420 with CNW – Calgary Police Officers Barred from Consuming Cannabis Ahead of Legalization

Calgary police officers have been told they aren’t allowed to consume recreational cannabis just weeks before recreational marijuana hits the shelves of retail outlets. The news was communicated in an internal memo circulated to all police officers.

The ban excludes members of the police service who cannot be deployed or called to a scene of crime. These include desk officers or those whose work is entirely administrative.

The police top brass say this policy decision was taken as a precautionary measure to prevent any workplace safety issues that may arise. It isn’t known for how long someone can remain impaired after consuming cannabis.

The Calgary Police Service has expressed a desire to partner with an academic institution to conduct relevant research that will provide the concrete information needed to modify this blanket ban on the consumption of recreational cannabis. Lexaria Bioscience Corp. (CSE: LXX) (OTCQX: LXRP) and Marijuana Company of America Inc. (OTC: MCOA) would certainly appreciate any windows of regulatory change signaled by the authorities in their areas of operation.

The willingness by the police authority to modify the ban may come as a small piece of good news since police officers were wondering how they could be banned from lighting up a joint during an entire five-day break from duty.

The ban may also raise some fundamental rights issues. Can the Calgary Police Service dictate what its officers do when they are off duty?

A look at how the army has handled the same issue can shed more light on how unfair this policy may be. Members of the military are required to abstain from consuming cannabis within eight hours before reporting for duty. Can’t a similar provision be made for the police service?

That takes the police back to the limited information on how long cannabis can render someone impaired.

Understandably, the union of police officers isn’t happy about this policy, but they have little to do since they have been promised that the policy is likely to change as more information becomes available about how cannabis affects cognition, psychomotor function and other processes in the human body.

One of the sentences in the memo states that it can be hard for one to self-detect that he or she has had their cognitive abilities impaired by cannabis. The abstinence policy therefore remains a logical position until more research is done to understand the effects of cannabis.

It would be interesting to listen in to the conversations that may be taking place among the leaders of the law enforcement agencies in the U.S. states where recreational cannabis has been decriminalized. Would they also take the path of forced abstinence like the Calgary Police Service has decided?

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420 with CNW – Malaysia Considers Legalizing Medical Marijuana

A young man aged 29 was arrested, charged and sentenced to death for being found with a few liters of cannabis oil in Malaysia. Cannabis on all its forms is illegal in this Asian country. However, the uproar about that conviction and sentence has forced the cabinet of that country to have a discussion about decriminalizing marijuana for medical purposes. Muhammad Lukman, the young man in question, had argued in court that the cannabis oil and other products were for helping patients suffering from cancer and other terminal diseases.

Change.org drafted a petition calling for Lukman to be freed and that petition has so far been signed by more than 60,000 people.

Xavier Jayakumar, the Minister in charge of Water, Land and Natural Resources in Malaysia revealed that he was comfortable with voting to legalize medical cannabis if it could help patients in the Asian country.

However, he was well aware that convincing his cabinet colleagues to decriminalize marijuana would be no small feat since opinions are strongly against cannabis. Matters aren’t helped by the fact that there is limited research in that country showing the medicinal benefits of marijuana.

The task of changing the legislation of cannabis is likely to be harder given that the health ministry in that country doesn’t believe that cannabis has any medical value. The views of that ministry are likely to carry a lot of weight when that matter is formally tabled for consideration.

This prohibitionist stance by the Ministry of Health in Malaysia is in stark contrast to the counterpart Ministry in Thailand where pressure is being piled on the government to pass legislation allowing cannabis to be used for medical purposes. Such a decision would also boost the economy since Thailand can produce and export the product around the world following the lead of Canada.

It should be remembered that no country on the Asian continent has legalized medical or recreational cannabis. In fact, the possession, trafficking and consumption of cannabis can attract the death sentence in most Southeast Asian countries. Singapore and Indonesia are notable for routinely handing out capital sentences to anyone found using cannabis.

