Catalyst Cannabis Co., a major marijuana dispensary chain in California, has initiated court action against an emergency rule alteration implemented by state tax authorities in December. The company, operating under the name HNHPC Inc., went to court on Dec. 28, 2023, in the Superior Court of Orange County.
The suit alleges collusion between the state’s fee administration and tax department and the Administrative Law Office, accusing them of two key violations: imposing excise levies on nonmarijuana products such as accessories and exploiting emergency regulatory powers to hastily enforce retroactive regulations without sufficient notice to affected companies.
The crux of the legal challenge revolves around the interpretation of excise taxes on various elements of marijuana products. Taking a vape cartridge as a primary example, the suit claims that excise taxes should exclusively affect the marijuana oil, excluding the entire item, including the packaging and pen mechanism. This exemption would only apply if the vendor itemizes charges for both the marijuana oil plus the nonmarijuana components.
Under this approach, the retailer would only pay the 15% excise tax on the oil, typically valued at around $5, leading to a tax of only 75 cents. Catalyst Cannabis Co., based in Long Beach, California, has been employing this method to calculate excise taxes for more than a year, according to company executives and court documents.
As one of the state’s major cannabis operators, with 25 stores located mainly in Southern California, Catalyst is challenging the state regulators’ position outlined in Emergency Regulation 3802. According to this regulation, excise taxes should also cover “optional tangible personal property.” The broader definition encompasses the entire vape device, packaging and associated components. Consequently, under the state’s directive, a $40 vape pen would incur a $6 excise tax, which is eight times the tax applied solely to the oil.
Catalyst CEO Elliot Lewis, a vocal critic of the state’s marijuana regulations, expressed confidence in the lawsuit’s success. Lewis anticipates that overturning Regulation 3802 could potentially redirect millions back to the both marijuana industry and consumers.
Lewis has received supportive calls from fellow marijuana operators and foresees a ripple effect with other retailers reevaluating their excise tax calculations. He believes that by the second quarter of 2024, excise levy submissions to the state will reflect this recalibration, projecting a significant reduction from an estimated $600 million to around $200 million annually.
In Lewis’s view, the judicial intervention presents a crucial opportunity for relief and reform in the marijuana industry, emphasizing the potential impact on both industry finances and consumer costs.
The outcome of this lawsuit will be of interest to cannabis companies such as Cresco Labs Inc. (CSE: CL) (OTCQX: CRLBF) because it could pave the way for similar legal challenges in other jurisdictions where the same formula is used to levy taxes on cannabis products.
About CNW420
CNW420 spotlights the latest developments in the rapidly evolving cannabis industry through the release of two informative articles each business day. Our concise, informative content serves as a gateway for investors interested in the legalized cannabis sector and provides updates on how regulatory developments may impact financial markets. Articles are released each business day at 4:20 a.m. and 4:20 p.m. Eastern – our tribute to the time synonymous with cannabis culture. If marijuana and the burgeoning industry surrounding it are on your radar, CNW420 is for you! Check back daily to stay up-to-date on the latest milestones in the fast -changing world of cannabis.
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There are a multitude of other dimensional worlds most of us humans remain unaware of because we are currently limited in our perceptions to the five senses. At every moment we are both surrounded by and permeated with a multitude of waveforms moving throughout this illusory holographic universe. Our five senses constantly interpret and translate only a small portion of these waveforms. We mistake the data from the five senses as the only accepted ‘real’. Thus deluded we miss most of the universe, the Invisible Realms and the Myriad Worlds.
We are nonetheless affected by these waveforms, which are beyond our perceptions. Anyone who realized this basic metaphysical truth would understand that it is possible to use various types of ‘emitters’, human or otherwise, to generate waveforms of a specific frequency. These frequencies can have a wide spectrum of effects. They can uplift, calm, heal and nourish – or they can be used to entrain human consciousness, to dominate and control the hologram and everyone who is susceptible within it.
