The legalization of cannabis in Canada is celebrating its 5th anniversary. A thorny subject of Justin Trudeau’s first mandate, it is today not called into question by the federal state but brings its share of concerns for the companies which take part in it and new health and social issues. What is the outcome of these 5 years of legal cannabis?

Society: Changing attitudes and challenges

In the first half of 2023, more than 70% of cannabis consumed in Canada came from legal sources, a significant increase from 22% recorded in the fourth quarter of 2018, just after legalization.

The legalization of cannabis has thus considerably reduced the stigma associated with cannabis, without being an invitation to its consumption. Consumption remains most common in the 18-24 age group. Statistics Canada reports indicate that consumption among 15-17 year olds has also not increased since legalization, which was a major concern for critics of legalization. And the average age of initiation has also increased slightly over time.

However, the provinces are not on the same equal footing. In Manitoba and Quebec, for example, it is still prohibited to cultivate cannabis at home for non-medical purposes. The lack of diversity of legal products in Quebec – for example on edibles sweet or vape pen still banned – leaves many consumers dissatisfied and cedes this category of products to the illicit market.

Justice: Decrease in cannabis-related cases

Quite mechanically, the number of legal cases linked to cannabis has decreased by 73% for women and 83% for men. Cannabis offenses reported by police increased from 99 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2018, the year of legalization, to 28 per 100,000 inhabitants five years later.

Health: Mixed results

While the legalization of cannabis has opened new doors for recreational users, it has also raised health concerns.

A study conducted in Ontario and Alberta reported a worrying 20% ​​increase in cases of cannabis poisoning and disorders. Another study conducted in Ontario found that the number of emergency room admissions increased thirteenfold due to cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome, often caused by heavy and repeated consumption.

The number of pregnant women exposing their fetuses to cannabis during pregnancy has doubled, and hospital visits for children who have ingested cannabis have tripled. Additionally, the incidence of car accident victims with THC in their blood doubled from 3.8% to 8.6%.

The consensus is that more prevention and education are needed to effectively address these health-related challenges.

Legal Access and Trade: Economic Impact and Industry Challenges

From an economic perspective, the federal government of Canada is the main beneficiary of the legalization of cannabis. The legal cannabis industry has contributed an estimated €30 billion to Canada’s gross domestic product since legalization, with the recreational market averaging around €3 billion annually.

However, cannabis businesses are struggling to be profitable. Only about 20% of cannabis growers are currently reported to be cash flow positive, reflecting the sector’s economic woes. Although legal access to cannabis is widespread, the cannabis business landscape is not without challenges.

In bulk:

• Over-regulation of the cannabis industry limits products, leads to higher regulatory costs and provides limited advertising opportunities for companies
• High taxation of cannabis companies eats into margins. Several business movements call for reasonable taxation
• Despite Canada’s federal legal framework, exports of recreational cannabis products are currently prohibited, impacting the industry’s potential for global expansion.

As Canada celebrates five years of cannabis legalization, regulation is full of successes and new challenges. In any case, it has inspired a growing number of countries which have taken a few steps since: Malta and Germany for legalization around Cannabis Clubs, Luxembourg on self-cultivation, Thailand on very broad decriminalization and Switzerland on legalization experiences city by city. The start of the domino effect?

Several medical cannabis companies in Hawaii are pioneering a unique new sales channel by selling and delivering cannabis flower and other cannabis products from island to island within the Hawaiian Islands. State.

This inter-island cannabis trade, via plane, helicopter or boat, is a first in Hawaii and a rare phenomenon in the United States due to federal cannabis prohibition. Although transportation details of these products remain confidential due to potential legal and security concerns, Hawaii lawmakers in June approved a law allowing state-licensed businesses to sell cannabis wholesale to cannabis businesses located on other islands. The regulations came into force in August.

A primary motivation for this interisland trade is to address product inventory shortages that have persisted in Hawaii’s medical cannabis market since its inception six years ago. These shortages are due to the fact that the state’s market has a limited number of licenses and is located in a remote location.

In response, companies such as Big Island Grown, which has a 3,200 square meter indoor cultivation facility on the island of Hawaii, completed the state’s first inter-island wholesale transaction with the dispensary Green Aloha from Kauai. This operation increased Green Aloha’s gross revenues by 40% in just nine days. Big Island Grown also received approval to distribute live resin gummies, vape pens and other concentrates to retailers, in response to patient demand.