It therefore remains to be seen whether the cabinet’s interest in medical cannabis will mature into a law regulating the use of marijuana for medical purposes, or whether that interest will fizzle out once Mohammad Lukman is spared the death penalty since the cabinet has already agreed to spare him that punishment. The discussions going on in Malaysia could be of interest to companies like GreenBox POS, LLC (OTC: GRBX) and Kolos Beverages Corp. (CSE: KBEV) (OTC: KBEVF) that would relish the chance to operate in a wider market.

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420 with CNW – Why Millenials Are Quitting Alcohol in Favor of Marijuana

There is a growing trend of millennials dumping alcohol and opting for marijuana as the wave of decriminalization sweeps across the U.S. and the world. This shift is seen more strongly in the states, such as California, which were among the first to legalize cannabis for either recreational or medical use. Several reasons have been cited to explain the growing popularity of cannabis among millennials.

First is the issue of safety. Millennials have grown up being bombarded with messages about the numerous safety risks associated with heavy drinking. For example, the reduction in reaction time as one responds to situations on the road after a night out.

For these young people, cannabis comes on top as a better option since its consumption in moderation isn’t associated with any safety issues, such as an increased risk of auto accidents. This view is particularly noteworthy because the truth is that anyone high on any drug (cannabis inclusive) poses safety risks since cognition and other functions can be affected. This is the primary reason why countries like Canada that are legalizing recreational cannabis still outlaw driving under the influence of this substance.

Secondly is the matter of cost. Many young people report that they had been spending in excess of $50 on alcohol each time they went drinking. Many of them would go to bars several times each week, so the cost of alcohol would quickly add up.

The same people report that they now spend an average of $30 on cannabis each month since a gram of the product goes for about $18 yet a beer would go for about $6. The switch makes economic sense to the millennials, and they are making their decision heard using their wallets.

Another reason that stands out for the millennials who are switching to cannabis is the health factor. Many confess that they were aware that alcoholic beverages, such as beer, were packed with calories that weren’t doing their health any good.

The prospect of nursing a nasty hangover the next morning was also a heavy cloud on the minds of these young people as they ordered one drink after another.

Cannabis is a welcome change for the millennials since it isn’t associated with any of those drawbacks that are a certainty when one consumes alcohol.

Interestingly, the switch isn’t restricted to young people alone. It appears that the reasons for making the switch aren’t lost on the older generations. Forecasts have it that one in five Generation Xers will take on cannabis instead of alcohol in the coming years as more states decriminalize marijuana. Golden Developing Solutions, Inc. (OTC: DVLP) and Green Hygienics Holdings Inc. (OTC: GRYN) must be watching these shifting preferences closely.

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420 with CNW – FBI Data Shows Increased Marijuana Arrests in 2017

New data that has just been released by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) reveals that the marijuana arrests made in 2017 were more than those which were recorded in 2016. These statistics are surprising given the fact that, by the end of 2017, 28 states had legalized medical or recreational consumption of cannabis.

In total, 659,700 people were arrested on marijuana-related charges in 2017, while the figure for 2016 stood at 653,349 arrests.

The wave of cannabis legalization doesn’t seem to have had any impact upon the law enforcement community, especially at the federal level. This is creating a measure of confusion in the public, since daily dilemmas arise regarding the subject of cannabis.

An example of the confusion is the position of Los Angeles International Airport permitting travelers to carry marijuana while the federal transportation authorities at the same airport retain the right to detain anyone found in possession of cannabis.

The FBI data reflects the same mixed signals. For example, about 91 percent of all those arrests were for simple possession of cannabis. That is a high figure given that 20 percent of the American population lives in a state where some form of cannabis legalization exists.

To put this in context, someone was arrested somewhere in the U.S. for marijuana related issues every 48 seconds throughout 2017.

Activists are livid at these statistics, given that about 100 people die each day in the country due to opioid overdoses yet no death has been reported anywhere as a result of a cannabis overdose. Cannabis advocates wondered why the efforts and the meager resources of law enforcement agencies couldn’t be directed where the real danger lies.

To put this misallocation of resources differently, the FBI data shows that for each person who was arrested for murder there were 49 individuals arrested on a marijuana-related charge.

