Drugs

Drug manufacturers can further be broken down into biotechnology firms, major pharmaceutical firms, and makers of generic drugs. The biotech industry consists of companies that engage in research and development to create new drugs, devices, and treatment methods.

Many of these companies are small and lack dependable sources of revenue. Their market value may depend entirely on the expectation that a drug or treatment will gain regulatory approval, and FDA decisions or rulings in patent cases can lead to sharp, double-digit swings in share prices. Examples of (larger) biotech firms include Novo Nordisk (NVO), Regeneron ( REGN), Alexion ( ALXN), Vertex ( VRTX), Gilead Sciences Inc. (GILD), and Celgene Corp. (CELG).

Major pharmaceutical firms also engage in research and development but tend to focus more on manufacturing and marketing an existing portfolio of drugs than the typical biotech firm. These companies tend to have more dependable streams of revenue and a more diversified “pipeline” of drugs in the research and development stages, making them less dependent on make-or-break drug trials and their shares less volatile. Examples of major pharmaceutical firms include Johnson and Johnson, Roche, Pfizer, Eli Lilly, Novartis AG. GlaxoSmithKline, and Astrazeneca.

Some pharmaceutical firms specialize in generic drugs, which are identical to name-brand drugs but no longer enjoy patent protection. As a result, there is often competition to manufacture identical drugs, leading to lower prices and thinner profit margins. An example of a generic drugs firm is Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.

Medical Equipment

Medical equipment makers range from firms that manufacture standard, familiar products—scalpels, forceps, bandages, and gloves—to those that conduct cutting-edge research and produce expensive, hi-tech equipment, such as MRI machines and surgical robots. Medtronic PLC is an example of a medical equipment maker.

Managed Healthcare

Managed healthcare companies provide health insurance policies. The “Big Five” firms that dominate the managed Medicaid industry are UnitedHealth Group Inc., Anthem Inc., Aetna Inc., Molina., and Centene.2

Healthcare Facilities

Healthcare facilities firms operate hospitals, clinics, labs, psychiatric facilities, and nursing homes. Examples include Laboratory Corp. of America Holdings, which operates facilities that perform blood tests and other analyses, and HCA Healthcare Inc., which operates hospitals and other healthcare facilities in the U.S. and U.K.

Source

The post Industries Within the Healthcare Sector to Invest appeared first on Investing in Cannastocks.

Look at the explosion of taste and body profiles on beer, wine, and tequila shelves – flavor notes, in particular subtle flavor notes, have become the key drivers of product differentiation and exponential sector growth. The alcohol industry continues to get more and more sophisticated post prohibition. And in order to keep consumers interested, it will continue to do so in the future.

With cannabis, the initial goal was to get more THC into less flower because it made sense for black market distribution. Closets were small grow rooms and more THC per square foot was more valuable. Similarly, bootleggers converted bathtubs to moonshine stills and their focus was solely on driving up alcohol content. It was a balancing act to make the risk worth the reward.

But growing illegally for so many years forced bottlenecks to emerge in the cannabis genome and heterozygosity in the seed industry. The problem with this approach was that breeders did not take time to isolate traits and create parental lines. The result was plants that were selected to produce high-THC cannabinoid profiles and not to improve the end user’s experience. THC-only products can not only be harmful to one’s health, but can also inflame underlying conditions like anxiety, paranoia, schizophrenia, and others. 

Tastier, safer, and more effective cannabis is here

The premise for improving the user experience was simple: have fun, even at full speed, but without any of the baggage often present when THC levels are increased to the exclusion of other compounds. Flavor, aroma, and experience had to be fantastic. By analogy, most cannabis is a single note, so we set out to write a symphony within a single plant. This was a formidable task, but creating new and unique chemistries is never easy.

The result was a set of hybrids that contained a spectrum of ratios of THC to CBD, as well as a rainbow of terpene bouquets that gave rise to unique aromas, as well as aromas that were indistinguishable from the marketplace’s favorite “THC-only” cultivars. Four out of five consumers preferred flowers containing some CBD and the testimonials claimed no adverse events such as paranoia or anxiety.

Interestingly, the parental lines used to create these hybrids were THC-only and CBD-only (hemp) cultivars with conserved terpene profiles across all cannabinoid profiles.

The bigger picture outcome was a toolkit that is a cannabinoid researcher’s dream! It’s magic when you have a series of plants that all have the same flavor and aroma but contain different cannabinoid profiles. This kind of plant library exponentially expands the possibilities for clinical research into the effects of cannabinoids, and more importantly, the entourage effect.  

Targeting to the research of the entourage effect

Pain relief is the most often cited therapeutic reason people turn to cannabis and inflammation is the most common source of pain, so we set out to design a cannabis plant that contained a combination of cannabinoids in the plant specifically tailored to address inflammation. CBD has been reported to exhibit anti-inflammatory properties, but only in impractically large doses. This creates a disconnect between consumer expectations from the ubiquitous CBD-mania and objective results when used.

The initial chemical combinations were based on the literature and the goal was to couple CBD with other natural products to increase the anti-inflammatory properties via a synergistic effect (aka, the entourage effect). The entourage effect has become a marketing trope for many across the industry, but is rarely put to the test in an objective or quantifiable manner. 

Β-caryophyllene (BCP), a lesser-known cannabinoid and sesquiterpene, demonstrates anti-inflammatory properties in the absence of CBD. This was a key fact that drove the investigation of BCP combined with CBD.

