The Department of Justice (DOJ) is requesting a favorable result in related litigation and has alerted a federal court that it thinks a different court’s decision in a case involving cannabis and gun rights was made erroneously. The federal government wrote a one-page letter to the judges presiding over the Eleventh Circuit contesting a recent ruling by the Fifth Circuit Court, where it was concluded that the law forbidding individuals who consume cannabis from purchasing or owning firearms violates the Constitution.
The DOJ is vigorously appealing this judgment because it is relevant to litigation pending before the Eleventh Circuit. Although the focus of that lawsuit, which was originally brought by Nikki Fried, the former Agriculture Commissioner for Florida, is more restricted to patients registered with the state for medical cannabis to possess firearms, the case’s fundamental elements remain similar.
With the Florida-based lawsuit scheduled to engage in oral arguments next month, the DOJ has expressed concern that the recent ruling from the Fifth Circuit diverges from numerous other judicial decisions, both at the circuit and district court levels. Various courts have already heard cases challenging firearms prohibition at the federal level concerning marijuana consumers. While the ruling from the influential Fifth Circuit stands out, two separate district courts have reached the same conclusion.
The central argument revolves around a key precedent set by a recent Supreme Court decision that emphasized that any regulations on firearms must align with the historical setting established during the Second Amendment’s ratification in 1791. In its recent ruling, the Fifth Circuit dismissed the government’s position that gun restrictions placed on dangerous, mentally ill and actively intoxicated people in the 18th and 19th centuries complied with the strict standards established by Supreme Court precedent, noting that the government’s justification for the ban lacked a strong historical precedent.
At present, the decision made by the Fifth Circuit makes the ban invalid in Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana. Conversely, the Eleventh Circuit holds jurisdiction over Georgia, Florida and Alabama. Should the Eleventh Circuit ultimately affirm the ban’s constitutionality, it could potentially lead to Supreme Court intervention due to conflicting decisions among various circuit courts.
In an interesting twist, legal representatives for Hunter Biden, who has been accused of purchasing a gun in 2018 while disclosing that he was a crack cocaine user, have previously invoked a ruling from the Western District Court of Oklahoma. Biden is the son of President Joe Biden. Hunter’s legal team argues that the ruling, which found the ban on firearms for cannabis consumers to be unconstitutional, has similar bearings to their client’s case. The DOJ is currently appealing the district court’s decision to the Tenth Circuit Court.
Additionally, a judge in the Western District Court of Texas declared that laws that forbid the transfer and sale of firearms to marijuana users are unconstitutional.
While the courts determine whether or not state-legal marijuana users can legally possess firearms, the formulations being developed can help patients steer clear of these controversies by taking the FDA-approved, cannabis-derived drugs.
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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“I must be myself, I cannot break myself any longer for you. . .If you can love me for what I am, we shall be the happier. If you cannot, I will still seek to deserve that you should.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance
The great 19th century American philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson believed that to flourish we must be a non-conformist. If we just think as others think and do as others do, we limit our potential and place our health or sickness at the mercy of social forces beyond our control. In this video we are going to explore the dangers of conformity, what non-conformity meant for Emerson, and how the non-conformist acts as a force of good in a society gone mad.
“Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance
To be a conformist is to orient our life around the dominant norms, values, and ideals of our society. It is to allow the boundaries and templates of our culture to shape our sense of self. Most of us become conformists without reflecting on what we are doing – we see everyone around us conforming and so it feels natural to do the same. But conformity comes at a price, or as Emerson stated in a lecture given in 1844:
“I pay a destructive tax in my conformity.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Lecture Read Before the Society in Amory Hall, March 1844
In any society only certain character traits are favoured by the trends of conformity, while many others – which may be healthy in their own right – are looked upon with indifference or disdain. In our day, for example, extroversion is favoured over introversion, obedience over disobedience, and risk-aversion over risk-taking. Some people may find their inner nature fits the mold of conformity, but many will find the opposite. For those of us in the latter group, conformity is akin to wearing a mask made to fit the mold of another’s face. The mask of conformity never feels comfortable and at times it may cause us to feel like a fraud or imposter.