This overzealousness on the part of law enforcement flies counter to the growth in public opinion favoring the use of cannabis either for recreational or medical purposes. If the trend of arrests continues, voters may be compelled to pile pressure on their elected leaders to rein in the law enforcement arm of government, which seems oblivious to what is happening in the states where cannabis is legal. Global Payout, Inc. (OTC: GOHE) and FinCanna Capital Corp. (CSE: CALI) (OTCQB: FNNZF) must be wishing that the unclear regulatory climate around cannabis settles quickly so that the industry can shape up for the good of all concerned.

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420 with CNW – South African Court Declares Personal Use of Cannabis Legal

The constitutional court of the Republic of South Africa made a pivotal ruling last week making it legal for adults to grow, possess and consume cannabis in private.

This case reached the constitutional court after a regional court in Western Province (the province in which the Federal capital of the country is found) ruled that the law banning the use of dagga (the local term for marijuana) by adults in private was unconstitutional.

The government appealed that decision before the highest court on the matter, and Deputy Chief Justice Zondo delivered the binding ruling in favor of the decriminalization of private personal growth, possession and use of marijuana. This reaffirmed the decision of the lower court.

The government is now left with no other option than to implement the ruling.

Indeed, the court gave the legislative arm of the government 24 months within which to come up with an enabling law that will actualize the constitutional court’s ruling.

For example, that law will define how much cannabis someone can have for personal use. The number of plants that an adult can grow for his or her personal, private use will also be clarified once the requisite law is passed by parliament.

In the meantime, cannabis users can point to the court’s ruling as their protection while found cultivating, using or in possession of cannabis in private. Any public possession or consumption of marijuana remains illegal.

It should be noted that various sections of the government, such as the health department and law enforcement, opposed cannabis decriminalization, saying that it posed health risks and could pave the way for people to graduate to stronger substances/illicit drugs. The court has rendered those arguments moot.

South Africa becomes the third country in Africa to permit some form of cannabis use. Lesotho took the honor of being the first country on the continent to legalize medical cannabis last year. Zimbabwe followed suit this year in April. Globally, Uruguay took the lead in legalizing cannabis in 2013.

This small number of African countries in which marijuana is legal in some way is baffling given that approximately 10,000 metric tons of cannabis are cultivated on the continent each year.

The picture is no different across the world ,with possession or consumption of cannabis attracting the death penalty in Saudi Arabia, while Canada is just days away from starting the retail sale of recreational cannabis after allowing the medical use of marijuana years back.

Are the winds of change blowing firmly in favor of the cannabis industry across the world? Choom Holdings Inc. (CSE: CHOO) (OTCQB: CHOOF) and Earth Science Tech, Inc. (OTCQB: ETST) must be hoping that the legal hurdles to the availability of medical cannabis are removed so that the public can reap the benefits that this often controversial plant has to offer.

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420 with CNW – Michigan Legislators Set to Approve Medical Cannabis Home Delivery

The Board of Medical Marihuana Regulation in Michigan is considering allowing provisioning centers (medical marijuana dispensaries) to make home deliveries of medical cannabis to patients who request that service.

A public hearing on the matter was conducted on September 17 to gather views that may form part of the permanent marijuana regulations for the state.

Michigan has been operating under emergency rules since the start of the year. The permanent rules will replace those emergency rules.

In the proposed law, provisioning centers will be allowed to deliver cannabis to the registered home address of a maximum of three medical cannabis card holders each day. The patient must sign for the delivery before receiving it.

Medical cannabis provisioning centers must submit their detailed plans explaining how they intend to conduct the home deliveries. The regulators will review those plans to ensure that they conform with the state’s requirements before that dispensary is granted a license to start making home deliveries.

Medical marijuana dispensaries will have to install tracking systems in the delivery vans so that the location of those vans can be known throughout the delivery run.

Furthermore, the quantity of medical marijuana that any delivery person can take to patients each day will be capped at 2.5 pounds, while the monthly limit for each delivery worker is 10 pounds.