An in-vitro inflammatory model using bacterial lipopolysaccharides (LPSs) in murine macrophages was used to move the investigative research forward. The anti-inflammatory effects of the compounds were assessed by measuring their ability to prevent the action of LPSs to upregulate the synthesis of key pro-inflammatory cytokines. Baseline data were collected for each compound individually and then approximately 100 ratios were tested by varying the concentration of each. Remarkably, and completely unpredictably, patterns showing unique anti-inflammatory effects at unexpected ratios of CBD and BCP were identified in the data. 

Guided by the lab results, our attention was turned to using marker-assisted breeding to produce whole plants with these targeted CBD to BCP ratios. Multiple plant generations later, the breeding techniques yielded stable plant genetics with the ratios of CBD to BCP mirroring those identified in the laboratory assays as uniquely synergistic – those that demonstrated a true and quantifiable entourage effect.  

With those genetics in hand, we then began targeting different THC levels to go along with the special CBD:BCP ratios. THC’s ability to interfere with the brain’s ability to recognize pain, combined with ratios of other plant compounds mirroring cellular data collected from rapid screening laboratory assays, reflects a cannabis chemovar tailored for pain reduction.

A sophisticated approach to chemovar development

Cannabis is a generic term that describes a broad category of plant material; it does not refer to a plant with specific characteristics.

Through agricultural science, cannabis must be tailored to meet specific needs. The industry is losing customers who experiment with cannabis but do not use a plant that is tailored for their desired outcome. If we, as an industry, begin breeding and selling plants based on desired outcomes rather than simply on THC levels or flavor, everyone wins.

Better cannabis is a product that first meets the needs of users, whether that is pain relief or simple relaxation without side effects. Taste is still a critical component for cannabis users so we can’t discount the importance of breeding plants that offer a combination of smoothness and nuanced flavor complexity. And finally, this approach to growing better cannabis will give consumers access to safer products that are less prone to cause adverse events. 

We’ve only just begun to mine the treasure trove buried within the cannabis genome, yet taking a novel approach to breeding is revealing both game changing opportunities and continued mysteries we continue to seek to understand. Our ongoing work to develop new cannabis chemovars, driven by data, is applicable across the sector. A targeted approach to breeding cannabis can improve enjoyment, medicinal efficacy, and safety. Again, this isn’t cannabis science fiction, it’s working smarter, not harder, to create better and more diverse cannabis chemovars.

Biotech Institute and its partner Napro Research work to support the research and development of plant-based therapeutics and related technologies through cannabinoid genetics. Their targeted breeding program provides patented and award-winning chemovars to farmers and others interested in advancing the market.

Planta Medica recently provided free access to Napro’s “Pharmacological Foundations of Cannabis Chemovars” paper that was co-authored with Dr Ethan Russo that highlights examples of Napro’s breeding accomplishments which serve as a critical foundation for further research.

Fuente: https://www.analyticalcannabis.com/articles/craft-cannabis-the-value-of-targeted-breeding-313193

The post Craft Cannabis: The Value of Targeted Breeding appeared first on Investing in Cannastocks.

A state investigation can involve document requests, employee interviews, product testing, and, in the event of a negative finding, lead to a possible suspension of product shipments or license revocation. Depending on the allegations, companies must also stay attentive to federal criminal exposure if information is shared with the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).

This explainer unpacks how to protect your company and navigate an investigation to a favorable (and profitable) long-term outcome.

The Legal Gray Area of the Initial Grow

Between the time a state votes to legalize and the time consumers can buy the product off a shelf, a lot has to happen, resulting in a year or more of lag time between “legalization” and “open for business.”

What happens in between?

A state commission is established, along with a licensing and regulatory framework. The state determines the number of licensees it will allow and the process for selecting them. Litigation challenges follow from those who were denied a license. And ultimately, the licensees build out and prepare to open.

As the cultivators prepare to launch operations, the first tripwire is immediately evident: Where will the cannabis come from? The initial crop of plants or seeds will likely come from outside the state. But moving cannabis across state lines is not an act that a state can readily authorize under its regulatory regime. There may instead be informal discussions between new licensees and those on the state commission about how such situations are to be handled. That might seem like an acceptable short-term solution; however, in the event of a subsequent investigation of the company, employees can be asked about how those initial plants or seeds were obtained, and they answer those questions at the risk of being accused of interstate transport of a controlled substance.

Guidance in that initial stage should therefore be well documented and provided to regulators in the event of a subsequent investigation. Additionally, counsel should speak to the questioners in advance of any interviews and make clear that even if the company is cooperating, it will not—and cannot be expected to—answer questions that could implicate federal criminal issues.

How Can You Protect Against or Prepare for a State Investigation?

The best protective measure a company can take is to conduct its own internal investigation or, at a minimum, a compliance review.

If the company begins an internal investigation and takes corrective action before the regulators even detect an issue, it will be in a position to argue against any penalty. And even if the investigation begins after the regulators suspect an issue, the company can inform the regulators that it will cooperate, is conducting its own internal investigation, and will provide the regulators with a list of findings and compliance improvements made. Such a proactive approach can avoid disruption of the company’s license status. In all cases, the goal is to build credibility with the regulators and ensure them that the company can and will police itself and promptly take any necessary remedial actions.

So it begins with policing your own company by reviewing the key components for compliance. How do you do that?

Three key steps are to (1) vet the employee backgrounds and their relationships with each other, (2) review the quality control processes, and (3) review the security processes. Reviewing these three areas and fixing any identified issues can protect the company against three of the most damaging issues for a new cultivator: a rogue employee or whistleblower, a suspension of its product, and a diversion/black market investigation.