If your own level of consciousness does not vibrate at a frequency above these emitted waveforms – not on ‘higher ground’ – then you might be confused and deluded by them. You could remain vulnerable to such manipulation if you had not yet realized the mechanics of the temporal illusory hologram – MAYA & the GUNAS. Or perhaps you are completely unconscious of the existence of the underlying waveforms that weave our universe into existence.
You would therefore be picking up these transmissions and mistaking them for ‘reality’.
Your acceptance of various waveforms is completely up to you. So here we are in the Twilight of the Kali Yuga, hidden in our data-collecting vehicles (human bodies), trying to Remember who we are – lost in the miasma of amnesia generated by the emitters of MAYA.
Enslaved couch potatoes are evidence that TV is one such emitter. Or the emitters of frequency that effect human consciousness could be even more bewilderingly sinister – radio & microwave towers, HAARP, perhaps large scale emitters from off-planet. Or is the current consciousness on the planet coming from something more hidden and occult — something that gets its power from ritual, from ‘sacrifice’, from pain, fear and war.
Even though most of us are unaware of the Invisible Realms and the hierarchies of beings that exist and have always existed all around us, there are many, many entities transmitting all kinds of information. From angels to ETs we are faced with a plethora of sources often fascinating and revealing, while other transmissions are just plain perilous to your soul.
ET transmissions often contain a plethora of potential confusion – and may even have dangerous consequences. Such material can be misunderstood and used for the most obliquely tyrannical purposes.
On sober and mindful consideration, it becomes evident that the various ETs, who are currently interacting with third dimensional planet Earth, will of necessity only have access to and memory of those ‘fields of consciousness’ they themselves possess.
If they themselves are not living within a waveform of enlightenment, they consequently will have NO knowledge of a higher consciousness of ONENESS and will behave accordingly from their own perspective and with their own agenda. Like any being in any dimensional realm, the ETs will behave according to the level of their understanding of universal metaphysical Truth.
Just because some of these ET possess what appears to be advanced technology to us humans, does NOT mean that these beings are evolved – nor does it mean that they have our Earth-based interest at heart. It could be more a case of the soldiers who offered the Native American Indians horses and bourbon for their land. We all know the end of that story – genocide!
In this Cycle of Time, the Law of Dharma has all but disappeared from the earth plane. This is the time of the false prophet as people become more fearful, more desperate, and easy pickings!
Whatever these ETs or ‘angels’ or whatever transmit into our human awareness will only be a reflection of their own limitations relative to the precise vibratory frequency of their own consciousness and dimensional LOKA world. They are part of the external and temporal illusory hologram.
Trust only the God-within you, the SELF, your ATMA.
In the ever-evolving landscape of cannabis, the role of advocacy stands as a powerful force that has shaped the industry’s past and continues to influence its future.
Learn the method behind Oaksterdam University’s unique and effective brand of advocacy in our first-ever free Advocacy LIVE class, 4 p.m. PT/7 p.m. ET, Thursday, Jan. 18.
Leaders in Advocacy
Oaksterdam leadership has stood as advocates of cannabis legalization since our involvement with California’s Prop 19 campaign in 2010. As the first statewide adult use legalization campaign in the U.S., it ignited international debate and served as a blueprint for cannabis reform across the nation and around the world.
As the industry continues to grow, our work continues toward federal legalization in the U.S., the end of cannabis criminalization, and fair and equitable opportunities in the cannabis space. At Oaksterdam, we believe that active participation in advocacy is crucial for fostering acceptance and driving change.
About the Course
This free, virtual course explores the collective quest for social, legal and political acceptance of cannabis use. It reviews how advocacy has played a crucial role in shifting the perception of cannabis and how you can get involved in effectively advocating to advance the industry.
Meet the Instructor: Tiffany Watkins
The course will be taught by Oaksterdam Horticulture Faculty Tiffany “LadyCanna” Watkins. Tiffany is the founder of Vanguard Media Online, a platform and magazine dedicated to women in cannabis. She has been involved in grassroots campaigning and advocacy for more than 30 years. Heavily involved in patient representation, harm reduction, public policy, and overall community organizing, her goal is to elevate and unify people in order to make pivotal change.