It isn’t clear how those limits were arrived at, or how feasible they are. The only available information on the matter is that California has similar restrictions and the home delivery of medical cannabis is booming.

The state regulators also propose that dispensaries keep detailed logs of all home deliveries of medical marijuana. Those delivery details will be uploaded to a state-wide monitoring system.

The proposals have been welcomed by advocacy groups and patients, because patients who cannot drive or get out of a car will receive medical cannabis in the comfort of their homes.

Some patients also live far from a provisioning center. Such situations may have arisen because the local authorities declined to have a medical cannabis provisioning center in their jurisdiction.

Home deliveries are also suitable for medical cannabis card holders who may be uncomfortable about being seen going into a medical cannabis dispensary.

The authorities seem to have considered this matter for a while, and the provisions of the permanent regulations will smooth the operation of the medical cannabis industry. Any kinks that develop will hopefully be resolved along the way. Canopy Rivers Inc. (TSX.V: RIV) and ChineseInvestors.com (OTCQB: CIIX) can only hope that all jurisdictions do everything that they can to make it possible for patients to receive medical cannabis without leaving any loopholes that can lead to the misuse of medical marijuana.

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420 with CNW – Colorado Data Shows Drop in Workplace Fatalities After Medical Marijuana Legalization

Researchers from three universities (Montana State University, American University in Washington D.C. and Colorado State University) have analyzed workplace fatality data spanning from 1992 to 2015 and discovered that there were fewer fatal accidents at work once medical cannabis was legalized. The research will be published in October in the International Journal of Drug Policy.

The findings seem to be unexpected given that it has always been known that cannabis use compromises cognition and psychomotor activity, so fatal accidents would increase rather than decrease once medical cannabis use was permitted by law.

However, the data speaks for itself. A 19.5% drop in the expected workplace fatalities was discovered when the U.S. Department of Labor data for the 25-44 age bracket of employees was analyzed.

Furthermore, this reduction seems to increase as time elapses. A drop of 34% in fatal accidents at work was observed five years after legalization. This seems to suggest that the longer medical marijuana stays on the law books, the fewer the fatalities at work.

The researchers were of the opinion that the drop in workplace fatal accidents could be attributed to the reduced use of alcohol and prescription opioids by workers in favor of medical cannabis. This appears to be true given that the reduction in fatalities is statistically significant in those states where pain is one of the conditions for which medical cannabis can be used.

The drop in fatalities pales to insignificant levels when attention focuses on those states where pain isn’t on the list of qualifying conditions for the use of medical marijuana.

The research provides more concrete proof about the gains which can be realized when medical cannabis is permitted by law.

Nevertheless, many states still allow employers to test for and punish employees who are found with cannabis metabolites in their bodies, regardless of whether such an employee was permitted to use medical cannabis or not.

This opens further work for medical cannabis advocates, because the rights of employees need to be protected. After all, one cannot be fired or sanctioned from going to hospital and taking the medication offered, can they? The same understanding should be extended to patients on medical marijuana.

As things stand, patients and advocates can only hope that the wave of medical cannabis decriminalization that is sweeping across the U.S. results in the necessary legal reforms so that users of medical cannabis stop being victimized at work for consuming a legally permitted product. Companies like BLOCKStrain Technology Corp. (TSX.V: DNAX) (OTC: BKKSF) and Cannabis Strategic Ventures, Inc. (OTC: NUGS) know all too well the headaches associated with a mixed bag of conflicting laws.

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420 with CNW – Nearly 1 in 11 Teens Vapes Marijuana

A recent study which was published in the Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) Pediatrics Edition has revealed that almost one in 11 American teenagers uses an electronic cigarette to consume cannabis.

The findings stem from a survey which was conducted in 2016. Over 2,000 middle and high school teens participated in the study.

That proportion of kids who vape marijuana translates to approximately two million teens across the U.S. A similar study conducted by the University of Michigan had similar findings more than a month ago.

The CDC survey found that more boys than girls were likely to consume marijuana using an electronic nicotine delivery system (ENDS) or e-cigarette. Teenage vape rates of marijuana were also higher among middle and high schoolers who stayed with an adult that used an electronic cigarette.