Conformity also leads to waste – wasted time, wasted opportunities, and wasted resources. In the need to satisfy others and maintain appearances, we do things we do not value, say things we do not believe, and obtain things we do not need, or as Emerson writes:
“Custom . . . gives me no power therefrom, and runs me in debt to boot. We spend our incomes . . . for a hundred trifles, I know not what, and not for the things of a man. Our expense is almost all for conformity.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Man the Reformer
But the dangers of conformity reach pathological levels when, as in our day, a society becomes infected with lies. Politicians lie almost as frequently as they open their mouths. A degenerate education system teaches lies on topics ranging from science, to history, ethics, economics, and politics. The media lies about world events. While corporations lie to us about the value, or safety, of their products. With no shortage of lies percolating throughout society, the modern path of conformity leads in errant ways. It encourages us to go into debt to buy things we don’t need, to consume unhealthy foods, to be obedient to those in power, to take pharmaceutical drugs that do more harm than good, to eschew our passion in favour of money or social status, and if we ever feel anxious or depressed, the conformist way is to distract ourselves with screens, or to numb ourselves with psychotropic drugs.
“All goes well as long as you run with conformists. But you, who are an honest man in other particulars, know that there is alive somewhere a man whose honesty reaches to this point also, that he shall not kneel to false gods, and, on the day when you meet him, you sink into the class of counterfeits. . . If you take in a lie, you must take in all that belongs to it.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Religion
To be a non-conformist, in the modern world, is to renounce the lies that shape our society and to renounce the self that has been shaped by these lies. This act of renunciation paves the way for self-transformation, or as Emerson writes: “The man who renounces himself, comes to himself.” (Ralph Waldo Emerson, Lecture to Divinity Students). When we abandon the habits of conformity and stop pursing its ideals, we clear the way for the emergence of a more authentic state of being. We take off the false mask of conformity and permit our individual personality to shine through. But our renunciation should not be limited to self-renunciation, we should also renounce affiliation with organizations and institutions that are infiltrated by the lies of our society. For a non-conformist, according to Emerson, must stand under his or her own banner, not the banner of another:
“It is only as a man puts off all foreign support, and stands alone, that I see him to be strong and to prevail. He is weaker by every recruit to his banner.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance
Along with the act of renunciation, the non-conformist must establish a new direction in life as merely rejecting conformist ways, without replacing them with something new, will leave us in a pit of aimless and meaningless despair. We need new pursuits to keep us occupied, new habits to keep our life structured, and new goals to give us direction. In the process of re-orienting our life, we should work with what nature has granted us, as it is by cultivating our strengths and talents and aligning our life around pursuits we enjoy, that we unleash our power and pave the way for a great life, or as Emerson writes:
“There is a time in every man’s education when he arrives at the conviction . . that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till. The power which resides in him is new in nature, and none but he knows what that is which he can do, nor does he know until he has tried.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance
If conformity has led us astray and we don’t know where truth lies or what the plot of ground we are meant to till consists of, spending time in solitude can help correct for this confusion. Away from the chatter and distraction of other minds, solitude can help us understand who we are and what we want from life. There are voices, wrote Emerson “which we hear in solitude, [that] grow faint and inaudible as we enter into the world.” (Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance). Emerson, however, while valuing solitude, did not believe the non-conformist should be a recluse. To flourish as a non-conformist is to strike the optimal balance between solitude and society. We must learn to live in harmony with others without an excessive need to gain their approval or to mimic their errant ways. Or as Emerson put it:
“Solitude is impracticable, and society fatal. We must keep our head in the one and our hands in the other. The conditions are met, if we keep our independence, yet do not lose our sympathy.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Society and Solitude
Many people recognize the sickness of modern society, but few choose a path of non-conformity as the means of escape. One reason for this is fear, and specifically a fear of ridicule and rejection. The non-conformist must overcome this fear, or at least learn that constructive, non-conformist action can be taken even when consumed by fear:
“What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think. This rule. . .may serve for the whole distinction between greatness and meanness. . .It is easy in the world to live after the world’s opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance
In learning to deal with ridicule and rejection it can be helpful to recognize a constructive value to this experience. Not only does it provide us with an opportunity to cultivate the courage of acting in the face of our fears, but furthermore, those who treat us with contempt sometimes reveal truths of our character that those who care for us are too timid to point out. But even if the ridicule is not constructive, even if it is based on envy or lies, we can use the disapproval of others as motivating fuel that impels us to greater heights, and as Emerson writes:
“Dear to us are those who love us; the swift moments we spend with them are a compensation for a great deal of misery; they enlarge our life; but dearer are those who reject us as unworthy, for they add another life: they build a heaven before us whereof we had not dreamed, and thereby supply to us new powers out of the recesses of the spirit, and urge us to new and unattempted performances.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson, New England Reformers
