420 with CNW — Colorado Researchers Search for Reliable Cannabis Breathalyzer

Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder are on the hunt for a reliable cannabis breathalyzer. Dozens of states now allow access to medical or recreational cannabis, but law enforcement institutions in the United States have largely been against cannabis reform efforts.

On top of complicating law-enforcement efforts, these institutions say legalization will increase driving under the influence rates across the country. While data from several states shows no correlation between cannabis reform and higher traffic incident rates, the lack of a proper cannabis drug test is a major issue.

The breathalyzer has a long history of accurately testing alcohol levels on-site, but we still don’t have tests that can check cannabis intoxication rates. Now that tens of millions of Americans have access to marijuana, there is an urgent need for reliable cannabis breathalyzers to aid in the policing of driving under the influence and prevent nonintoxicated people from being penalized due to inaccurate tests.

Current tools regularly fail to provide accurate blood cannabis levels and often cannot correlate these levels with intoxication at the moment, meaning Americans can be penalized for having THC in their blood even if they aren’t necessarily intoxicated at the moment. The lack of proper tools has left many law enforcement officials searching for a way forward.

Sgt. Roger Meyers from the Colorado State Patrol says the agency has decided not to use the cannabis breathalyzers currently on the market. University of Colorado Boulder associate professor of cognitive science Cinnamon Bidwell says the tools currently in use simply aren’t a good system. He says researchers at the university are working to develop a reliable tool as fast as they can to meet market demand for a marijuana breathalyzer. According to an initial report from a new study, the development of such a tool is gaining promise in terms of gaining scientific information and using the device to help make law enforcement in transportation safe and fair.

Bidwell says that the potential for roadside testing will be incredibly critical for public safety but explains that it will take a lot of research steps before scientists can even establish if a marijuana breathalyzer will be suitable for use by public safety officers. He explains that comparing a marijuana breathalyzer with an alcohol breathalyzer is akin to likening apples to pinecones because only very small amounts of cannabis remain in the body after ingestion.

The fact that marijuana stays in the system longer also makes it difficult to determine a timeline of consumption, especially in people who consume the drug regularly. An accurate test would require plenty of work from the ground up to learn how different cannabis strains affect people, to share this knowledge to troopers and to develop tools that can accurately test cannabis intoxication levels.

The entire cannabis industry, including major companies such as Aurora Cannabis Inc. (NASDAQ: ACB) (TSX: ACB), would welcome a reliable way to identify people who are driving while intoxicated or those who use cannabis while at work. This would prevent innocent people from being victimized for false positives arising from cannabis use that occurred days or even months prior.

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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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420 with CNW — UMass Study Concludes High Schoolers’ Likelihood to Use Cannabis Isn’t Heightened by Legalization

A new study has found that high schoolers are not as likely to use cannabis following the drug’s legalization. This finding weakens prior claims that youth who know or think that their friends, siblings or parents use cannabis may have a heightened risk for marijuana use and additional intervention and prevention strategies need to be implemented to reduce said risk.

The study, which was carried out by researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, included associate professor Jennifer Whitehill of health policy and management and Public Health and Health Sciences doctoral candidate, Faith English. Whitehill’s focus, as the study’s senior author, was assessing whether the link between perceived cannabis use by friends and family, a risk factor for adolescent cannabis use, changed in the context of legalization.

For their study, the researchers conducted an analysis of data gathered from a pair of high schools in Massachusetts. They then compared data from two years: before marijuana was legalized and after retail stores were launched. They observed no significant difference in the prevalence of cannabis use in a 30-day period.

Among the participants surveyed prior to legalization, 27% and 19% of males and females respectively, reported that they used cannabis in the last 30 days. In the survey conducted after legalization, 28% and 20% of males and females respectively reported cannabis use in the last 30 days. They also observed that following legalization, the percentage of adolescents who reported that their parents used cannabis grew to 24% from 18%.

Currently, the recreational use of cannabis is fully legal in 24 states and the District of Columbia. In legal states, individuals aged 21 years and older are allowed to purchase and possess cannabis for recreational use. The researchers also discovered that perceived use of cannabis by a best friend, in comparison to perceived use by other parties, had the strongest link with cannabis use by teenagers.

The study’s findings can help inform public health guidelines and policy in the state of Massachusetts as well as other states rolling out marijuana laws.