The Employees

The types of employees working in a cannabis company are changing quickly, but they can be a uniquely challenging group if they come from the illicit or grey market. Previously, many new cultivators sought a head grower—typically one of the key roles in the organization—with a decade or more of experience. But of course anyone with a decade or more of experience will draw at least some of that experience from an illegal market and may have a more dismissive attitude toward compliance. Given that the head grower is typically one of the highest paid employees, other more compliance-minded employees, who might also feel underpaid or undervalued relative to the head grower, might become resentful and become whistleblowers. And given that new cultivators often lack internal whistleblower policies and reporting mechanisms, whistleblowers are more likely to report directly to the state regulator and immediately trigger an investigation.

You should therefore review not only your company’s initial screening process for hires but also the training materials, rate of turnover, and compliance or other disciplinary write-ups on the employees. This will give you a picture of any existing personnel tensions and the scope of the compliance officer’s authority. Keep in mind that inspectors will often ask for compliance reports, so if the compliance officer is writing a series of reports that no one acts upon, the company is doing little more than building a record against itself.

At the same time, this is not to suggest that write-ups should not happen. Lack of write-ups could suggest to investigators that there is no compliance program at all, thereby making the company’s license suspension or revocation more likely. But if the company hangs onto problem employees, and ends up in an investigation, it will likely end up answering for why those employees are still around and who favored retaining them. Further, the problem employees, as well as their enablers, could face individual liability and suspension.

The solution is to ensure that the compliance officer has sufficient authority within the company and that disciplinary consequences follow compliance violations.

If the company ends up getting investigated, the compliance officer’s role and authority will be carefully evaluated as an indicator of whether the problems are isolated or systemic. Although the company can argue that isolated issues can and will be corrected, systemic issues resulting from a complete breakdown of the compliance function will place a company’s license in jeopardy.

Quality Control Processes

Another allegation that can trigger immediate investigation is a finding or suggestion that the cannabis product is contaminated by an unapproved product, such as a pesticide. The company should therefore review the processes it has in place to ensure that only approved products are applied, and that only approved employees can apply them.

Relatedly, operators should review the logs recording the application of pesticides or other crop protection agents or nutrients. In a pesticide investigation, these will be among the first documents requested. If the review turns up inadequate processes or logs, implement a two-witness logging system and clear written guidance for what can be applied to plants and to ensure that no one can apply unauthorized pesticides after hours.

Security Processes

Besides pesticide use, another recurring issue in investigations and enforcement, and a far more serious one, is diversion. A company that adequately protects against diversion should regularly review both its seed-to-sale tracking system and its security system. The company must be able to demonstrate that every plant is on camera and in the seed-to-sale system, and that every person or package is searched.

During an audit, a regulator expects to be able to select a plant on the company’s system, see where it is in the facility, and go to that room and find the plant. This seed-to-sale software must be up to date (capturing all plants in the facility), and employees must be properly trained on it. Similarly, every employee must be searched coming into the facility and coming out of a greenhouse. Every plant must be within view of a camera. Any exceptions to these rules will raise suspicions of diversion and prompt further investigation.

Why Are Investigations So Perilous?

Any regulatory investigation is potentially devastating for at least three reasons.

First, there is always a risk that the investigation will lead into areas of federal concern. Any finding that presents as a red flag for potential diversion of product to the black market could bring federal scrutiny. Security failures, plant tracking failures, plants growing in an area where the cameras fail to reach, all could raise questions about diversion and end up triggering a federal criminal investigation.

Second, there is always a risk that a hold will be placed on the product pending the investigation. If the investigation concerns pesticides or other contamination, the state could issue a hold without warning on the basis of a possible harm to public health. A single-product company with a perishable product that is sitting on the shelf indefinitelycan suffer devastating financial harm. Even if the suspension is later lifted and the company is cleared of the allegations, the company might have difficulty rebounding financially.

Third, an investigation under a new state regime will obviously lack the protocols and policies that guide a U.S. Department of Justice investigation. In a federal investigation, for instance, there are policies governing filing suit or bringing charges against a company, giving credit to a company that cooperates with an investigation, and deciding how to resolve an investigation. An investigation by a new state cannabis commission may have none of these things, so counsel needs to have a frank conversation with the investigators early on to set expectations about how the investigation will proceed, how cooperation will be treated, and what questioning will be off limits. Ultimately, however, counsel can use the absence of policies and protocols to propose a more creative, favorable resolution, especially if the company has been proactive in its own investigation and already implemented compliance improvements.

Final Thoughts

If despite the company’s best efforts, an aggressive investigation hits, don’t go it alone. Seek a qualified and experienced counsel to help you navigate the process and advocate for you. Your initial steps in responding to an investigation are critical, can affect your credibility with the investigators, and shape the outcome. Being proactive and having a credible actor on your side is key. But if you do your own review and investigation, maintain cooperative dialogue with the investigators, shut down any potential areas of federal criminal interest, and promptly remedy any issues that are identified, you can steer the company to a favorable and profitable outcome. 

Fuente: https://www.cannabisbusinesstimes.com/article/state-regulatory-investigation-cannabis/

The post How to Navigate a State Regulatory Investigation Into Your Cannabis Business appeared first on Investing in Cannastocks.

As with any agricultural crop, cannabis only needs three fundamental things to grow: soil, sun, and water. However, as a commercial crop, the process becomes significantly more complex.

Modern, legal cannabis operations rely on a significant amount of technology in their day-to-day operations. Regardless of the cultivation method, cannabis producers need technology to help them maintain consistency in the environment and in their production processes.