The number of heavy vapers who consumed cannabis using an electronic cigarette stood at almost 64 percent, as compared to 33 percent who didn’t vape on a regular basis. Frequency of e-cig use seems to increase the likelihood of consuming other substances using the ENDS devices.

The study also discovered that nearly 39 percent of all students who used other tobacco products also used an e-cigarette to vaporize cannabis. In contrast, about five percent of students who didn’t use other tobacco products vaporized cannabis. This statistic shows that the use of tobacco products may predispose a teen to vaping marijuana.

The use of marijuana in electronic cigarettes causes a lot of concern, because marijuana is known to affect memory and learning in later years.

The head of the Food and Drug Administration, Scott Gottlieb, expressed the determination of his agency to end the growing trend of teenagers vaping. To that end, several manufacturers of popular electronic cigarettes, such as Juul, were given two months within which to prove to the regulators that those manufacturers were doing everything they can to stop underage access to their products. Companies that don’t comply would be shuttered, he warned.

Juul is especially notable, because the product has gained huge traction among students, probably because of its sleek design that makes the device easy to conceal.

The findings of this study create an urgency for steps to be taken to prevent minors from consuming tobacco and other potentially addictive substances. It may be necessary for the regulators to consider other means, since their current efforts don’t appear to be having the desired effects. Companies, such as Pacific Software, Inc. (OTC: PFSF) and The Green Organic Dutchman (TSX: TGOD) (OTCQX: TGODF), must be paying attention to these studies, since they could affect how any product that they bring to the market will be scrutinized.

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420 with CNW – EU Parliament Drafts Medical Marijuana Law

Currently, each EU member country is responsible for formulating and implementing its own cannabis laws as it sees fit. This has created a lot of contradictions and inconsistencies between the laws of the member states. This situation is bound to change in the event that the draft law that is being worked on by the health committee passes through all the stages and is endorsed by the EU council of ministers.

A public hearing is planned for October 1 to discuss the feasibility of that proposal.

One of the key aims of the draft law is to state how medical cannabis differs from any other uses to which marijuana can be put, especially the recreational use of the substance.

The bill will also ensure that all who need medical cannabis can access it. For example, medical marijuana should be covered by insurance providers in the EU in the same way that other forms of medicine are covered.

The draft also seeks to speed up research on the various medicinal uses of marijuana so that accurate information can be availed to the public. Such research could also uncover previously unknown medicinal uses of cannabis and help patients who would have otherwise lost all hope of seeing any improvement in their conditions.

EU member states would also be required to reform their existing cannabis laws in order to allow medical professionals/doctors and pharmacists to prescribe and avail medicinal marijuana without any legal roadblocks to the execution of their professional duties.

The law is intended to curb the black market of medical cannabis by controlling the points at which medical cannabis is sold. Such controls can have the added benefit of limiting underage access to the products.

The process of getting this draft law through all the stages until it is endorsed by the council of EU ministers is lengthy. It is estimated that it may take about eight months for the draft to reach the endorsement stage.

More sobering, however, is the fact that a resolution of the EU parliament doesn’t have any legal force in the member countries. At best, it can only be looked at as a recommendation which may or may not be implemented.

The brighter side of such proposals/resolutions is that they can serve as fodder for advocacy groups to pressure national governments to reform their prohibitionist laws in order to align the countries with the position taken at EU level. Proponents of cannabis decriminalization can therefore take pride in the fact that the EU is waking up to the medicinal roles that cannabis can play in the lives of citizens.

Entities like PreveCeutical Medical Inc. (CSE: PREV) (OTCQB: PRVCF) (FSE: 18H) and Earth Science Tech, Inc. (OTCQB: ETST) can only wish that the proposed harmonization of cannabis laws in the EU happens across the globe so that they don’t have the headache of dealing with different cannabis legal regimes in each jurisdiction where these companies operate.