English, who was the lead author of the study, is also interested in how legalization of marijuana influences youth contact with the justice system. In her dissertation, she assesses trends in marijuana-related discipline in a school setting and uses qualitative interviews with adolescents to understand their experiences with and perspectives on discipline in a school setting.

The study’s findings were reported in a special issue of “Clinical Therapeutics.”

This study shows that opponents of legalization have no scientific basis to malign the entire cannabis industry, together with its leading players such as Aurora Cannabis Inc. (NASDAQ: ACB) (TSX: ACB), for allegedly commercializing a product that would become increasingly accessible to kids. The data disproves such a claim.

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420 with CNW — Lawsuits, Elections Could Impact Cannabis Rescheduling Timeline

With both the White House and Senate in the hands of the Democrats, the chances of federal cannabis legalization becoming a reality have skyrocketed. President Joe Biden based part of his campaign on cannabis reform, and his administration’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently issued a recommendation to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to loosen cannabis restrictions on the federal level.

However, even though the current administration is throwing its weight behind cannabis reform and the DEA is likely to abide by HHS’ recommendation, lawsuits and elections may impact the timeline for federal cannabis rescheduling.

Many drug reform proponents had little faith in President Biden fulfilling his cannabis promises once he assumed office. After all, Biden was instrumental in escalating the drug war back when he was a senator, and he had made his opposition to recreational marijuana clear in his old age.

His administration’s decision to recommend cannabis rescheduling was a welcome surprise and was the first time the U.S. federal government acknowledged that cannabis had medicinal value. Based on the Controlled Substances Act and its requirements for drugs classified as Schedule I substances, legal experts say the DEA has no choice but to follow the Biden Administration’s recommendation and reschedule marijuana.

Washington DC-based law firm Arnold & Porter partner Howard Sklamberg predicts that the DEA could sign off on the recommendation as early as the end of 2024. Sklamberg, who previously served as a top enforcement official at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), also predicted that the HHS would issue a cannabis rescheduling recommendation faster than expected.

He says the DEA will likely have a completed final rule by 2024. If American voters choose President Biden for a second term, observers say the nation may be even close to federal legalization and interstate cannabis trade. Ironically, such an outcome would mean that Biden, chief sponsor of the controversial 1994 crime bill that reportedly contributed to the mass incarceration of nonviolent drug offenders, would be instrumental in finally ending the era of cannabis prohibition in the United States.

Biden’s administration began acting on its cannabis promises later than many would have liked, but it seems to be taking cannabis reform quite seriously. Even so, observers note that lawsuits from reform proponents seeking comprehensive reform and opponents looking to keep cannabis illegal will derail efforts to reschedule the plant at the federal level.

Such lawsuits could hold up the rescheduling process until the suits are resolved or even leave the decision to reschedule cannabis entirely in the hands of the U.S. Supreme Court. This will stretch out the timeline even further and could be a disadvantage to industry enterprises such as Aurora Cannabis Inc. (NASDAQ: ACB) (TSX: ACB) that have been looking forward to policy changes at the federal level.

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420 with CNW — Study Finds Increase in Traffic Fatalities in Prohibitionist States, Drop Where Cannabis Is Legal

A new study from Quartz Advisor has found states that legalized cannabis since 2016 registered a “meaningful decline” in traffic fatalities. Interestingly, the paper found that states that have continued to criminalize cannabis possession and use have seen a slight increase in traffic fatalities.

The study goes against the notion that legalizing cannabis would lead to higher rates of driving under the influence and result in more traffic fatalities. While prohibitionists argued that legalizing cannabis would prove to be a danger to the public, this study suggests that ending cannabis prohibition may have a connection with fewer traffic accidents and fatalities.

Researchers concluded that traffic safety shouldn’t be a major concern for cannabis reform initiatives, especially when compared to alcohol, which has much higher traffic accident and fatality rates. They noted that while there has been no evidence connecting cannabis reform with a statistically significant rise in traffic fatalities, alcohol remains widely available despite its role in traffic accidents.

The report relied on traffic fatality data collected from four states — Maine, California, Nevada and Massachusetts — from 2016 to 2019. It then compared this data to national average rates and traffic fatality states in Wyoming, Kansas, Indiana, Nebraska and Idaho, all states where cannabis was illegal.