About Oaksterdam
Oaksterdam University is the world’s first cannabis college, and a forerunner in advocating for cannabis legalization. We provide the highest quality education in the industry, training individuals, teams, academia, and regulators. Our faculty is composed of professionals and subject matter experts who have taught more than 80,000 alumni from 110 countries.
Register Now
Click the button below and fill out the online form to secure your seat for this free Advocacy Live Class. You will receive login instructions via email, ensuring you have immediate access to this exclusive learning opportunity.
Learn how to inspire positive change in your community and foster goodwill in personal and business ventures. You will leave this course with simple, straightforward tools to affect change at the local, state and federal levels, as well as among people around you. The lessons focus on cannabis but can be applied as a roadmap to advancing any cause.
Currently, the state of California has the largest number of clinical studies in the country, making up more than 25% of registered clinical trials within the United States. Despite this, numerous studies that involve substances under Schedule I and II haven’t begun, even after obtaining clearance from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and institutional review boards.
This is mainly because of the Research Advisory Panel of California (RAP-C), established under state law as the California Research Advisory Panel back in 1965. The RAP-C encourages and coordinates further studies of psychedelics and marijuana. The panel also studies the effects and nature of hallucinogenic drugs or marijuana and holds hearings on research projects to be approved. This panel has the power to approve research projects or even withdraw that approval.
The RAP-C comprises of five members, including investigators with significant experience investigating scheduled drugs such as psychedelics. Current members include Jennifer Mitchell and Boris Heifets. The cause of slow advancement in psychedelic research in California is due to the panel’s apparent inability to meet. The final meetings of the 2023 calendar year, scheduled for October and December, were cancelled. This meant that applications submitted up to Sept. 1, 2023, remained in bureaucratic limbo.
The panel only meets six times annually, which increases backlog if proposals aren’t approved within the stipulated windows.
The state’s AG says sponsors or researchers must tender their applications to RAP-C for any study projects that are to be carried out in California if any of the following reasons apply:
Schedule I drug is administered in nonhuman research
A Schedule I or II drug is the primary study substance or a comparison substance/drug for studies involving human subjects
Any study on the treatment of controlled substance use disorder uses any non-scheduled or scheduled drug
It is important to keep in mind that sponsors can only present their planned studies to the board after receiving all other required approvals, such as those from the FDA and DEA as well as safety monitoring boards and institutional review boards.
Once a research plan is submitted, RAP-C may reject, approve or suggest amendments. In 2022, the panel reviewed more than 50 study applications. Of the total number, 3 didn’t receive approval or were withdrawn, 36 obtained approval and 15 were pending finalization as of Dec. 31, 2022.
According to RAP-C’s 2022 annual report, ongoing studies also include research on MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for post-traumatic stress disorder; psilocybin for anxiety and depression among Parkinson’s disease patients; and psilocybin therapy for chronic lower back and phantom limb pain, among others.
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(CNW) Calgary — High Tide Inc., the high-impact, retail-forward enterprise built to deliver real-world value across every component of cannabis, announced today that it will release its financial and operational results for the quarter and year ended October 31, 2023, after financial markets close on Monday, January 29, 2024. High Tide’s fourth quarter and year-end 2023 financial and operational results will be available on SEDAR+, EDGAR, and on the company’s website at hightideinc.com/invest.
Following the release of its fourth quarter and year-end financial and operational results, High Tide will host a webcast with Raj Grover, founder and chief executive officer, and Sergio Patino, chief financial officer, to discuss the company’s financial results and its plans for 2024, at 11:30 AM Eastern Time on Tuesday, January 30.
Participants are encouraged to pre-register for the webcast by clicking on the link above prior to the beginning of the live webcast. Three hours after the live webcast, a replay of the webcast will be available at the same link above.