However, while cultivation, manufacturing, and retail technologies are undoubtedly necessary, data is still king in a highly regulated, track and trace environment. And what we learn from that data is shaping the industry.

CANNABIS DATA DRIVES INDUSTRY DECISIONS

In the world of consumer goods, the consumers’ purchasing habits drive retail and manufacturing decisions. If there’s a great demand for a particular product, common sense tells us to produce more. Likewise, in the cannabis industry, consumer data is helping retailers and manufacturers make intelligent decisions about the products they produce.

Several SaaS solutions exist for collecting various types of consumer data. Jeff Harris, Co-founder, and CEO at springbig mentioned during a recent conversation, in addition to the raw data, retailers need “the ability to absorb and consume first-party data, meaning actual purchase data from the consumer.”

An expert in his field, Harris has spent most of his career managing customer loyalty marketing programs for other industries, including small businesses like pizza shops, yogurt chops, and nail and hair salons. But when Harris noticed that cannabis retailers were using their platform at a much greater level than other businesses and spending ten times the average of other businesses, they pivoted to focus solely on cannabis retail.

springbig may have only started with five or six people, but today it is now a cannabis data giant with more than 150 employees.

OUTSIDE FORCES ARE BRINGING ENHANCED SOLUTIONS

In the early days of cannabis, ancillary businesses with the experience and expertise didn’t want to approach the cannabis industry because of the stigmas and stereotypes therein. So, the entire ecosystem had to be built to support the industry. So, here’s this industry that has the same logistical needs as any other manufacturing and retail industry, without the traditional support systems afforded to more mainstream products.

Technology support and data collection only help businesses function better. Harris said, “What’s so amazing about this industry is that you essentially have this other planet, and on that planet, you need to build an ecosystem, and people saw the opportunity and built that ecosystem.”

He continued, “The technology was built to support the industry, and the reason it had to be built is that people from the outside didn’t want to come near cannabis.”

But today, as the cannabis industry gains acceptance and cannabis use becomes less stigmatized, companies who’ve spent decades providing services to other industries are starting to rethink their position on cannabis. As federal decriminalization and banking changes continue to move forward, more traditional companies are recognizing opportunities.

CONNECTING WITH THE CONSUMER

Loyalty programs allow businesses to collect data in real-time and allow retailers to know who the customer is, when they’ll likely visit the store, how much they typically spend, and what products they purchase. Data like this can be invaluable for businesses but learning how to harness that data is priceless.

Data platforms, like springbig, allow cannabis retailers to not only utilize the sales data from their consumers they also allow them to communicate more effectively with their clientele. Harris explains, “Not all communications need to carry a discount or sale; we’re using data to help our clients be smarter about how they communicate.”

From a real-world example, a cannabis consumer in Puerto Rico recently posted on social media, “When your favorite dispensary messages to say they have ounces of your favorite strain at a very discounted price, that’s amore!”

Clearly, not only did her dispensary delight her by knowing her favorite product, but they also gained a brand advocate for their level of customer service, as well as free influencer marketing and visibility.

“What’s interesting about that example,” Harris explained, “is that if you let the customer know that the product they like is in the store, sometimes that’s enough to get them to get off their chair, get into the car, and drive to the dispensary.”

“It’s also a perfect example of how data can be used to drive traffic into the store by simply letting the customer know the product they like is available,” he continued.

THE TRUTH IN DATA MAY SURPRISE YOU

With the data collected across the industry, we start to see trends, and many of those trends aren’t what many producers expected. “Initially, people were amazed to see women in their 30s and 40s going into the stores to buy cannabis,” Harris stated.

“Now, here in Florida, not only are we finding more seniors coming into the stores, we are seeing senior-only communities opening dispensaries, too,” he pointed out.

As the industry advances, Harris believes the demand for data is only going to increase. Although the laws will likely change to open interstate commerce and allow for broader means of advertising and marketing, Harris said, “Our job is to change along with how the industry changes… cannabis will become less stigmatized and more accepted, which will drive the growth this industry.”

The post How Data & Technology are Driving the Cannabis Industry appeared first on Investing in Cannastocks.

But in a new study, a group of researchers have found that, contrary to their predictions, high potency cannabis concentrates don’t seem to significantly impair the memory of regular cannabis consumers much more than lower potency flower products.

Published in Scientific Reports, the study found that, while cannabis-using participants did perform poorer on some memory recall tests than their sober counterparts, the differences were often negligible.

However, the participants who vaped the high-potency concentrates were observed to puff less frequently than those asked to smoke less potent cannabis flower. Thus, it may be the behavior of the concentrate users rather than the products themselves that accounted for their surprisingly good performance in the memory tests.

Plumes on Zoom

Due to the drug’s federally illicit status, any clinical cannabis research carried out on human participants in the US must use cannabis supplied by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), which is limited to low potency whole plant cannabis. Consequently, very few studies have managed to investigate the effects of the kind high-potency cannabis sold in states with legal recreational access.

“Because of federal restrictions to researchers, it was just not possible to study the acute effects of these high-potency products,” Carrie Cuttler, an assistant professor of psychology at Washington State University (WSU) and the lead researcher on the study, said in a statement.

“The general population in states where cannabis is legal has very easy access to a wide array of high-potency cannabis products, including extremely high-potency cannabis concentrates which can exceed 90% THC, and we’ve been limited to studying the whole plant with under 10% THC.”

To get around this issue, the WSU researchers conducted their study over Zoom, the online video call software, and recruited 80 participants who had already bought their own high-potency cannabis.