None of the four states with legal cannabis markets registered an increase in traffic deaths, the paper says. In fact, three of them reported a “significant decrease” in traffic deaths over the study period. Massachusetts saw the largest drop in traffic fatalities (28.6%) while Maine didn’t register any change in traffic deaths.

All four states saw a combined 11.6% drop in traffic fatalities from 2016 to 2019, 1.0% more than the decline in average traffic deaths during the same period (10.6%). The five states without legal cannabis markets registered a 1.7% increase in combined traffic deaths from 2016 to 2019.

However, when the researchers included data from 2020–2021, the traffic death rate for states with cannabis markets went up by 6.0% while states without legal cannabis markets saw a 0.7% reduction in traffic fatalities. Researchers say they excluded data from 2020 and 2021 as the two years ‘were anomalies’ in traffic accident trends.

Traffic fatalities spiked by 18.9% nationally from 2019–2020 after decades of decline while cannabis states saw a 19.9% increase in 2016 and noncannabis states registered a 2.3 decline in traffic fatalities over the same period.

The broader cannabis industry and its main actors such as Aurora Cannabis Inc. (NASDAQ: ACB) (TSX: ACB) is likely to welcome these findings because they dispel the misconception that marijuana legalization results in an increase in road traffic accidents and fatalities.

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420 with CNW — Study Concludes Set and Setting Impact Mental Health Benefits of Cannabis

A recently published study shows that engaging in yoga after using cannabis can lead to improved mystical experiences and mindfulness. The study suggests that the surrounding environment and activities can significantly influence a person’s cannabis experience. The study, which forms part of a psychology dissertation submitted at the University of British Columbia, was intended to investigate how contextual factors during marijuana consumption impact overall well-being.

Study author Sarah Elizabeth A. Daniels stated that when using psychoactive substances intended for mental-health treatment, researchers frequently take into account contextual factors outside the direct effects of the drug, such as one’s behavior, mindset and setting. These factors are known to have a substantial impact on therapeutic outcomes, a principle well-recognized in psychedelic research but less so in the context of therapeutic marijuana use. The study’s findings suggest that, similar to psychedelics, the concept of “set & setting” during marijuana use may profoundly influence the therapeutic benefits of the drug.

To assess how context affects the marijuana experience, Daniels conducted a study with 47 participants who self-administered cannabis on two separate occasions, one week apart. In one session, the subjects practiced yoga, and in the other, they took part in their routine activities, which often involved doing housework, eating, socializing or watching TV. The subjects were evaluated on measures including state effect, mystical experience, as well as state mindfulness.

The results showed a significant increase in mystical experiences and mindfulness when participants practiced yoga while using cannabis. On the other hand, there wasn’t a noticeable difference in the participants’ mood and emotional states between the two sessions.

The study findings have potential implications for enhancing the therapeutic use of cannabis as well as recommendations for clinical practice. Daniels pointed out that providing specific behavioral guidelines and psychoeducation on the role of set & setting may be beneficial. The study further suggested that the altered state of consciousness experienced while using cannabis should not be disregarded as it holds significant therapeutic value.

The U.S. government has previously acknowledged the consciousness-changing potential of hallucinogens as a significant side effect, which led to research into pharmaceutical products that mimic their effects without hallucinations. Meanwhile, the combination of yoga plus marijuana has been a long-standing practice within the marijuana community, with classes offering this pairing emerging as early as the initial stages of state-level legalization. These activities have often been praised anecdotally for their benefits.

The findings of this study can help marijuana industry players, such as Aurora Cannabis Inc. (NASDAQ: ACB) (TSX: ACB), to find novel ways in which to position their products in a way that shows customers how best they can get maximum benefits while using those products for different purposes.

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420 with CNW — Senate Vote on Cannabis Banking Delayed Until Assurance of House Passage Obtained

Senator Steve Daines, the lead Republican Senate cosponsor of a bipartisan cannabis banking bill, has revealed that a planned floor vote is on hold until he can be certain that the measure will pass in the GOP-controlled House, according to a conversation between him and Rob Sechrist, a marijuana financing executive. Daines emphasized that he wants to ensure the bill’s success in the House rather than seeing it “die” there.

