t give a specific timeline when the process would be finished and when the DEA would approve additional research applications.

Cannabis grown for research also is an issue.

Currently, the University of Mississippi is the only DEA-licensed cannabis supplier, and lawmakers and the three government witnesses agreed that’s inadequate. They said researchers need to assess a wide array of products and potencies sold in state-legal markets.

Rep. Joseph Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat, said the hearing was “long overdue.”

But Kennedy noted that “critical stakeholders” were missing from the conversation, including those who have been victims of the war on drugs, medical cannabis patients and “small-business owners trying to find a fair footing in the industry.”

Because industry was shut out of Wednesday’s hearing, a broad coalition representing the industry sent a letter to the subcommittee urging Congress to pass comprehensive legislation that would remove cannabis from the list of controlled substances and allow it to be regulated at the federal level.

Jeff Smith can be reached at [e-mail]

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N.J. cannabis industry leaders to gather at huge conference. Here’s how to attend.

Today 6:10 PM

By NJ Cannabis Insider staff

https://www.nj.com/marijuana/2020/01/nj-cannabis-industry-leaders-to-gather-at-huge-conference-heres-how-to-attend.html

On March 10, NJ Cannabis Insider will host the state’s premier all-day, multi-track panel event focused on the imminent legalization of adult-use cannabis, the expansion of the state’s medical marijuana program and the hemp/CBD industry at the New Jersey Conference and Expo Center in Edison.

The event, which starts at 10:30 a.m., packs in a full day of programming, panel discussions, networking opportunities and lunch. Early-bird discounted tickets are currently on sale; click here for details.

Confrimed speakers include, Devra Karlebach, CEO of Green Thumb Industries (GTI) NJ; Joseph Zoltowski, director of the Division of Plant Industry at the New Jersey Department of Agriculture; Leo Bridgewater of Minorities for Medical Marijuana and co-founder of Leaf Launch; Dr. Monica Taing of Doctors for Cannabis Regulation; Bill Caruso of Archer Law; Jeff Brown, assistant commissioner of the state Department of Health’s Medicinal Marijuana Program, and many other insiders helping to shape New Jersey’s newest lucrative industry.

Curated panels and breakout sessions are aimed at professionals coming from every level of experience, from those just entering to those ready to expand. Confirmed panels include:

Update on the Garden State market: The latest primer on what’s happening with the recent Request for Applications, licenses, the Cannabis Regulatory Commission, the November ballot referendum and everything in between.

Ins and outs of licensing: Get a rundown from professionals on the nitty-gritty, granular details on the Department of Health’s Request for Applications round, the licensing process and much more.

Hemp & CBD: Farm to Gummy Bears: Cannabis may be in limbo until November, but it’s full speed ahead for hemp in New Jersey. Learn about the regulations, licensing process and players shaping the industry.

NIMBY or Welcome to town? Mayors, municipal officials and professionals weigh in on how to navigate home rule, local zoning and public outreach.
Medical cannabis — The next frontier: Medical professionals discuss the state of cannabis research and the forces shaping it.

Walking the Walk — Diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives: Everyone talks about inclusivity and diversity in the cannabis industry, but this panel will weigh in with how to ensure there’s follow through from the industry and regulator.

Special attention will also be given to a priority outlined in Jake Honig’s Law: awarding 15% of licenses to minority owners and 15% to women, disabled people and veterans. More speakers and panels will be announced in the coming days.

For a limited-time only, you can receive a discount by purchasing tickets at an early-bird rate.