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CBD Supplements Primed to Explode Ahead of Biopharma as Farm Bill Legalizes Hemp

CannabisNewsWire Editorial Coverage: With Canada legalizing cannabis nationwide in October and the 2018 U.S. Farm Bill completely removing hemp from the DEA’s controlled substances list, the stage has been set for an explosion of products ranging from functional foods and supplements to CBD-based (cannabidiol) biopharma indications.

U.S. farm bill legalizing hemp could make CBD an open-pit gold mine.
List of demonstrable CBD health benefits growing daily.
CBD growth may outpace entire cannabis market combined.

Even before the landmark inclusion of the Hemp Farming Act of 2018 in this year’s Farm Bill, plant-based nutrition experts at leading omni-direct lifestyle company Youngevity International, Inc. (NASDAQ: YGYI) (YGYI Profile) had begun marching the team towards the development of a full line of proprietary hemp-derived CBD oil products. And while the identified health benefits of CBD ranging from reducing inflammation to managing pain and anxiety haven’t entirely been proven yet, one need look no further for foundational evidence of such benefits than the success of GW Pharmaceuticals Plc’s (NASDAQ: GWPH) FDA-approved oral solution EPIDIOLEX, which is used to treat severe seizures associated with extreme forms of epilepsy. Pharma-grade medical cannabis producer Aphria, Inc. (OTC: APHQF) (TSX: APH) already has a wide selection of carefully engineered medical cannabis and CBD oil products made from 100 percent greenhouse grown strains. Cara Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: CARA) is another company that stands to benefit from easing regulations in North America. And as a principal investment firm dedicated to cultivating medical marijuana companies, Cronos Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: CRON) surely understands the potential of the space.

To view an infographic of this editorial, click here.

Cannabis Market Booming Amid Deregulation

Canada moving to fully legalize recreational marijuana across the country is a watershed event for the cannabis industry. This event will help to normalize the presence of cannabis-based medicines in the broader market, paving the way for even more widespread research into the non-psychoactive cannabinoid CBD. With more than 37 million people in North America already consuming cannabis in one form or another, even the lofty projections by Amadee & Company of a market worth over $95 billion by 2026 may be entirely possible.

After more than eight decades of prohibition, cannabis is rapidly heading towards decriminalization across the global marketplace. The latest projections from established cannabis sector analysts at Arcview Market Research and BDS Analytics indicate that the North American cannabis market will go from just $9.2 billion last year to $47.3 billion within a decade (17.79 percent CAGR), even as the global market surpasses a whopping $57 billion.

The hemp-CBD segment is set to grow at an even faster pace according to Brightfield Group, hitting upwards of $22 billion by 2022, outpacing the rest of the cannabis market combined. Hemp Business Journal estimates for the underlying hemp market, which grew 16 percent last year in the United States alone to around $820 million, are similarly encouraging, projecting the market to grow around 700 percent by 2020.

And when it comes to regulating the human body’s complex endocannabinoid receptor systems, the upper limits of the pharmaceutical value of CBD — and other phytocannabinoids such as THC — may have not yet been fully validated by clinical studies. Such studies have been and are being done.

Consumers definitely seem to have got the message about CBD and are already enjoying access to this organic compound in an increasing variety of formats. According to Cannabis Trades Association UK official data, cannabis oil users across the UK doubled last year. Given stats like that, it is little wonder that the latest numbers out of Technavio on the global CBD space project a 39.19 percent CAGR through 2021.

Established Supplement Purveyor with Scale, Presence and Reach

To many investors, the burgeoning CBD market is a natural play for a company such as Youngevity International, Inc. (NASDAQ: YGYI), a multivertical lifestyle brand that provides a wide variety of consumer goods to people all over the world via direct selling, e-commerce and social selling. In many circles, the name Youngevity is synonymous with plant-based nutrition, and as Youngevity CEO Steve Wallach recently put it during the launch of YGYI’s new proprietary HempFX^™ line of hemp-derived CBD oil products, “CBD oil perfectly complements” Youngevity’s product development philosophy.