These participants were asked to smoke either THC flower (20 percent THC, 0 percent CBD) or THC and CBD flower (20 percent THC, 0.7 percent CBD), or vape cannabis concentrates (60 percent THC, 0.7 percent CBD). A control group containing sober participants was also studied.

To test how the cannabis products affected the subjects’ ability to recall memories, the researchers conducted several memory tests over Zoom after the participants had smoked/vaped their cannabis on camera. These tasks included showing the subject 32 pictures of common objects (a hat, a horse, an envelope, etc.) and asking them to recall as many as possible.

The participants were also tested to see how susceptible they were to false memories. During one test, they were read a list of 12 related words (tired, bed, dream, pillow, etc.) and then asked to recall as many as possible. If a participant gave a word that hadn’t been in the initial list (such as “sleep”), this was counted as a false memory.

After analyzing the results, the researchers found that cannabis had little to no effect on certain types of memory, such as prospective memory (the ability to remember to do things at a later time, like attending an appointment). The cannabis-consuming groups also performed well on temporal order memory (the ability to remember the sequence of previous events).

However, the researchers found that the group that smoked the THC and CBD flower products recalled significantly fewer pictures than the participants who consumed THC flower or high-potency concentrates, or who stayed sober. This contradicted the researchers’ initial hypothesis, as previous research has shown CBD to have a protective effect on memory. But given that the flower’s THC:CBD ratio was heavily skewed in favor of THC (20 percent THC, 0.7 percent CBD), it’s possible that the CBD levels were too low to provide this counter-effect.

The researchers’ initial predictions were also proven flawed when it came to the cannabis concentrates. As these products contained the most THC, it was assumed that the participants vaping them would perform the worst on the memory tests. Yet these subjects were often the least impaired or second least impaired during the tests out of the three groups. However, when watching the participants vape their products over Zoom, the researchers noted that the consumers puffed less regularly than the cannabis flower smokers – a method that may have led the concentrate users to experience comparable levels of intoxication to their flower-smoking counterparts.

All three cannabis groups also performed poorly on the false memory test.

Just a memory

Previous research has also found cannabis use to promote false memories.

Published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences last year, one study found that some participants doubled their number of false memories after inhaling marijuana fumes and performing memory tests.

Why? Well, while that study could only speculate, other research efforts have found connections between memories and cannabinoids receptors in the brain’s hippocampus.

“An increase in irrelevant associations might stem from increased incidental learning due to activation of hippocampal CB1 receptors,” the researchers wrote in their study.

“These effects include a loosening of associations, fragmentation of thought, and heightened distractibility. Such reductions in focus and increments in mental activity could well account for the increase in false recognitions of irrelevant or unrelated words or events on all memory tasks.”

Fuente: https://www.analyticalcannabis.com/news/cannabis-concentrates-may-not-affect-memory-as-much-as-first-thought-study-finds-313189

The post Cannabis Concentrates May Not Affect Memory as Much as First Thought, Study Finds appeared first on Investing in Cannastocks.

While the vast majority of insects don’t cause economically significant damage, preventing a pest outbreak before it gets out of hand is the ultimate goal of an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) plan, according to Charlie McKenzie, founder of Florida-based CropWalk, a national IPM consultancy for high-value, controlled environment crops like cannabis.

Crucial to an IPM plan is proper crop scouting, yet McKenzie sees many growers failing at the task. CropWalk recently launched an online academy teaching foundational IPM skills, including crop scouting.

“They are either not scouting at all because of the fear of not doing it right or not having it set up,” McKenzie said.

“Or they’re scouting but don’t have the full foundational nature of what to be looking for and how to be looking for it.”

Crop scouting is more involved than walking the crop every so often and flagging a bug outbreak, McKenzie said.

Identify key cannabis pests

Medical marijuana grower Sam Konchan calls his five-person cannabis crop scouting crew his “special ops team.”

Konchan, the IPM manager for Arizona-headquartered multistate cannabis operator Harvest Health & Recreation, said his scouting crew:

• Uses specific equipment and tools.
• Dresses for the job in personal protective equipment.
• Is highly trained for its crucial task of spotting the enemy – cannabis pests (and diseases).

Based in Gainesville, Florida, Konchan battles the state’s hot, humid and wet weather that favors pests and diseases.

Spider mites, tobacco whitefly, three species of Florida flower thrips, cotton aphids and rice root aphids are all on his team’s key pest list.

Most cannabis growers outside Florida will have a shorter list of key pests, McKenzie said, usually at least five and not more than 10, including pathogens.

He advises reaching out to neighbors and state extension agents to ask what problem cannabis pests they have seen in the region.

Scouting crews should note sightings of occasional pests that generally don’t cause significant damage versus key pests if only so “you don’t worry yourself to death” concerned about a pest that ultimately won’t be a problem, McKenzie said.

Monitoring beneficial insects is another task for the scouting crew. Natural predator populations help growers understand if their management practices are working and determine the effectiveness of biological product applications.

Choose which data to collect

Growers need to know which data is important to collect and how to organize it, McKenzie said.

Specific data points to include:

• Pest pressure. What’s the average pest population level and are there any hot spots?
• Biological control agents. Are populations of biologicals sufficient to manage outbreaks?
• Weather conditions. Temperature and humidity can affect pest populations. Stressful weather events (hail or high winds for outside grows) can lead to a pest outbreak.
• Any previously undocumented plant-health outbreak that might make the crop susceptible to pests.

There are also data points that a scouting crew doesn’t need to collect because they don’t trigger a response, McKenzie said, such as how many insects are on a leaf or exactly where a pest was spotted.

