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In this week’s cannabis news round-up, DEA asserts authority over cannabis scheduling, defying HHS recommendation; California cracks down on cannabis testing labs; and cannabis legalization in Canada not linked to spike in cannabis-related psychosis. PHOTO Esteban López DEA Asserts Authority Over Cannabis Scheduling, Defying HHS Recommendation The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has asserted its authority in deciding the scheduling of cannabis, regardless of recommendations made by the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). This revelation comes amid an ongoing review of the plant’s legal status, initiated by President Joe Biden to the Secretary of HHS and the attorney general in…

Guinness World Records—the definitive list of world records of both human achievements and the extremes of the natural world—recently posted a eulogy to Tusko the elephant, who was tragically given an extreme dose of LSD, for science. LSD research was conducted on animals such as dolphins or cats, starting in the ‘50s and ‘60s, with goals ranging from mind control to animal communication. A team of researchers in the early ‘60s came up with the brilliant idea of dosing a hormonal bull elephant with a massive dose of LSD, and lo and behold—the outcome was tragic.  Tusko was a male…

In 2021, the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) took steps to shield professional fighters from penalties related to THC-positive test results. Now, the organization has gone one step further and officially removed cannabis from its revised list of prohibited substances for athletes. This historic update builds upon prior reforms within the organization. “This is a central part of UFC’s expanded efforts to protect the health and safety of its athletes, and also to protect their right to compete on a level playing field. UFC’s goal for this Policy is to be the best anti-doping program in all of professional sport,” says…

According to a study published in the journal Heart Rhythm, middle-aged adults who have a history of using cannabis are not at an elevated risk of experiencing atrial fibrillation (AFib), aka an irregular heartbeat, NORML reports. The relationship between cannabis and heart disease is currently under close scrutiny and attention.  This longitudinal study was conducted by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco. The team looked at the connection between cannabis use and AFib in a very large sample size, a group of over 150,000 individuals aged between 40 and 69. This group of people was made up of…

A wave of crime targeting cannabis companies has been rising steadily in recent years. Unable to use traditional banking systems, many cannabis companies often have large amounts of cash on site, along with highly valuable cannabis products that can be easily flipped on the illicit market. This makes them tempting targets for gangs and criminal organizations. Nowhere are these attacks more prolific than in California, where cannabis robberies continue to ravage legal facilities. Preferred Gardens‘ founder and CEO, David Polley, has been cultivating cannabis since the days of California’s medical market. The company’s Sacramento facility was built in 2020 and features prison-like security…

According to the first-ever study on how legal, commercial cannabis impacts exercise, carried out by the University of Colorado Boulder, weed makes working out fun, but you’re not going to get some super-boost unless you’re some sort of cannabis superhero. The study, which was published December 27 in the Sports Medicine journal, was a long time coming, as Colorado has now had legal cannabis for a decade, and many other states have also embraced cannabis as the norm, so it stands to reason that cannabis is also becoming normalized in the world of fitness, although it has remained a contentious…

In the first eleven months of 2021, researchers worldwide published a record 3,800+ scientific papers on the subject of cannabis, according to the results of a keyword search of the National Library of Medicine/PubMed.gov website. This exceeds the total number of papers published during all of last year. In 2020, scientists published 3,500+ papers on cannabis in peer-reviewed journals — a total which was, at that time, the most ever in a single year. “Despite claims by some that marijuana has yet to be subject to adequate scientific scrutiny, scientists’ interest in studying cannabis has increased exponentially in recent years, as has…

In this week’s cannabis news round-up, cannabis replaces sleep aids for the majority of users; cannabis use among Massachusetts high schoolers unchanged after legalization; and New Hampshire governor interrupts adult-use cannabis legalization plan. PHOTO Pixabay Study: Cannabis Replaces Sleep Aids for Majority of Users A Washington State University study has explored the use of cannabis as a sleep aid, finding that most cannabis users who reported getting a good night’s sleep have discontinued using prescription or over-the-counter sleep aids. The study, published in the journal Exploration of Medicine, surveyed 1,225 cannabis users and found that more than 80% no longer…

A bipartisan group of lawmakers on Thursday introduced a bill to ensure hemp-derived CBD products are regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, while on the same day, a Republican representative announced a hearing to examine the agency’s refusal to regulate the cannabinoid following the legalization of hemp five years ago. In 2018, Congress legalized hemp agriculture and commerce with the passage of that year’s Farm Bill. But since then, the FDA has refused to regulate hemp-derived CBD for use in foods, beverages and dietary supplements, and in January announced it would not do so without further legislation from…

There are plenty of studies exploring how substances like cannabis and psilocybin can help treat depression, but far fewer research exploring how video games can positively treat that kind of condition. Recently in the journal Frontiers in Psychiatry, researchers from the University of Bonn in Germany found that people suffering from Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) saw a reduction in symptoms after a 3D video game (in this case, participants playing Super Mario Odyssey a game that release on Nintendo Switch in 2017). It’s the first randomized controlled study of its kind to examine the effects of a six-week video game…