Participants who wish to ask questions during the event may do so through the call-in line, the access information for which is as follows:
Canada (Local): 1 226 828 7575 Canada (Toll-Free): 1 833 950 0062 United States (Local): 1 404 975 4839 United States (Toll-Free): 1 833 470 1428 Global Dial-In Numbers:www.netroadshow.com/events/global-numbers?confId=59676 Participant Access Code: 499316
*Participants will need to enter the participant access code before being met by a live operator*
Proficiency Testing Canada (PTC) is a not-for-profit organization that improves laboratory data quality by providing laboratories with essential quality assurance tools.
Accredited to ISO/IEC 17043 General requirements for the competence of proficiency testing providers, PTC has been providing proficiency testing for laboratories to help monitor performance and compare results amongst peers since 1991.
By providing a personalized service geared towards testing laboratory needs, PTC helps ensure samples arrive ready for analysis, reducing the chance of error and providing samples that are more consistent with typical samples. Reports are then quickly provided, containing all of the information needed to support laboratory accreditation and, if required, take corrective action.
Proficiency Testing Canada is the only Canadian provider of real cannabis samples for potency and pesticide testing. This increases the confidence in your results by using cannabis instead of spiked hemp. The results will more accurately reflect real-world samples.
Nadine Lewis, Program Management Officer
While some agencies might use samples of hemp, PTC results are more accurate because they use actual cannabis samples found on the market for potency and pesticides.
“Proficiency Testing Canada is the only Canadian provider of real cannabis samples for potency and pesticide testing,” explains Nadine Lewis. “This increases the confidence in your results by using cannabis instead of spiked hemp. The results will more accurately reflect real-world samples.
“We also provide other chemistry schemes for cannabis in hemp and oil such as metals, residual solvents, and moisture/water activity.”
Last fall, PTC also introduced three new microbiology schemes in various cannabis surrogates such as oil, edibles, and flower. Laboratories participating in these schemes have the opportunity to report on crucial microbial parameters, including E. coli, Total Coliforms, and Salmonella spp.
“Proficiency testing monitors the quality of the laboratory’s testing methods and procedures,” shares Nadine. ”It provides confidentiality when comparing their test results against other cannabis testing laboratories conducting the same tests.”
From 1991 to the end of 2019, the Proficiency Testing Canada schemes operated under the management of the Canadian Association for Laboratory Accreditation (CALA), explains Nadine. Because of changes in CALA’s international recognition, the operation of these programs was transferred from CALA to PTC. Currently, PTC and CALA operate independently as not-for-profit organizations.
“Laboratories that are seeking accreditation to ISO/IEC 17025:2017 General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories need to meet requirements of Clause 7.7.2 requiring participation in either proficiency testing and/or interlaboratory comparisons. All applicant/accredited laboratories must periodically demonstrate their technical proficiency by satisfactory participation in a suitable proficiency testing activity or interlaboratory study.”
In addition, “CALA has a membership program,” she adds, “which is open to any organization with an interest in the work of public and private laboratories across Canada and around the world. PTC offers discounted rates for CALA member laboratories.
Since Health Canada’s licensing program for Analytical Testing Laboratories under the Cannabis Act and Cannabis Regulations does not currently align with international standards for laboratory competence outlined in ISO/IEC 17025:2017, participation in proficiency testing is not the norm in the industry,” Nadine says. “Cannabis producers hoping to ship cannabis internationally will face increased pressure to have their products tested by an accredited laboratory.”
Despite some of these challenges, Nadine remains confident that the industry is evolving and maturing, including with lab and testing standards.
“The cannabis industry will see improvement in compliance and quality assurance in the near future. Education of stakeholders, sharing of best practices, and engagement with governing bodies like Health Canada will raise the industry standards. Proficiency Testing Canada is always seeking feedback from laboratories to ensure a personalized service that is unique to their needs.”
