Washington lawmakers are making a last-ditch attempt to block intoxicating, synthetically derived cannabis products, including gummy candies and vape oil, from being sold at gas stations, convenience stores, and smoke shops after earlier bills failed. “These are being sold right now, without any regulation, without any oversight,” said Democratic Sen. Karen Keiser. “It’s a public health danger and a threat, and it needs to be removed.” With about two weeks left in the legislative session, Keiser and Republican Mark Schoesler introduced a measure Friday to ban the products both within Washington’s legal marijuana industry and outside it. The products have proliferated nationally due to a perceived loophole in the 2018 federal Farm Bill, which authorized hemp growing. An alternative bipartisan bill — one that would ban synthetic cannabinoids outside of Washington’s regulated Initiative 502 marijuana market, but convene a scientific panel to recommend ways to authorize them in the future — was introduced earlier in the week in the House. In the past year and a half, producers across the country have taken CBD, a non-intoxicating compound extracted from hemp, and chemically converted it using acids and solvents into impairing delta-8, delta-9, or other types of THC, which is then used in vape oil, gummy candies and other products.

420 Intel – Marijuana Industry News, 02/27/2022 19:00:0

Open article: https://420intel.com/articles/2022/02/28/washington-lawmakers-urge-halt-hemp-derived-thc-state

The world is waking up to the blooming cannabis market and it’s time to elevate this industry, says Eric Benz, a contributor to CannaDAO, which is creating a blockchain-based platform for the cannabis industry. Cannabis is one of the fastest-growing industries globally, with governments across the world taking steps toward legalization and investors doubling down on backing the technology last year to help propel the industry forward. This has led to the industry thriving despite an ongoing pandemic and a supply chain nightmare. Eric Benz, contributor at CannaDAO, a project that is creating an ecosystem of opportunity for the cannabis industry via tokenization and a permissionless, decentralized, on-chain platform governed by its members, says that legalization of the cannabis industry will open up immense opportunities to individuals and businesses in global markets and in turn pave the way for other plant medicines and treatments to come. Benz says Cannabis has been misrepresented in the media and across the industry for more than a century and as a result, the perception and understanding have been completely misguided and that the industry has gone through an incredible maturation process and the world is beginning to wake up to all the wonderful benefits this plant provides. “In addition to saving lives, cannabis is also cleaning the pollution in the air, replacing concrete, and transforming the way we harness plant medicine overall. The countries that have banned cannabis have done so for reasons which have no merit and are based on antiquated beliefs and societal stereotypes which are no longer fit for purpose. The world is waking up to the blooming cannabis market and it’s time to elevate this industry,” he says.Asked if lifting bans on this industry would increase cases of addiction, Benz said Cannabis is a natural plant used to cure pain and also help with anxiety and depression and that the industry is at a tipping point and it is bursting at the seams waiting for regulation to open up to take full advantage. “Once more bans are lifted it will begin putting cannabis in a new light and showcase the benefits and opportunities whilst redefining how cannabis is represented in media and by governments,” he says.He added that the current industry is extremely regulated and now that regulatory framework has to be adapted to the web3 world, allowing technology and the community to empower the advancement of the cannabis industry.

420 Intel – Marijuana Industry News, 02/27/2022 19:00:00

Open article: https://420intel.com/articles/2022/02/28/cannabis-industry-tipping-point-waiting-regulations

Cannabis activists in Italy have worked hard over the course of many years to end prohibition. Legalization has become a top priority for citizens and legislators as they realize cannabis prohibition is a failed public policy in Italy, just as it is in every other non-legalized nation. All of the hard work of countless activists over multiple generations in Italy culminated in a major milestone being achieved late last year. Activists in Italy gathered over 630,000 signatures in an attempt to put a cannabis legalization referendum before voters. For a brief time, it appeared that the effort was going to be successful. However, the referendum was recently blocked on a technicality. The Referendum Process The initiative/referendum process is a particularly helpful one for cannabis activists, as referendums have led to cannabis legalization in individual states, as well as countries around the globe. The process involves ordinary citizens collecting a required number of signatures in order to put an issue in front of voters. Many jurisdictions have legalized at the local level in the Western Hemisphere this way.

Johnny Green, Cannabis & Tech Today, 02/25/2022 09:00:00

Open article: https://cannatechtoday.com/italys-supreme-court-shoots-down-cannabis-referendum/