Already known to consumers around the globe for its broad array of nutritional and healthy lifestyle products formulated using ingredients of the highest quality in state-of-the-art laboratories, Youngevity has garnered increasing prominence with the success of its wholly owned subsidiary CLR Roasters’ various gourmet boutique coffee blends. CLR Roasters is produced by a vertically integrated “farm-to-cup” pipeline stretching from the company’s fully licensed fields in Nicaragua, through a state-of-the-art roasting facility in Miami and ending up in consumer’s coffee cups all over the world. YGYI completes the last mile via direct selling, as well as extensive distribution in the cruise line industry and through a variety of private labels that the company produces for major national chains.

As Goes Coffee, So Goes Cannabis

Just to showcase the kind of scale and sophistication of the company’s closed-loop approach to delivering premium organic coffees, it is worth noting how the company recently secured a five-year contract to sell and process more than 41 million pounds per year. This was a huge deal for the full-sized coffee roaster, executed with a purchaser that has more than seven decades in the business and is a major coffee importer and exporter for some of the biggest brands in the industry today.

It is this same kind of full-spectrum approach to cultivation, production and distribution (emphasizing tight quality control as the main objective) that the company is now bringing to the hemp-based CBD business with its “field-to-finish” strategy. The HempFX line of three initial products was described as “just the beginning” when it comes to Youngevity’s move into CBD, during a recent interview with Wallach and Youngevity president and CFO Dave Briskie.

HempFX products currently include a topical muscle restoration and relief product packed with antioxidant rich botanicals called Soothe^™, a mood and cognitive performance enhancement product with St. John’s Wort called Uplift™, and a sleep aid called Relax^™ that contains melatonin and other relaxing herbs including chamomile and valerian root. Youngevity anticipates emergent revenue opportunities across the vertical as it implements a model similar to what the company has done in coffee. Wallach was keen to point out during the HempFX launch that this process would offer “tremendous advantage” to the company’s many distributors around the world.

Youngevity’s management anticipates that hemp-based CBD will become one of the fastest growing and largest supplemental ingredients moving forward, and the company is not alone in recognizing just how far the CBD market has yet to go.

CBD Market Solid Move for Future Success

GW Pharmaceuticals Plc (NASDAQ: GWPH) has been posting solid price performance since the company’s announcement in late June that the FDA approved its CBD-based oral indication Epidiolex for two forms of severe childhood epilepsy. According to the latest quarterly report, GWPH and its U.S. subsidiary Greenwich Biosciences are primed for commercial success, with a fully recruited sales organization and active engagement via clinical presentations to plans which cover more than 80 percent of the U.S. market.

Aphria, Inc. (OTC: APHQF) (TSX: APH) is gearing up for Canadian legalization big time, signing supply agreements with official distributors throughout all ten provinces and one territory this month to provide high-quality, branded cannabis for the adult-use market. Aphria also recently announced a key MOU with Canadian biotech Rapid Dose Therapeutics, the developer of the oral, fast-dissolving drug delivery system QuickStrip.

Cara Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: CARA) is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing new chemical entities designed to fundamentally change the way acute pain, chronic pain and pruritus (severe itching) are managed. Cara does this by developing new products that selectively target the body’s peripheral kappa opioid receptors. In the cannabis space, Cara has a cannabinoid receptor agonist, CR701, in preclinical development.

Cronos Group (NASDAQ: CRON) recently announced commencement of a joint medical cannabis study alongside Aleafia Health Inc., which will utilize Aleafia’s Canabo Medical Clinic network to investigate insomnia and daytime sleepiness. The primary goal of the study is to help develop nonaddicting and natural sleep aids that many consumers have been longing for, especially given more recently identified risks associated with prescription sleeping aids, such as worsening mental health and an increased prevalence of dementia. CBD and THC may become powerful tools in the fight against insomnia.

The End of Prohibition, Unprecedented Market Dynamics

It seems that consumers may have put legs under the market as the historic prohibition of the humble cannabis plant nears an end. A plant that turns out to be packed with phytocannabinoids and that may help naturally regulate a vast cell receptor network throughout numerous tissue systems in the human body seems poised to fuel an industry with untold possibilities.

For more information on Marijuana Company of America, visit Youngevity International, Inc. (NASDAQ: YGYI)

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