As cannabis strains have become increasingly potent over the years, THC potency has become a major determining factor for consumers when they buy cannabis products. Brands have invested heavily in R&D efforts to develop more potent strains, and they regularly display high potency as one of their products’ selling points.
Even though potency will continue to be a primary determining factor for the majority of consumers, secondary factors will also affect how cannabis genetics trends in 2024 across the country. Aside from high-THC genetics, experts on high-yield cultivars say that cannabis consumers are becoming increasingly interested in factors such as terpene profiles, minor cannabinoids and legacy strains bred with high-THC marijuana strains.
While THC is the most prominent compound in the cannabis plant, it is just one of more than 100 cannabinoids produced by plants in the cannabis family, including marijuana and hemp. Aside from THC, cannabis has tons of other cannabinoids, such as the well-known CBD (cannabidiol) and lesser-known ones such as CBN and THCV, which are starting to gain attraction.
On top of cannabinoids, marijuana also produces a plethora of terpenes that are responsible for the flavors, aromas and colors of different cannabis strains.
Some research has found that when cannabis plants are taken in their entirety with the complete profile of terpenes, they trigger an “entourage effect” that pronounces the effects of all the different compounds in cannabis as they interact. These factors will likely become more prominent in the future as America’s state-legal cannabis market grows and matures.
In the meantime, however, potency is still the main determining factor for most consumers when they walk into a cannabis dispensary. Reggie Harris, cofounder and CEO of House of Kush, a genetics company located in Missouri, says some of the dispensaries his company works with have reported that they don’t want cannabis with less than 25% THC or will only purchase those lower levels at lower prices.
Harris notes that even though people are fond of legacy cannabis strains such as OG Kush and Bubba Kush, high-THC strains attract the most customer attention. House of Kush specializes in producing such legacy strains and has started crossbreeding them with other genetics to increase their potency while maintaining their legacy genetics. These types of genetics could be a major hit this year because they are still recognizable to most customers yet contain higher potency levels.
Terpenes such as myrcene and limonene as well as minor cannabinoids such as THCV and CBN may also determine consumers’ cannabis purchasing decisions moving forward. Leading enterprises such as Canopy Growth Corp. (NASDAQ: CGC) (TSX: WEED) could be looking for ways to leverage this change in consumer preferences.
About CNW420
CNW420 spotlights the latest developments in the rapidly evolving cannabis industry through the release of two informative articles each business day. Our concise, informative content serves as a gateway for investors interested in the legalized cannabis sector and provides updates on how regulatory developments may impact financial markets. Articles are released each business day at 4:20 a.m. and 4:20 p.m. Eastern – our tribute to the time synonymous with cannabis culture. If marijuana and the burgeoning industry surrounding it are on your radar, CNW420 is for you! Check back daily to stay up-to-date on the latest milestones in the fast -changing world of cannabis.
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“We are all Mothers of God, for God is always needing to be reborn.” ~Meister Eckhart
The concept of God is a thorny subject at best and a slippery slope at worst. This is in no small part due to cultural conditioning, cognitive dissonance, and religious indoctrination. But it is important enough of a subject that it needs to be addressed, again and again, lest we become myopic and stuck as a species.
Our main hangup is belief itself. So many of us “believe” in God without even understanding what either belief or God even means. We think our beliefs are true without question. When, in reality, all beliefs are questionable because Truth is always elusive. Truth cannot be pigeonholed.
When it comes to the concept of God, most people want their cake and eat it too. They want their God to be both infinite and a being. This denotes a supreme naivete toward the concept of infinity itself.
Infinity is the interconnectedness of all things and nothing, forever and never. It’s infinite somethingness and infinite nothingness, never beginning and never ending. It’s all things and no things all at once. It’s immeasurable, endless, inestimable.
So, when someone says, “God is infinite.” What do they mean? They usually mean God is all things. But they also usually mean that God is a being who is separate from all things and created all things, which is contradictory. For a “being” denotes a finitude. Hence the wanting of the cake and the eating of the cake at the same time. They want to force an all-creating finite being called God into the category of “infinity.”