If we learn to conquer the fear of ridicule and rejection, we will possess a crucial skill in the art of non-conformity. But there is another barrier that prevents many from going the way of a non-conformist and this is laziness. To cultivate our own path through life requires hard work, discipline, and a ruthless persistence of action. For Emerson’s non-conformist is not passive, he is an active agent striving to change the world. Once the non-conformist selects a valuable goal, he sticks to it and is not driven off course merely because a bunch conformists disapprove of his ways, or as Emerson writes:
“All men have wandering impulses, fits and starts of generosity. But when you have chosen your part, abide by it, and do not weakly try to reconcile yourself with the world.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Heroism
Or as he writes elsewhere:
“If you would serve your brother, because it is fit for you to serve him, do not take back your words when you find that prudent people do not commend you. Adhere to your own act, and congratulate yourself if you have done something strange and extravagant and broken the monotony of a decorous age. It was a high counsel that I once heard given to a young person – “Always do what you are afraid to do.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Heroism
Following a non-conformist path will make us healthier, happier, and more powerful, but it will also turn us into a force of good in the world. For the inner state of our being manifests the events of the outer world, or as Emerson put it: “A man will see his character emitted in the events that seem to meet [him], but which exude from and accompany him.” (Ralph Waldo Emerson, The Conduct of Life) Conformists, in living by lies, are manifesting a sick society. The non-conformist, in aligning himself with the truth of his inner nature and the truth of the world, will manifest events that act as the antidote to a world gone mad.
“In the thought of tomorrow there is a power to upheave . . .all the creeds. . .of the nations, and marshal thee to a heaven which no epic dream has yet depicted. Every man is not so much a workman in the world, as he is a suggestion of that he should be. Men walk as prophecies of the next age.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Circles
The last artwork shown in this video is “Paintbrush Warrior” by Mark Henson – https://www.markhensonart.com/
As more states have legalized recreational cannabis use for adults aged 21 year and older, a debate on public consumption and marijuana’s distinct smell has grown increasingly fierce. Most, if not all states with recreational and medical cannabis programs have outlawed public consumption and require that eligible adults consume and cultivate cannabis in private residences away from the public eye.
However, marijuana smoke is a strong, pungent scent that can travel, especially when cannabis users are living in close quarters with other people, such as in apartments. This means that individuals abiding by state law and consuming cannabis in private often expose nonusers to smoke, albeit unintentionally, raising questions about where cannabis users could legally consume marijuana without affecting others.
Duluth, Minnesota, resident Carl Sack has taken a unique approach to cannabis smoke in public. Although Sack himself does not consume cannabis and actively states that he hates running into clouds of cannabis smoke in his neighborhood, he opposes local administrative efforts to outlaw public cannabis consumption. He is part of a group of residents who are calling on the Duluth City Council to reject a proposed measure that would ban consuming cannabis in the city’s parks.
Unlike other state cannabis measures, Minnesota’s recreational cannabis law did not ban public marijuana consumption outright, meaning per existing state laws, adults could smoke cannabis in most public outdoor places unless local governments specifically banned cannabis consumption.
Adults in New York can also smoke cannabis wherever tobacco is allowed if local governments allow it because the state treats cannabis as it does tobacco. However, users in other states have to smoke in private. In addition, state bans on public marijuana consumption are preventing states from taking advantage of a key demographic that could significantly improve their profits: cannabis tourists.
Some states are circumventing public consumption bans by legalizing cannabis consumption lounges, establishments that would provide a space for adults to consume cannabis “in public” without subjecting nonsmokers to pot smoke. On top of providing residents with a place to consume cannabis outside their houses legally, these establishments could allow states to tap into the cannabis tourism segment.
National Cannabis Industry Association chief executive officer Aaron Smith says that each state is approaching the issue of public consumption differently. He added that regulators should provide consumers with a legal way of consuming legal cannabis. Policymakers often talk about public safety during discussions regarding public marijuana consumption, stating that the public and especially children should not be exposed to marijuana’s pungent odor.
The specific ways that different jurisdictions adopt to address the issue of public smoking could impact various businesses that specialize in supplying indoor cultivation equipment, such as Advanced Container Technologies Inc. (OTC: ACTX). For example, if a proactive approach is taken and consumption lounges are permitted, more tourists or visitors can buy marijuana, which would in turn create additional demand for cultivators.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to Advanced Container Technologies Inc. (OTC: ACTX) are available in the company’s newsroom at https://cnw.fm/ACTX
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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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A panel of expert authors is calling on authorities to facilitate the study of psychedelic compounds as cancer distress treatments. In a paper published in the “International Journal of Gynecological Cancer,” the authors noted that women with late-stage gynecologic tumors often deal with mental disorders such as depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and end-of-life distress.
