Colorado: Gov. Polis launches cannabis loan program.
On Monday, Gov. Jared Polis and the state Cannabis Business Office announced a new Cannabis Business Loan Program with an initial investment of $1 million. While the state has provided grants in the past, this is its first cannabis loan program.
A few other states have loan programs, like Illinois’ Social Equity Cannabis Loan Program, and Connecticut’s Canna-Business Revolving Loan Fund. In New York, the turnkey properties provided to CAURD licensees are a sort of loan, too.
“This landmark loan program will create and retain 239 good-paying jobs and promote equity in the cannabis industry by providing growing businesses access to funding. I am committed to saving small businesses money and ensuring our state remains a great place to start and run a business in every industry,” said Polis in the announcement.
Hemp groups release 2023 Farm Bill priorities.
On Monday, the Hemp Industries Association (HIA), National Industrial Hemp Council (NIHC) and U.S. Hemp Roundtable (USHR) released their “nine key policy priorities for consideration by Congress” as the 2023 Farm Bill is drafted in the coming months, and dozens of additional groups have signed on.
Among the priorities are, unsurprisingly, requiring the FDA to regulate CBD, and, for example, treating hemp as a “specialty crop.”
One item that is likely to become contentious in the new Farm Bill is whether or not the definition of hemp, which is .3% THC or less of delta-9 THC on a dry weight basis, is modified. These groups argue that it should not be, but that there are other ways to protect consumers.
(One issue with the current approach, laid out by 2018 Farm Bill, is that it inadvertently created a loophole for products with hundreds of milligrams of THC.)
Lambert Center surveys medical cannabis patients on sleep issues.
Researchers from the University of Sydney’s Lambert Initiative for Cannabinoid Therapeutics conducted a study that included the cross-sectional “Cannabis as Medicine Survey.” The survey included 1,600 respondents who were using medical cannabis and helped researchers understand the “characteristics of a sample of Australians who were using prescribed and/or illicit medical cannabis to treat a self-reported sleep disorder.”
The results showed that 64% of respondents used medical cannabis to treat a sleep disorder like insomnia. “Most” respondents said they were able to reduce their use of benzodiazepines and alcohol once adding medical cannabis.
“Overall, these results suggest that self-reported sleep disorders are often being treated with medical cannabis alongside other health conditions (often pain or a mental health disorder) and that use of inhaled methods, THC-dominant products, and illicit sources of medical cannabis are common among people with self-reported sleep disorders in Australia,” researchers concluded.
This research was published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature and Science of Sleep.