But if, as Joseph Campbell said, “God is an infinite sphere, whose center is everywhere and circumference nowhere,” then it stands to reason that God cannot only be a single being. God cannot be finite or have any finite attributes unless it is seen as merely an aspect of God.
Hence the need to redefine God as all things. A table is God. A fork is God. A tree is God. You are God. I am God. The earth is God. The universe is God. All things are God. This works, because although all these things are finite, we are also saying that all these things are aspects of the infinite, which is God.
God then takes on a whole new wholistic light: God is infinity itself, the interconnectedness of all things without a need to pigeonhole it into any single separate entity. God is thus finally “allowed” to be infinite without any finite (dogmatic) caveats.
The fascinating thing is that when you redefine God and allow God to be truly infinite it demolishes all religious gods that came before it.
The Religious God:
“One of the main functions of organized religion is to protect people against a direct experience of God.” ~Carl Jung
The problem with the religious conception of God is that religions want their “God” to be both infinite and finite. They want the judgmental being and the infinite interconnectedness. They want their God to both condone their dogma and condemn anything outside it and somehow have also created what it condemns. They want their God to be everywhere and also only in a perfect afterworld.
The religious God is dogmatic and rigid, authoritative and fearmongering, and driven by certainty at the expense of truth. It’s two-faced and mealymouthed. It wants you to believe in it and only it, usually taking the form of a male figurehead, while also espousing that it is still all things. It wants you to be dependent upon humankind’s fallible interpretation of it. It wants you to never look away. And it uses no end of fear tactics to keep you from thinking outside of its “holy” box.
As Eric Fromm warned, “When people can’t handle God anymore, they turn to religion.”
Indeed. When people can’t handle raw Infinity, they turn to the all-too-human fallible interpretation of Infinity instead. When people can’t handle existential angst, death anxiety, and eternal overwhelm, they turn to the easiness, placation, and pseudo-salve of religion.
The religious god doesn’t want you to look away because you might discover that God is all things and not only what your fallible religion has claimed it is. It wants you to remain fearful of the unknown. It wants you cowering behind a bible or a Koran or a Bhagavad Gita. It wants you walking on eggshells afraid of committing blasphemy.
The religious god doesn’t want you to know that God is truly infinite. It doesn’t want you to know that God is the interconnectedness of all things. It doesn’t want you to know that you are God, as all things are God. Because then it cannot control you.
It doesn’t want you to know that God is Infinity itself because then you won’t need its finite path. The religious god is a middleman, a false god, a mockery of Infinity. It doesn’t want you to be awake and empowered; it wants you to be asleep and dependent.
The Spiritual God:
“Spirituality, when pure, connects us to the godhead with infinitely more efficacy and grace than does religiosity.” ~Tom Robbins
The spiritual God cuts out the middleman of religion. There’s no need for dogma. There’s no need for pigeonholed “truth.” There’s no need for having your cake and eat it too. Infinity is all the sustenance you will ever need. The interconnectedness of all things—as scary as it is when you really let it sink in—is the only God that really matters in any reasonable sense.
The spiritual God is liberating (courage-based) rather than authoritative (fear-based). It is painful growth rather than comfortable stagnation. It’s open-minded questioning rather than close-minded acceptance. It’s interdependent rather than codependent. It speaks a language older than words rather than a language limited by words. It is driven by curiosity rather than driven by certainty.
The spiritual God lifts the veil. It unfetters the soul. It casts the heart out on a fishing line hoping to catch a big fish called “Truth” only to toss it back with the understanding that the journey must remain the thing; that the Truth Quest must stay ahead of any given “truth” lest we flounder and grow stale in comfort, certainty, or ignorance.
The spiritual God does not want you turn away from the Great Mystery. It wants you to look deeply into it. It wants you to take it all in. All of it. The good and the bad. The fear and the love. The death and the life. It wants you to embrace death anxiety in all its painful glory. For therein lies the truth: that the truth will always be elusive. And that’s okay.