As research has found that psychedelics such as psilocybin (magic mushrooms) have the potential to treat mental conditions, including PTSD and treatment-resistant depression, this patient population could benefit from the launch of scientific efforts to study psychedelics’ effects on cancer distress symptoms.
University of Texas Department of head and neck surgery assistant professor and coauthor Moran Amit, MD, PhD, wrote that women with late-stage gynecologic cancers often face significant psychological challenges but have few means of clinically addressing these challenges.
Unfortunately, most conventional treatment protocols for cancer focus on treating physical symptoms, often forcing patients to find means of alleviating mental distress on their own. A growing body of research indicates that psychedelics present a viable alternative and may have potent mental health benefits with barely any side effects.
Amit pointed to prior studies exhibiting the effectiveness of psilocybin in treating cancer-associated depression and anxiety. These past studies informed Amit’s and his colleague’s decision to begin enrollment for a clinical trial to test the effectiveness of psilocybin in treating mental health challenges in patients with advanced cancer who are currently undergoing maintenance therapy.
During a recent interview, Amit said that while modern cancer treatments are improving treatment outcomes and helping patients live longer, cancer diagnosis and resultant treatment significantly reduce patients’ quality of life. In some cases, cancer survivors can go through treatment and end up with emotional and neurological deficits that make it harder for them to return to their normal lives.
The influx of psychedelic-related studies in recent years has provided “very compelling” findings, Amit said, and psilocybin has been especially effective at treating anxiety, depression, PTSD and even addiction. Furthermore, psilocybin-assisted therapy seems to provide relatively long-term emotional and physical benefits at minimal doses compared to conventional antidepressants, which require everyday use to be effective.
With anywhere from 33% to 71.3% of women with gynecological cancers estimated to suffer from depression, there is a major need for safer and more effective medications to treat gynecologic cancer-associated distress.
As entities such as atai Life Sciences N.V. (NASDAQ: ATAI) continue investigating the therapeutic potential of psychedelics, many more categories of patients could be targeted as primary beneficiaries of the treatments being developed.
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Two Canna Cabana cananbis stores in Burlington, Ontario were the targets of arson early in the morning on August 22, say local police.
A representative with High Tide, which owns the Canna Cabana chain, tells StratCann that a third location in Ancaster, Ontario was also targeted, at 14 Martindale Crescent.
Halton Regional Police say two fires were set deliberately at the store located at 2400 Guelph Line and then later at the Upper Middle Rd store in Burlington, Ontario.
Police report that witnesses heard glass shatter around 4:20 am on August 22. An investigation by authorities determined that a brick had been thrown through the window of the store and a man was seen pouring a liquid into the store and then lighting it. Police describe the person fleeing the scene as a Black man driving a light-coloured van.
Five minutes later, at about 4:25 am, police say another fire was lit at the Canna Cabana store at 3505 Upper Middle Rd. Both stores are located is in a strip mall.
The Burlington Fire Department attended both scene and pout out the flames.
Canna Cabana is owned by High Tide and has 155 locations across Canada.
Omar Khan, chief communications and public affairs officer with High Tide Inc. confirms the attack and notes there were three locations targeted.
“Earlier today two Canna Cabana stores in Burlington, and one in Ancaster were vandalized. Based on similarities in the suspects description at each location, and the way in which each attack was carried out, we believe that the three incidents may be linked.
“As a company whose business model is designed to entice illicit market consumers to shift to the regulated cannabis industry, we urge law enforcement agencies and governments at all levels to prioritize the protection of legal cannabis stores like Canna Cabana. These legal stores are at the vanguard of the battle against entrenched criminal elements who will do anything to stop the growth of Canada’s legal cannabis industry.”
The Regional Municipality of Halton, or Halton Region, includes the city of Burlington and the towns of Oakville, Milton, and Halton Hills. Policing in the Region is provided by the Halton Regional Police Service.
When assessing margins and taxation in the cannabis supply chain, the end consumer may be paying more in taxes than they think. While retail margins hover in the 35% range—or less—there is a multiplier effect on the $1 per gram excise tax that many fail to consider.
“The excise tax for cannabis is marked up by Provincial wholesaler, and then the retailer,” says Owen Allerton, Chief Executive Officer at Highland Cannabis, a retail outlet in Kitchener, Ontario. “There’s a multiplier effect that makes $1 of excise tax almost $2 of the manufacturer’s suggested retail price.”