This marks a significant shift in rhetoric, as Chuck Schumer, the Senate Majority Leader, had previously expressed his intent to bring the Secure and Fair Enforcement Regulation (SAFER) Banking Act to the Senate floor without mentioning any dependence on House dynamics. However, given the uncertain House dynamics and the recent removal of Rep. Kevin McCarthy as House speaker, Daines is taking a cautious approach.

The House’s changing political landscape has raised doubts about the fate of the cannabis banking bill. Advocates are closely watching the selection of the new House speaker, as their stance on cannabis reform could affect the bill’s chances. Several potential candidates have emerged, but their positions on cannabis reform vary, making the bill’s fate uncertain.

The absence of a House speaker also means that no legislation can advance in the House, which further complicates the bill’s prospects. With various pressing priorities for Congress, including funding the government and providing aid to Israel, the bill’s floor time is limited.

In addition to these challenges, there is uncertainty about the nature of the bill the GOP-controlled House would be willing to pass. Schumer has discussed amending the bill to include measures such as expunging prior cannabis records and protecting gun rights for marijuana users. Senator Raphael Warnock and others have suggested equity-centered amendments, but disagreements persist.

The bill had already faced delays due to partisan disagreements over certain sections favored by Republicans, particularly regarding ideological discrimination. While lawmakers have revised the bill, concerns remain, and reaching a consensus between the House and Senate remains a challenge.

Some Republican senators, including Tom Cotton and Chuck Grassley, have expressed concerns about the bill, with differing interpretations of Schumer’s intentions to amend it. Additionally, a group of senators, including Pete Ricketts, John Cornyn, Ted Budd and James Lankford, wrote a letter opposing the SAFER Banking Act, citing concerns about the cannabis industry and the banking system’s integrity.

Despite bipartisan momentum, a recent survey revealed that only about 1 in 10 congressional staffers believes the marijuana banking bill will pass this year, indicating the uncertain outlook for the legislation.

Companies such as Aurora Cannabis Inc. (NASDAQ: ACB) (TSX: ACB) will probably follow the goings-on on Capitol Hill to see whether marijuana banking is finally eased and the industry gets a chance to access capital like other legal businesses.

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420 with CNW — Advocates, Lawmakers Push Biden for More Action as His Mass Pardons Order Reaches Year Mark

One year after President Joe Biden ordered a mass cannabis pardon and called for a review of marijuana’s status at the federal level, advocates and lawmakers are pushing for more marijuana action. President Biden based part of his campaign on cannabis reform and pledged to do things such as pardon Americans with cannabis-related convictions, something his administration set out to do a year ago.

However, cannabis advocates and lawmakers have long argued that the administration could do more to further cannabis reform in the country, calling on the Biden administration to fulfill its cannabis promises in full and on time.

Most agree that last year’s mass pardon followed by the directive to review marijuana’s federal status were major steps in the right direction. However, now that the mass pardon’s first anniversary has arrived, activists and lawmakers are urging the administration to take its cannabis action even further with the ultimate goal of finally putting an end to federal cannabis prohibition.

According to Congressional Cannabis Caucus cochair Representative Earl Blumenauer, the president must “send a clearer signal” that he fully supports cannabis legalization at the federal level. While Biden’s pardon and his call for a scheduling review were a critical step in the right direction, Blumenauer said “more is needed” to further cannabis reform in the country. This includes prioritizing efforts by Congressional lawmakers to “rationalize” America’s federal marijuana laws and reissuing Cole Memo protections, Blumenauer said.

Although last year’s mass cannabis pardons would theoretically benefit several thousand Americans saddled with cannabis possession on their records, advocates quickly pointed out that communities such as immigrants would be left out of the pardons. The 2022 pardons did not apply to people in federal prison, meaning people who are currently incarcerated in federal prisons for cannabis possessions have not been released. Furthermore, the pardon will not prevent Americans from being persecuted for cannabis possession in the future.

Cannabis Caucus cochair Representative Dave Joyce noted that while the federal government has indicated that it is keen on updating its approach to cannabis, he has seen little application of the administration’s rescheduling and expungement efforts over the past year. Consequently, Joyce said, he is “laser focused” on advancing bipartisan marijuana legislation in Congress to grant the state-level cannabis industry access to banking, incentivize cannabis expungement at the state level and prepare the federal government for marijuana legalization.

