Tag: medical marijuana

The origins of weed: How the plant spread across the world

Cannabis has grown and evolved with humans for thousands of years. Many separate cultures cultivated the plant, using its seeds for food, its fibers to make textiles, rope, and other materials, and its buds as a medicine and psychoactive substance in spiritual ceremonies. Cannabis proved to be a very useful plant for our ancestors and it continues to be today.

If there was one thing our ancestors knew, it was the healing properties of cannabis. While the wonders of cannabis medicine may feel like a new discovery in the West, cultures in the East have used and documented it for thousands of years. 

Check out the story of cannabis—where it originated, how it spread across the globe, and which cultures used it. Learn how important the plant was to ancient humans and how it continues to be important to humans today. 

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The United States of Weed

IF IT SEEMS like a new state is legalizing cannabis nearly every week, don’t worry, you’re not high — states are indeed allowing adult-use of the drug at an unprecedented pace. If the wave of green legislation is slowing to some degree now, that’s only because so many states have already taken action. That doesn’t mean the wave will stop. Since our last update two years ago, numerous states have passed recreational or medical laws. At the same time, setbacks have come as ballot initiatives have been rejected. In other instances, lawmakers and certain governors remain steadfast in their opposition to pot. 

It’s now a question of when, not if, politicians in Washington, D.C., will get with the program and decide to do what the majority of Americans support by passing legislation to end federal prohibition once and for all. In 2022, Politico reported that over 155 million Americans lived in a legal cannabis state after the November 2022 Election Day results — inching closer to 50 percent of the population. In the meantime, states are continuing to prime themselves to legalize the drug, either for medicinal use, recreational use, or both. Here’s where things stand is all 50 of them.

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The 6,000-Year History of Medical Cannabis

Since the early 20th century, the use of cannabis for any purpose fell out of favor by both regulators and Western culture at large.

In the United States, a wave of regulations made access to cannabis more difficult starting from the late 1900s, ultimately culminating in the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937, which effectively made cannabis use a federal offense. Meanwhile, prohibition in Canada lasted for 85 years until being lifted by recent developments.

Interestingly, however, this recent period of 20th century opposition is actually just a small speck in the wider 6,000-year timeline of cannabis. After all, the plant has been widely regarded for its therapeutic potential for many millennia by different cultures around the world.

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Circle K To Start Selling Marijuana At Its Florida Stores

In another big step along America’s path to normalizing the use of a once-taboo plant, major convenience-store chain Circle K will begin selling marijuana at its Florida gas stations. 

Circle K’s foray into the marijuana business will go live in 2023, through a partnership with Chicago-based Green Thumb Industries, a medical and recreational cannabis wholesaler and retailer with a presence in 15 states. Florida’s marijuana market is the country’s second largest, trailing only California.  

Green Thumb CEO Ben Kovler calls the new venture a “game-changer”: 

“The new RISE Express model is a huge step forward in making it easier and more efficient for patients to purchase high-quality cannabis as part of their everyday routine when stopping by their local convenience store.” 

Circle K parent Couche-Tard is a global pioneer. “Legal marijuana has so far been sold only in stand-alone dispensaries in the US and within pharmacies in countries such as Uruguay and Germany,” reports Bloomberg. Couche-Tard also has a Canadian convenience-store cannabis pilot with Fire & Flower.

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Florida’s AG Commissioner Challenges DOJ Reply in Cannabis Patients’ Gun Rights Suit

Florida’s Agriculture Commissioner took issue with a recent Department of Justice memo attached to a move to dismiss a lawsuit that challenges disqualifying the state’s medical cannabis patients from legally owning firearms. The memo characterized marijuana users as “dangerous.”

“The DOJ’s argument is as offensive as it is inaccurate,” Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, a Democrat, said in an Aug. 8 written statement. “We were disappointed not only with the  motion but with the memo attached to the motion, calling marijuana users dangerous.”

“DOJ’s argument is … inaccurate, utilizing centuries-old case law and making false claims demonizing medical marijuana patients—including perpetuating prejudicial stereotypes that cannabis users are dangerous or mentally ill.”

However, the Justice Department argues in their request for dismissal that it would be “dangerous to trust regular marijuana users to exercise sound judgment” with firearms because marijuana “causes significant mental and physical impairments that make it dangerous for a person to possess (a) firearm.”

On Aug. 9, Fried responded to a motion from the DOJ to dismiss her April lawsuit challenging the disqualification of the state’s nearly 741,000 medical cannabis patients with active identification cards from owning firearms. According to Fried’s office, Florida has 2.5 million concealed weapons permit holders on record.

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Researchers Discover Cannabis-Mushroom Combination that ‘Kills Over 90% of Colon Cancer Cells’

For years, when it comes to cannabis research, Israeli scientists have been pioneers. Thanks to the tyrannical schedule one rating in the United States, Israel is years ahead of American research, and the latest information out of Herzliya, Israel, is proof.

Though breast cancer is more diagnosed in the United States, colorectal cancer kills far more people, coming in as the second most deadly cancer in the world, just under lung cancer. For the last several years, scientists with Cannabotech, a biomedical company developing oncological products using cannabis, have been developing an “Integrative-Colon” product they say kills over 90% of colon cancer cells. 

According to Cannabotech, the have concluded a study using not only cannabis, but a unique combination of cannabinoids and mushroom extracts, which they tested on various colon cancer subtypes, representing different molecular changes common in these colon cancer subtypes. Their results of the cell model study were astounding, showing that its “Integrative-Colon” products killed over 90% of colon cancer cells — and they attribute this to to the mushroom and cannabis combination.

Results showed that Cannabotech’s Integrative-Colon products composition is significantly more effective than each cannabinoid individually, and there is a strong synergy between the active ingredients. These results reinforce Cannabotech’s claim that to achieve effective treatment in the oncology field, it is necessary to build a defined, accurate and science-based formula, which cannot be obtained in any cannabis strain that exists in nature.

Given the fact that the survival rate for colorectal cancer is just 65%, the idea that an easily grown plant and fungus could be used to save hundreds of thousands of lives, is inspiring to say the least.

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