Some industry participants have found that the taxation pass-through can reach absurd levels. Joint Venture Craft Cannabis in Salmon Arm, BC, served retailers via direct delivery during the British Columbia General Employees’ Union strike last August. When the strike ended, Joint Venture Craft Cannabis wanted to reward those who stuck with direct delivery, and decided to ship some smaller lots charging only the tax.
“It was a way to thank retailers for their loyalty to the program,” says Janeen Davis, VP of Sales at Joint Venture Craft Cannabis. “We packaged for free, we paid and delivered the biomass for free, and the BC Liquor Distribution Branch (BCLDB) still charged 15% on top of the excise tax.”
The result was that, even when everything was offered for free, the final cost to the retailer—without their margins—was $32.20 for an ounce of dried flower.
Living on the margins
For retailers, the only way to compete is to have visibility into margins for specific products and locations, and to know the level of customer tolerance.
“We don’t charge the same margin at each location,” says Kerri Michell, president of Farmer Jane Cannabis, which has 14 retail stores in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. “Discretion is used for various store locations, brands and product categories.”
This might give an advantage to those retail operations that are nimbler, such as the smaller, privately run businesses that can develop closer customer relationship. Nonetheless, at the end of the day it is impossible to work for free.
“A healthy margin to pay rent and a living wage is at least 25%,” says Allerton from Highland Cannabis in Kitchener. “A product can sell for $5 or $50—so long as the margins are good, a business can survive. But that’s hard when competing against unregulated operations that don’t pay excise tax.”
“The final purchasers don’t know how much tax they’re paying because the excise tax is hidden in the cost, and then marked up at every step along the way. They also don’t understand that the amount the producer is getting is shockingly low.”
Owen Allerton – Highland Cannabis
In those provinces where the government is the central purchaser and wholesaler, such as Ontario, the excise tax is built into the landed cost the wholesaler pays the producer, and in some cases accounts for more than half of that cost.
The provincial wholesalers then mark up by their products to arrive at the cost that retailers pay. The retailer must apply additional margins to cover the cost of running their business—such as rent, payroll, and some small profit—with applicable sales taxes added.
At the end of the day, it’s the consumer who foots the bill.
“The final purchasers don’t know how much tax they’re paying because the excise tax is hidden in the cost, and then marked up at every step along the way” says Allerton. “They also don’t understand that the amount the producer is getting is shockingly low.”
In a specific example, Janeen Davis has calculated that Joint Venture Craft Cannabis’s direct delivery sales totaled approximately $543,000 in May of this year. Of that, about $70,400 went to the BCLDB as a 15% markup to fund “vital government services”—even though Joint Venture Craft Cannabis handled the distribution itself—and about another $152,000 was in excise tax. In total, Joint Venture Craft Cannabis received $320,551. It then used those funds for supplier biomass purchases and processing costs.
This doesn’t tell the final story of what the consumer pays. Once GST was applied to the retailer, the amount in the Joint Venture Craft Cannabis example rose to approximately $570,000. The retailer then applied margins, which in British Columbia are estimated to be in the 30% to 40% range, as well as HST of 12%, before consumers reached for their wallets. All told, this would have put the fee and tax structure in excess of 50% of the final price.
“As well, some of the retailers we serve are surrounded by unregulated brick and mortar stores,” says Davis. “You can see how hard it is for them to compete, given that these stores can sell for between 30 and 50 dollars an ounce, as they aren’t paying the excise tax. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see this isn’t sustainable.”
Licensed to struggle
The extent of the tax burden has come as a surprise to many industry participants, as the understanding was initially that the regulatory framework, including taxation, would be designed to support a healthy legal market.
“What was consistent among early investors was a fear the government was going to tax and overregulate the industry into dust,” says Terri Blumes, Founder and CEO of Almanac Grow Corp, a licensed provider in Alberta. “However, the government had shared a backgrounder on cannabis taxation that was signed by all the finance ministers: taxes were to be low, and agency fees reasonable.”
“Here in Alberta, the margins are so thin it’s no wonder Alberta cannabis businesses are failing weekly,” says Blumes from Almanac Grow Corp. “That said, I expect Alberta will correct the additional tax rate before the federal government does.”
The federal government had promised a federal revenue tax cap at $100 million. It now stands at over $1.2 billion. This excess is supposed to be reverted to provincial, territorial, and even municipal governments—but not necessarily to those businesses that generated the economic activity.