According to Joyce, such cannabis measures will force the Biden administration to take action and provide relief to the Americans still suffering from “unjust federal prohibition.”

Companies such as Aurora Cannabis Inc. (NASDAQ: ACB) (TSX: ACB) founded in Canada where marijuana is legal nationally hope that their neighbor, the United States, can also reform its cannabis laws so that citizens can benefit from this industry on a bigger scale through employment, entrepreneurship and so on.

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420 with CNW — Wholesale Marijuana Prices Rebound in Several States

Wholesale marijuana prices have recently found stability or even experienced slight rebounds in select markets during the summer. However, industry experts are advising cultivators to prepare for a potential renewed downward trend as the fall harvest bolsters inventories through the year’s end.

Ben Burstein, a strategist at LeafLink, points out that a significant inventory buildup is observed across the industry during this time of the year, particularly around the harvest season, triggering substantial price drops. LeafLink’s data gathered from 13 states shows that after several months of consistently hitting record-breaking lows, wholesale cannabis flower prices have stabilized in certain well-established markets, such as Michigan and California. While this is good news for producers, retailers are grappling with rising costs.

In California, for instance, retailers paid more than 29% more for marijuana flower in August compared to the previous year due to a 15% decline in licensed square footage. Meanwhile, Michigan witnessed a 19% price rebound since the end of 2022, registering more than a 4% increase compared to the previous year.

In contrast, Oregon and Oklahoma, known for having some of the lowest wholesale marijuana prices in the country, experienced price increases of more than 5% and 7%, respectively, compared to the previous year. On a broader scale, prices across the 13 states exhibited a 4% year-over-year increase in August 2023 and a 15% rise compared to the end of last year.

Despite these positive trends, wholesalers in most states continue to grapple with price compression due to an oversupply of inventory. According to Cannabis Benchmarks, prices have reached a “historic low,” with the spot index plummeting to only $935 per pound, a 7.3% decline from September last year.

Burstein noted that the marijuana market tends to follow a similar pattern in most states. When medical cannabis programs launch, prices per pound can reach as high as $10,000. However, as more growers become licensed, prices gradually decline.

For instance, in Maryland, where recreational cannabis sales commenced in July, prices surged by more than 40% from August 2022 to August 2023. In Missouri, adult-use sales introduced in February increased wholesale cannabis flower prices from around $1,500 per pound in late 2022 to more than $2,000 per pound in August.

Arizona, after experiencing oversupply issues in 2021 and 2022 due to extensive greenhouse cultivation, saw prices inch up slightly in August, rising by more than 2%. Colorado, on the other hand, currently boasts the lowest wholesale prices in the nation, standing at $810 per pound in August.

In Massachusetts, the market is adjusting to reduced out-of-state demand, dropping from 25% to 15% following cannabis legalization in neighboring states such as Vermont, New York and Connecticut. Wholesale prices in the state have fallen by more than 27% since August 2022. Looking ahead, Burstein predicts further declines in the latter half of the year, as pricing shifts typically occur between the harvest and the early months of spring, when product availability decreases.

Cannabis companies such as Aurora Cannabis Inc. (NASDAQ: ACB) (TSX: ACB) are used to these seasonal changes in the wholesale price of marijuana, and likely calculate this into their pricing policies so that they still earn a profit by the end of the year.

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420 with CNW — Leafly Lawsuit Wants New York to Lift Ban on Third-Party Cannabis Marketing

Marijuana e-commerce platform Leafly has filed a lawsuit challenging the New York Office of Cannabis Management’s ban on third-party marketing and advertising services in the state’s nascent recreational cannabis industry. A recent report from Spectrum News 1 revealed that Leafly Holdings is a plaintiff in a suit against state cannabis regulators.

The Albany County state Supreme Court lawsuit argues that the state’s rollout of cannabis has been “disastrous” and has essentially hampered the fledgling industry’s growth. The suit comes at a time when New York cannabis regulators are dealing with litigation from several parties, which has held back the rollout of recreational cannabis sales in the state.

It claims that the state’s Office of Cannabis Management adopted advertising and marketing regulations that target third-party platforms such as Leafly Holdings and that these regulations are actively limiting the industry’s ability to promote and market its products. A statement from Leafly noted that the “unprecedented restrictions” place major restrictions on the ability of small business owners to reach their consumers.