Growers should keep their scouting data organized and informative. Many growers use a numerical system of one through five to indicate the severity of an outbreak and letters to show what they are seeing. For example, 3E indicates a midrange population of pest eggs (E), whereas 5N notes a large population of pest nymphs (N).

Noting signs of pests versus symptoms of a pest outbreak are also important.

Tools for crop scouting

There’s a long list of tools and supplies a scouting crew needs. It comes down to “having the right tools for the job and knowing how to use them,” McKenzie said.

He recommends that every crop scouting crew member have:

• A means to take notes (notebook or tablet), sharpies and an old-school pencil.
• A 15x LED hand lens, critical for inspecting insects or damage, and a portable USB microscope that can magnify and capture an image.
• Plastic and paper bags for collecting leaf or soil samples and plastic vials (old pill bottles work) for insect samples.
• Forceps for picking up insects.
• Isopropyl alcohol for preserving bugs. For most soft-bodied insects, 70% to 75%. Some caterpillars need 91%-95%.
• A “beat sheet” to place under plant foliage and shake insects onto. A white sheet of printer paper, laminated for reuse, works well.
• Flagging tape and stakes to note where a problem was observed or mark off sections.
• PPE (this can differ between outdoor and indoor grows), such as washable booties and disposable nitrile gloves.
• Sunscreen and a good hat to block the sun.

Avoid common mistakes

McKenzie reminds growers not to scout the “same day of the week, at the same time and in the same pattern.”

Different insects are active at specific times of the day. If the crew always scouts the same weekday, they won’t get an accurate picture of the effectiveness of products applied earlier in the week.

Growers that have been in the crop a lot tend to become numb to new problems unless they walk a different route, McKenzie said.

“You don’t see the little details because you walk by the same way every time,” he added.

Growers setting up IPM programs should vet advice carefully, Konchan warns.

“The misinformation across the internet is rampant,” he said, and doesn’t contain much university-backed research to reference.

“The advice is horrible, or it is too broad. If I didn’t know what I was doing, I wouldn’t be able to do it well.”

Konchan recommends reaching out to cannabis-savvy IPM consultants for practical, actionable advice.

“We don’t have a lot of research from universities to reference, but we do have a lot of fieldwork,” Konchan said.

“There is really no excuse we can’t be more on the point for IPM and what people should be doing.”

Fuente: https://hempindustrydaily.com/how-hemp-growers-can-employ-crop-scouting-for-pests-diseases/

The post How hemp growers can employ crop scouting for pests, diseases appeared first on Investing in Cannastocks.

Fake vape cartridges are a serious problem. They’re often made to mimic well-known brands, and they can reduce consumer confidence in the industry. Worse still – they can make you very sick, or even kill you if you don’t know how to spot them.

Unfortunately, the packaging for these vape cartridges can be incredibly professional. In this article, we’ll give you some tips on how you can spot the fakes. But first, a piece of advice:

Only buy from legal vendors and trusted brands

The easiest way to avoid fake vape cartridges is to only purchase from trusted sources. You can get lab test results from legal vendors, as cannabis producers have to provide them. In those test results, you can see exactly how much THC – and other chemicals – are present in the cartridge you’re purchasing.Getting your products from trusted producers like PAX Labs, makers of the Era Pro, Era Life, PAX 2 and 3, will significantly reduce your risk of ending up with a fake vape cartridge.

Of course, this advice is only so good when you’re purchasing your cartridges online, or if you’re living in a state where cannabis is still a black market product. In light of that, here are a few tips for spotting fake products.

Know your brands

Websites like Leafly are incredibly good at listing reliable brands and reviews for those brands. Before you purchase or vape a cartridge, look up the brand and name on Leafly or a similar resource site. There are so many different vaporizer cartridges cataloged on these sites that if yours is legitimate, you’re almost sure to find it.  

Once you find the product in question, check reviews. You should also visit the website of the brand you’ve purchased. Then, compare the packaging you find with the packaging on your vape cartridge.

This is not a foolproof method – some of the nefarious actors creating these fake cartridges go out of their way to make their packaging match the real thing. Some of them create very high-quality websites. But doing your research can seriously help reduce your risk.

Check for regulatory compliance

This technique isn’t flawless, but it can help when you otherwise can’t tell whether or not the cartridge is legitimate. 

Check the regulatory requirements for vape cartridge packaging in your area. In California, for example, you’re required to have:

• Manufacturer name and contact information
• Date of manufacture/packaging
• Government warning statement for cannabis products
• UID number 
• Batch or lot number
• Instructions for use and any preparation needed
• List of all ingredients 
• Allergens
• Artificial food colorings 
• Expiration, use-by or best-by date

Check state laws or federal laws (in Canada) to see what information is required on the package, then check your package to see if it complies with those regulations. A weed store in Winnipeg is going to have different packaging requirements for its products than a weed store in Denver. 

Be suspicious of overly good deals

See a cartridge that promises 99.9% THC for $10?

Be very suspicious.

Check online or at your local licensed vendor to see how much cartridges go for, what ingredients they have, and the amount of THC in the cartridge. Compare those values to the values of the cartridge you’ve purchased – if things are drastically different, you probably have a fake cartridge.

Trust your gut

If something feels like it’s too good to be true, it probably is. You might not be able to tell by taste, smell, or sight. You might just feel like something is wrong.

That’s okay. Trust that instinct. It’s better you waste a few bucks throwing out a real vape cartridge than it is to take a gamble on a fake one and lose.

We hope this brief article helps you avoid fake vapes. Stay safe out there! 