“I’m not saying that the excise tax should be eliminated,” says Davis from Joint Venture Craft Cannabis. “But at some point, we need to arrive at a more rational approach.”
Zentrela, the Ontario-based biotech company used for measuring cannabis consumer experience, is described by founder and CEO Israel Gasperin as “cannabis effect education,” stating that their mission is “to become the most trustworthy provider of cannabis effect information for the consumer, the retailer and the producer.”
Zentrela’s neurotechnology platform is the first scientifically proven test to objectively quantify cannabis psychoactive effects. The company is providing a brain wave monitoring technology to assist licensed producers make scientific claims about products, help retailers educate consumers, and eventually, to be used by employers and law enforcement to determine intoxication levels in the public.
GO: Israel, describe the process in founding Zentrela.
IG: My background is in software engineering. And I used to work in the financial sector back in Mexico, which is where I am from, and I always wanted to start a business.
I have always been passionate about neuroscience, meditation, mindfulness. So when I combined all of that, I decided to study a master’s in entrepreneurship here in Canada to transition from working in the financial sector to starting up the business.
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The wearable brain technology or EEG was initially designed for the detection of driver fatigue. I graduated from my master’s degree in 2016 and was told that cannabis would be legalized and there is nothing that tests actual impairment.
So that was the kind of ‘aha moment’ to focus on cannabis impairment detection rather than driver fatigue detection. And during 2016 and 2018, we focused on building this technology which basically, in a nutshell, what we are doing is conducting research to record the brain activity of this subjects and then scientifically characterize it in an accurate way — what consumers or test subjects are experiencing.
And then based on these large data sets of electrical brain activity, we are using machine learning to detect specific brain activity and alterations that happen when the THC gets to the brain and creates that psychoactive experience.
GO: When did you begin working with the cannabis industry in Canada?
IG: In 2018, we were also meeting with licensed producers, including Alex Revich who I reached out to and since then he has been supporting us and today is officially a part of our advisory board.
Based on the format and different amounts of THC, and combined with other cannabinoids, all of that is impacting the speed, the potency the duration of the psychoactive effects. So, in 2021 when we published the results and I learned about this commercial application, we also had the opportunity to raise a close to one million dollars from our existing angel investor who supported this commercialization strategy, which consists of focusing on the recreational market, continuing building more research evidence about our EEG approach to characterize cannabis effects.
The vision here is that we believe that if consumers retailers and producers from their recreational market adopt this approach, as a as an objective and reliable way of describing products’ effects, then we believe that the next organic or natural adoption will be the other markets maybe for therapeutic and medical research, workplace safety and law enforcement.
We believe there is an unmet address in the global recreational, even medical, but that’s different in the recreational cannabis market. Right now, there doesn’t exist science-backed product information that consumers can use to make a purchase or consumption decision. Budtenders cannot freely speak about them so they cannot support consumers in retail.
Many people still believe that the government prohibits speaking about product effects, and in that’s not true, the government has imposed or specified strict regulations. If you want to make a product characteristic claim, it must be backed with scientific research – you prove that it is factual.
GO: Are licensed producers already making claims about their products through Zentrela’s data?
IG: Yes, we are already doing it; the regulations are already in place.
In the Cannabis Act, there is a section for information that promotion of cannabis products and then they outline what are what is the criteria that you need you need to meet in order to make such claims. So we’ve been working with producers and this has already been happening since almost one year and a half ago.
And now, what we just recently announced last week is now an independent initiative from Zentrela to say, okay, we are the ones funding the research and we have all these results. We can share it with the producer. Also we can share it directly with the retailer.
So the retailer meets the mandate of educating the consumer and supporting them to make informed decisions while at the same time they benefit by moving products faster. And then also by posting these through age gated media magazines or our Instagram account, etc.
We are creating new line of communication between Zentrella and the consumer.
GO: What is the timeline before we are seeing someone like the OCS helping consumers make decisions based on Zentrela data?
IG: That is a great question because we can look for a big collaboration or partnership with the Ontario Cannabis Store in order to see how we can also share our data through the platform. We are looking for that kind of collaboration with them. We haven’t yet but we believe that it’s underway. All of that information could become accessible to the consumer and they can help us to distribute this kind of content if they want to participate.
As a startup, we’re exploring whether there is any other interest from other provinces or internationally.
I think that the interest or the value here, really, is directed to the Canadian market – that they have access to the products that we are installing. For example, we just posted three fast acting beverages and any province that has access to these products, we welcome the opportunity to partner with the with the provincial stores and equip them with this content.
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