Leafly is a Seattle-based company that functions as a “customer acquisition tool” for 4,600 cannabis retailers and more than 7,800 brands. The company’s main bread and butter for the majority of its life was cannabis industry reporting. However, it recently pivoted to customer-oriented content such as cannabis product descriptions and information. Leafly currently features more than 11,000 cannabis resources and stories as well as more than 5,000 marijuana strains.

Players in the state-level cannabis industry already deal with a wide variety of barriers due to federal prohibition, and Leafly argues that the Office of Cannabis Management’s advertising rules add even more barriers for small business owners. The Seattle-based company said that every customer should have the right to compare prices and shop wherever they please, but New York chooses to ignore this right, according to several court cases related to commercial speech.

Now that New York is set to launch recreational sales with a ban on third-party marketing in place, Leafly is the primary plaintiff in a suit seeking to overturn the third-party marketing ban. Ryan McCall, the deputy cannabis practice chair at Tully Rinckey LLC, says the rule limits the number of businesses that could be involved in New York’s recreational cannabis industry in the future.

He theorizes that Leafly and other plaintiffs are suing the state now because it is preparing to implement cannabis regulations in and roll out recreational sales. McCall says this recent lawsuit will likely result in a reasonable compromise for both parties. However, he notes that it could affect marketing rules moving forward if a compromise isn’t reached.

The marijuana industry is constantly engaged in advocating for improved conditions akin to what other industries enjoy, and cannabis industry players such as Aurora Cannabis Inc. (NASDAQ: ACB) (TSX: ACB) will be watching how this particular case pans out since it could chip away another form of unfair treatment targeting marijuana industry actors.

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420 with CNW — Caribbean, Latam Nations Agree War on Drugs Has Failed, New Solutions Needed

A coalition of 19 Caribbean and Latin American nations has jointly released a statement, underscoring the imperative need for a reevaluation of global drug policies. In a conference held over the weekend, these countries expressed their dissatisfaction with the current punitive strategy for combating the global drug issue, noting that it has failed to yield the desired results and has often exacerbated underlying problems while exploiting the vulnerabilities of their societies and territories.

The statement received support from representatives of numerous nations, including Brazil, Uruguay, Nicaragua, Colombia, Guatemala, El Salvador, Panama, Venezuela, Chile, Bolivia, Cuba, Honduras, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Peru, Argentina, Mexico, Paraguay and the Dominican Republic.

Mexico and Colombia are leading the reform movement, with the latter’s president Gustavo Petro referring to the drug war as a type of “genocide.” Petro emphasized the necessity of adopting a new perspective on drug control, viewing it as a health issue within society rather than merely a military issue. He called for Latam nations to speak openly and without shame, addressing the root causes of drug addiction and violence. He also highlighted how supply-side regulations have contributed to an arms race between governments and drug cartels while fostering corruption.

The joint statement proposes several reforms, including the strengthening of regulatory institutions and measures to reduce drug demand through prevention, education, treatment, early intervention, recovery and other support services. The statement also acknowledges the need to reassess plants with a historical use for scientific, industrial, medical and traditional purposes while reinforcing oversight and control mechanisms in nations where the diversion of these plants occurs.

While the statement outlined specific steps forward, it primarily urged “collective reflection” with a broad, achievable, systematic and balanced approach, considering individuals, families and the community in general. It also highlighted the importance of human rights, gender and sustainable development in promoting well-being, security social inclusion and development in the Caribbean and Latin America.

While some observers had hoped for more radical steps, such as ending drug prohibition and implementing regulations, they acknowledge that international law may pose challenges.

Colombian officials, like Néstor Osuna, have criticized the failed drug war’s devastating impact and have advocated for responsible regulation of substances such as cocaine, heroin, opioids and cannabis.

Meanwhile, lawmakers, including Representatives Juan Carlos Losada and María José Pizarro, are championing legalization and believe that the time is right for Colombia to pass legalization.

In Mexico, efforts to craft and debate cannabis reform proposals have been ongoing, but no legislation has been passed to date.

Major players in the marijuana industry such as Aurora Cannabis Inc. (NASDAQ: ACB) (TSX: ACB) are probably watching the drug-policy developments in the Caribbean and Latam region as any easing of restrictions could open up market opportunities for internationally minded cannabis companies.

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