The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine last Thursday released a 400-page review of more than 10,000 research abstracts published since 1999 on the health impacts of cannabis and cannabis-derived products. The review committee reached nearly 100 conclusions, most of which were some variation on “we need to do more research.”

That has been difficult, up to now at least, because the federal government has listed marijuana as a Schedule I controlled substance, the same listing it gives to heroin and cocaine. According to the National Academies committee’s report, that “impede[s] the advancement of research” by restricting access to cannabis for research purposes. And, predictably, more funds for research programs.

Based on the committee’s review, here a few of their conclusions.

• Cannabis and cannabinoids are beneficial in treating chronic pain, muscle-spasms associated with multiple sclerosis, and chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting.
• Smoking cannabis does not increase the risks for cancers associated with tobacco use.
• Cannabis use prior to driving “increases the risk of being involved in a motor vehicle accident.”
• Some evidence suggests that smoking cannabis “may trigger a heart attack.”
• There is “limited evidence” that cannabis use increases the rate of using another drug, although there is some evidence of a link between cannabis use and the development of dependence or abuse of other substances legal and illegal substances.

The full report is available as a free PDF download from the National Academies Press.

What Jeff Sessions Said About Marijuana in His Attorney General Hearing
On the eve of a new presidential administration, among the many questions hanging in the air is the one about how president-elect Donald Trump’s pick for U.S. Attorney General will choose to handle legalized marijuana.

During the first day of his confirmation hearings on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, Sen. Jeff Sessions did not provide much in the way of a definitive plan for how he would direct the Justice Department to treat states’ legalization of a drug that is very much illegal under federal law. Sessions, who in the past has been outspokenly opposed to legalized marijuana, admitted during questioning by his fellow U.S. senators that disrupting states’ legal marijuana markets by enforcing federal marijuana laws could create an undue strain on federal resources.

However, responding to a question from Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, Sessions (a Republican representing Alabama) also said he “won’t commit to never enforcing federal law.”

Read more at Fortune.

Did You Know Marijuana is America’s Most Energy-Intensive Crop
Marijuana is said to be the most energy-intensive agricultural crop in the United States, consuming one percent of the entire nation’s energy output. It drains resources because of its high energy and water requirements. When pesticides are used, and that’s often, its carbon footprint gets even more troubling. Cannabis may grow green, but growing it is far from green in the sustainability sense.

And Maine, already home to a flourishing legal medical marijuana industry, is about to see a surge in even more growers as legal recreational usage for those 21 and up, approved by voters in November, goes into practice. That law allows for commercial marijuana cultivation up to 800,000 square feet, and ultimately, perhaps more if the state licensing agency determines more is needed to produce enough supply for the demand.

Legal marijuana is big business and getting bigger each year. Last year, sales went up 30 percent in North America to $6.7 billion, according to the ArcView Market Research Group, which tracks trends in the cannabis industry. There’s no telling when the complications of regulation for recreational sales in Maine will be worked out – a bill proposed in the legislature last week would delay the rollout of retail shops until February 2018 – but residents over 21 years old will likely be able to grow six plants for their own use starting in a matter of weeks.

Warehouses, greenhouses or gardens bursting with energy-sucking marijuana are an anomaly in a state that prides itself on its efforts toward sustainable growing practices in everything from beef to barley production.

Read more at the Portland [Maine] Press Herald.

Marijuana Reforms Flood State Legislatures
Legislators in more than a dozen states have introduced measures to loosen laws restricting access to or criminalizing marijuana, a rush of legislative activity that supporters hope reflects a newfound willingness by public officials to embrace a trend toward legalization.

The gamut covered by measures introduced in the early days of legislative sessions underscores the patchwork approach to marijuana by states across the country — and the possibility that the different ways states treat marijuana could come to a head at the federal Justice Department, where President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney general is a staunch opponent of legal pot.

Some states are taking early steps toward decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana. In his State of the State address this week, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) said he will push legislation to remove criminal penalties for non-violent offenders caught with marijuana.

“The illegal sale of marijuana cannot and will not be tolerated in New York State, but data consistently show that recreational users of marijuana pose little to no threat to public safety,” Cuomo’s office wrote to legislators. “The unnecessary arrest of these individuals can have devastating economic and social effects on their lives.”

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (R) said during his campaign he would support decriminalizing marijuana. Legislation has passed the Republican-led state House in recent years, though it died when Sununu’s predecessor, now-Sen. Maggie Hassan (D), said she did not support the move.

Read more at The Hill.

Legal Challenge Filed Against DEA’s New Marijuana Extract Rule
The hemp industry has taken the DEA to court in the wake of a controversial new rule on marijuana extracts.

Denver’s Hoban Law Group, representing the Hemp Industries Association, Centuria Natural Foods and RMH Holdings LLC, on Friday filed a judicial review action against the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, alleging the agency overstepped its bounds when enacting a rule establishing coding for marijuana derivatives such as cannabidiol (CBD) oil. The action, Hoban attorneys allege, puts at risk a booming cannabis and hemp industry and a wide variety of hemp-based products currently on the market.

“We’re talking about jobs and the economy and agricultural (revival),” attorney Bob Hoban said in an interview with The Cannabist on Friday.

The DEA last month confounded many in the cannabis industry with the filing of a final rule notice establishing a Controlled Substances Code Number for “marihuana extract,” and subsequently maintaining marijuana, hemp and their derivatives as Schedule I substances.

DEA officials said the code number would assist in the tracking of materials for research and would aid in complying with treaty provisions. However, compliance attorney Hoban and others expressed concern at the time that the language could result in federal agencies viewing products produced from marijuana and hemp as illegal.

Read more at The Cannabist.

Get Our Free Investment Newsletter

I have read, and agree to the Terms of Use

Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.