Fuente: https://www.greenmarketreport.com/how-to-spot-a-fake-vape-cartridge/

The post How To Spot A Fake Vape Cartridge appeared first on Investing in Cannastocks.

These include acute medical conditions such as cancer, chronic pain and epilepsy, as well as wellness reasons including anxiety, muscle strains and sleep problems.

To understand their consumers’ needs, marijuana product manufacturers and retailers must know which cannabis products can help and how to make them in a way that wins consumer confidence.

There’s a lot to consider:

• Federal legalization could usher in new regulations and standards governing how cannabis facilities operate.
• Researchers are learning about minor cannabinoids, which could play a role in future cannabis-based product development.
• Scientists brought over from the pharmaceutical industry are helping revolutionize cannabis products in a way that will make them more palatable—literally and figuratively.

“It’s important to understand where this industry is going to go long term,” said Albert Gutierrez, CEO of MedPharm Holdings, a Denver company that cultivates and manufactures cannabis products at a Good Manufacturing Practice-certified facility.

“We want to make sure we’re following standards that will meet federal guidelines to serve customers or even serve researchers.”

While state-of-the-art facilities and science will play a large role in shaping the industry, so will established tactics such as building patient relationships and keeping records about the effects cannabis products are having.

Fuente: https://mjbizdaily.com/medical-and-wellness-key-reasons-for-marijuana-use/

The post Medical marijuana patients, adult-use customers alike using cannabis for wellness appeared first on Investing in Cannastocks.

U.S, (Greenentrepreneur) June 22. Many marijuana stocks are still recovering from recent lows in the market. However, since mid-May, many cannabis stocks have started to slowly climb back up. Now many factors have played into this recent uptick in trading. Nevertheless, moments of continuous volatility have also taken place. This has led to both a positive and adverse effect on how the sector has been performing. Meaning that volatility has both helped some cannabis stocks reach higher market levels as well as dropping further in trading.

This past week much of the sector was faced with a slight pullback in trading. Even though the current performance of marijuana stocks is still showing lower entry points this past week it got even lower. Yet some of these marijuana stocks have once again started to pull up in the market. Some cannabis stocks were actually able to maintain promising market levels and some even climbed higher. However, those companies were more on the ancillary and pharmaceutical side of the sector along with a select few pure-play and MSO cannabis stocks.

For investors to finally see more action take place in the sector it is providing a renewed confidence in cannabis investing. Right now shareholders are waiting for the sector to reach a high enough level to see substantial gains. In the last 3-4 months some investors were a bit nervous which led to some pulling out of their position.

Yet for the shareholders who held their position, they feel marijuana stocks will soon reach high enough levels to see better gains. The overall growth of the cannabis industry is still showing great promise. Notably with better legislation and the expansion of the top marijuana companies that are displaying true innovation. With more progress comes more opportunity especially for those looking to invest in the legal cannabis industry.

What Do You Know About These Marijuana Stocks

1. GrowGeneration Corp. (NASDAQ:GRWG)
2. TILT Holdings Inc. (OTC:TLLTF)

GrowGeneration Corp.

GrowGeneration Corp. is one of the leading hydroponic gardening companies in the industry. GRWG stock since the start of the downtrend back in February has shown a great deal of volatility. Even as GRWG stock was dropping some of this volatile market action played in favor of the company. For instance, the 8 days of March GRWG stock continued to fall in the market.

Yet from the 8th to the 15th of May GRWG started to bounce and this made for a 41 percent increase in trading. Now from this point, the company was able to see a bit more of a jump before eventually dropping back down. Much of this market activity took place as the company was trading down in the market. However, from May 26th to the close on 21st of June GRWG stock has been on the road to recovery. 

During this time the company saw gains of 11 percent. Currently GRWG stock is up as investors keep watch to see if this top marijuana stock will climb even higher. Back at the start of June, the company announced the launch of GrowGeneration.com. The company’s newly redesigned e-commerce platform now includes the option to Buy Online Pickup in Store. With the growth of Ecom, a venture like this only adds more value to the company.

Words From The Company

“We’ve seen a number of retail trends emerge – or accelerate – as a result of the global COVID-19 pandemic,” said Tony Sullivan, GrowGen’s COO. “More than ever, consumers want the ease and convenience of online shopping, but with the option to avoid shipping delays or charges by picking up at their local store. With GrowGeneration.com, we’ve created a streamlined online shopping experience and addressed consumer demand for in-store pick-up. Our goal is to improve our customer shopping experience nationwide, while increasing in-store and online revenue. We are very excited to kick off our omni-channel strategy with the launch of the new website.”

TILT Holdings Inc.

TILT Holdings Inc. like many other marijuana stocks has faced a bit of volatile trading over the last several months. This volatile performance has led to some ups and downs as TLLLTF stock was falling. Now even though currently, TLLTF stock is down some strides at better trading have taken place.

For example from May 5th to 13th GRWG stock saw a 20 percent drop in trading. At this time the company was averaging down in the market but from the 13th to 25th of May GRWG stock had a nice run that made for a 17 percent jump in trading. Furthermore, the company was able to sustain this climb until the 11th of June. Right after that time GRWG stock once again began to fall. 

Even with the current drop in trading investors are keeping an eye on this marijuana stock to watch to see it can recover before next month. In recent news, the company announced it has reached an agreement with the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission. This agreement is in regards to resolving concerns of the CCC. Which is for clearing the path for provisional licensure for the retail sale of adult-use and medical cannabis in Massachusetts.

Words From The CEO of TILT Holdings Inc.