The spiritual God is not a finite answer but an infinite question. It’s not a closed-in period but an open-ended question mark. Its food is curiosity. It teaches you to never settle on an answer, for there lies stagnation, rotten fruit, and flies in the ointment. There lie conmen, snake oil salesmen, and charlatans.
It teaches how the certainty of the religious god is like standing water. It becomes murky, poisonous, and undrinkable when not treated. It teaches you how to persistently treat “clear” the water with curiosity, and how to keep it clean with constant and persistent inquiry. It prevents close-mindedness and dogmatism from ever trapping you by teaching you, as Aristotle advised, “how to entertain a thought without accepting it.”
Image source: Chat-GPT Image of God with an Ecstatic Bunny as the Theme
About the Author:
Gary Z McGee, a former Navy Intelligence Specialist turned philosopher, is the author of Birthday Suit of God and The Looking Glass Man. His works are inspired by the great philosophers of the ages and his wide-awake view of the modern world.
This article (Redefining God) was originally created and published by Self-inflicted Philosophy and is printed here under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Gary Z McGee and self-inflictedphilosophy.com. It may be re-posted freely with proper attribution, author bio, and this statement of copyright.
A survey from The Ohio State University (OSU) has found that a majority of active armed services personnel and retired veterans, as well as their families, believe Veteran Administration (VA) doctors should be allowed to recommend psychedelics and medical marijuana to patients who stand to benefit from these treatments.
OSU researchers surveyed active-duty military personnel, veterans, their families, and even nonmilitary respondents from late August to early September 2023 on their thoughts about making medical marijuana and psychedelics accessible as treatment options. The 1,168 participants surveyed for the poll included 315 active as well as retired members of the military, 426 individuals from military families, plus 427 people outside the military.
Researchers say that due to the huge caseload of health problems in the veteran society plus the necessity of a variety of treatment alternatives for retired military service members, some scientists are exploring if and how veterans should access alternative treatments such as cannabis and psychedelics.
Medical marijuana has been around for more than two decades and is now legal in dozens of states across the United States. Several studies have found that the controversial plant has numerous potential health benefits and can help alleviate the symptoms of conditions that typically affect veterans, including anxiety disorders and chronic pain. However, VA doctors aren’t technically allowed to recommend medical marijuana to their patients because they are limited to prescribing medications that are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for medical use.
Study authors also noted that studies on veteran issues rarely explore how veterans’ perspectives on specific drug issues in relation to the views held by individuals within their immediate plus broader communities.
The recent study drew its participants from the volunteer American Population Panel and asked those participants whether they were in agreement with a quartet of statements regarding cannabis and psychedelics. The last statement said that VA doctors should be able to recommend both marijuana and psychedelics if they believe their patients could benefit from them due to the “unique hardships and health conditions” veterans experience.
The majority of all the three groups surveyed said both drugs can be efficacious therapies. Even more stated that VA physicians should be permitted to recommend them to patients who may benefit. Additionally, all groups supported the idea that VA doctors shouldn’t need the FDA’s approval to recommend either psychedelics or cannabis.
The results of this survey underscores what the broader cannabis industry, including leading entities such as Trulieve Cannabis Corp. (CSE: TRUL) (OTCQX: TCNNF) have always believed, that marijuana could benefit in one way or the other nearly every section of the population that is struggling with health issues.
About CNW420
CNW420 spotlights the latest developments in the rapidly evolving cannabis industry through the release of two informative articles each business day. Our concise, informative content serves as a gateway for investors interested in the legalized cannabis sector and provides updates on how regulatory developments may impact financial markets. Articles are released each business day at 4:20 a.m. and 4:20 p.m. Eastern – our tribute to the time synonymous with cannabis culture. If marijuana and the burgeoning industry surrounding it are on your radar, CNW420 is for you! Check back daily to stay up-to-date on the latest milestones in the fast -changing world of cannabis.
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