“We worked diligently with the Cannabis Control Commission to resolve the investigation that has stalled our remaining state licenses for the past two years,” said Gary Santo, CEO of TILT. “We appreciate the time, effort and professionalism afforded to TILT by the CCC staff and are thrilled to have come to an amicable resolution with the Commission.

Fuente: https://www.greenentrepreneur.com/article/375293

The post Top Marijuana Stocks To Watch Today? 2 Stocks For Your Watchlist appeared first on Investing in Cannastocks.

This might have been a non-issue in the days of cannabis prohibition where any amount of cannabis use was illegal, but in today’s world, where recreational and/or medicinal cannabis use is accepted in many parts of the globe, being able to assess for genuine impairment has never been more important.

But what if you could read somebody’s mind and tell if they are high? It might sound like science fiction, but that is the operating principle behind the Cognalyzer, a new device from the Canadian neurotechnology pioneer, Zentrela.

The Cognalyzer, accurate technology for detecting a high

At its core, the Cognalyzer is an electroencephalogram (EEG) device contained in a headband that collects brainwave data over the span of two-to-three minutes. Using specially developed machine learning algorithms, the Cognalyzer is able to translate these data and determine on a scale of 0 to 100 the degree to which a person is feeling the psychoactive effects of THC.

“It’s self-evident that when you’re high, something must be different about your brain,” Dan Bosnyak, chief science officer at Zentrela, told Analytical Cannabis. “We presume that our sensations and perceptions are controlled by the brain, so there must be something different there. So we went out to try and identify what was different.”

“What we need is a way to figure out for sure whether a person is feeling psychoactive effects, and exactly the magnitude of those effects. We used machine learning and collected a bunch of data from people that we knew were feeling psychoactive effects, and then created a machine learning system that essentially classifies your current psychoactive effects state and returns a magnitude number between zero and 100 that tells you how high you are right now.”

The Cognalyzer is currently undergoing phase 2 clinical trials through a partnership between Zentrela and the research organization KGK Science to evaluate the accuracy and sensitivity of the device. Initial results from an early feasibility study published in the journal Advances in Therapysuggest that the device’s accuracy is around 85 percent. This accuracy held true across a group of cannabis users with varying cannabis use histories, indicating that the test is also robust enough for general use.

What does this mean in practice?

The Zentrela team is very upfront about the fact that the Cognalyzer is not intended to replace roadside saliva test kits for law enforcement or the drug testing kits used by employers who must maintain a drug-free workplace for safety reasons. Indeed, the device is not designed to be portable at all.

Instead, they see the Cognalyzer as a complement to these current tests that can reduce the likelihood of false-positive results and confirm if a person is actually high as opposed to just having cannabis metabolites in their system.

“As a first step, to provide a solution for employers and law enforcement, [we want to look at how] you can combine a saliva test and a brainwave test, the Cognalyzer, in order to eliminate false positives,” explained Israel Gasperin, founder and CEO of Zentrela.

“What we’re proposing is that if you are testing positive in a saliva test, you should also [have to] test positive in our brainwave test in order to come to a solid conclusion that the person is likely to be high. In this way, we can mitigate false accusations while still keeping the workplace and our roads safe.”

In the feasibility study, a combination of the Cognalyzer and saliva testing was found to reduce the number of false-positive test results by up to 49 percent compared to saliva testing alone. Slashing the rate of positives is crucial, the Zentrela team says, given the legal and personal consequences that a false-positive test might have for a driver or an employee.

Zentrela is also looking at conducting additional future research that could tie together the Cognalyzer 0 to 100 psycho-activity scale with real-world measures of impairment and the subjective effects of a psychoactive experience. By using the Cognalyzer in this way, the Zentrela team can start documenting the psychoactive effects created by different cannabis product types. So whether packaged in mylar bags or pre roll tubes, the effects of all cannabis products could be assessed by consumers.

The trouble with measuring cannabis impairment

In Canada, cannabis testing is normally carried out using saliva-based roadside testing kits that show a simple positive/negative result based on whether they detect cannabis metabolites in the body. If the test comes back positive, this means a visit to the police station where a more accurate blood test can be carried out and the person can be assessed by a trained drug recognition expert.

“The original conception of cannabis impairment was quite straightforward. When cannabis was illegal, it was trivial, right? If you had cannabis detectable cannabis or cannabis metabolites in your system, you had broken the law at some point in the fairly recent past, and therefore it was a very straightforward decision to have you ticketed, or whatever disciplinary action was appropriate,” said Bosnyak.

“The drug recognition experts use things like how well your gaze tracks their finger, heart rate, and things like that. All these things are arguably subjective. So it’s good to have a completely objective assessment that tells you something about how large a psychoactive effect a person is feeling.”

More so than the need for a less subjective test, there is an urgent need for an alternative testing solution that is faster than current assessments. Testing done by a drug recognition expert can take 30 to 40 minutes to carry out completely, and there are not enough trained officers to meet demand. While the Cognalyzer is not suitable for use as a standalone drug test or at the roadside, Zentrela believes its use in conjunction with saliva testing could help to free up these drug recognition officers for other more important investigations.

Evidently, lawmakers in Ontario believe in the usefulness of the Cognalyzer as a secondary testing method; the province’s government has contributed $1 million CAD towards funding the new phase 2 trial, targeted at confirming the accuracy of the device’s algorithm for detecting impairment.

Fuente: https://www.analyticalcannabis.com/articles/is-this-the-most-accurate-test-yet-for-a-cannabis-high-313152

The post Is This the Most Accurate Test Yet for a Cannabis High? appeared first on Investing in Cannastocks.