Although similar transportation methods are rare in the United States, some operators in Alaska and Washington state have transported legal cannabis by sea and air to reach their retail locations. However, these activities carry significant risks, as cannabis remains illegal under federal law. In Hawaii, the high cost of doing business, customs duties and logistical issues exacerbate the difficulties faced by medical cannabis operators in a state with few industries outside of tourism and real estate.

Hawaii’s medical cannabis market has experienced stagnation in patient registrations and profitability challenges, in part due to a well-established illicit market and a limited number of dispensaries. Nonetheless, the recent introduction of interisland cannabis commerce could serve as a model for other markets and improve accessibility for patients across the Hawaiian Islands.

Efforts to legalize adult-use cannabis in Hawaii have faced challenges in the past, but the industry is optimistic that progress can be made in the 2024 legislative session.

House Speaker Scott Saiki plans to work on an adult-use legalization and retail bill, and Gov. Josh Green has signaled a willingness to sign such a bill if it comes to fruition. on his desk.

THE Colorado Department of Revenue (DOR) released its monthly cannabis sales report for August, the latest month available, which shows that adult-use and medical cannabis sales have exceeded $15 billion since legal sales began of cannabis in 2014.

These sales peaked during the pandemic and have been on the decline ever since.

Data shows Colorado adult-use and medical cannabis sales totaled $15,028,995,376. Since 2016, the state has sold $1 billion to $2 billion worth of cannabis each year. But due to oversupply issues ultimately leading to lower prices, Colorado sales are expected to be lower in 2023 than in previous years.

Sales are still up from when the market launched in 2014, but have fallen precipitously since peaking during the pandemic.

Colorado’s cannabis market sold nearly $2.2 billion in 2020 and more than $2.2 billion in 2021 as many residents were forced to quarantine at home.

Unless cannabis sales resume in the third quarter of 2023, full-year cannabis sales could be lower than in 2022, a year in which Colorado cannabis businesses sold for $1,000,000. $7 billion in cannabis, matching 2019 sales. As of the end of August, year-to-date sales were just over $1 billion.

Denver, the state’s largest market

In the largest city and capital of Colorado, as well as in the corresponding county, the decline in sales is very marked. A report released in July by the city and county of Denver showed a 22% drop in annual revenue from cannabis sales between 2021 and 2022, the largest annual drop since the launch of legalization.

“In 2021, 31% of Colorado’s total cannabis sales occurred in the City and County of Denver,” reads a 2022 report on municipal cannabis management. “From 2014 to 2021, the Denver’s proportion of cannabis sales to overall Colorado cannabis sales fell 17%, from 48% to 31%. This downward trend, which has been consistent since the implementation of retail cannabis sales in 2014, indicates that growth in cannabis sales outside of the City and County of Denver has been increasing faster than outside of Denver. interior of the city. »

A recent report from Denver Post analyzes fallout from Colorado’s post-pandemic cannabis industry. “The market is just bad. It’s bad right now,” cannabis seller Val Tonazzi told the Denver Post. “There are businesses closing left and right. »

Inflation could also be to blame, with consumers necessarily reducing the purchase of expensive products, explained Truman Bradley, of Marijuana Industry Groupto local media 9 News.

“The ripple effect on employees and customers cannot be overstated either,” he said. “If cannabis sales go down, tax revenue goes down as well. »

As we revealed to you in two stages last week, several amendments were finally tabled (PDF) to try to include medical cannabis through the back door in the Social Security Financing Bill (PLFSS) for the year 2024. With the same goal: to generalize medical cannabis in France for all potential patients.

A first amendment is brought by a Renaissance MP, Caroline Janvier, previously rapporteur for the Information Mission on the uses of cannabis. It proposes adding an “ad hoc” status around medical cannabis, namely “any medicine derived from cannabis, its plant and its resin, products which contain it or those which are obtained from cannabis, its plant or its resin. resin produced according to good cultivation practices and good manufacturing practices for medical use in accordance with the provisions relating to medicinal plants […] “.

The terms of production, distribution and reimbursement of medical cannabis would be established by regulation. The financing of the reimbursement would be taken from the taxes levied on tobacco, sugary drinks and alcoholic drinks, for which it proposes to remove the annual increase limits.

LR MP Yannick Neuder also proposes the same amendment as Caroline Janvier, a sign of an interest shared by the two majority sides of the hemicycle and going beyond the usual boundaries of the more minority parties.

Olivier Faure, PS deputy, proposes “to extend the experimentation of the use of therapeutic cannabis” so as not to leave the patients currently included in the experimentation without a solution, “before its generalization”.

On the LFI side, an amendment made by MP Karen Erodi requests that “within six months from the promulgation of this law, the Government [remette] to Parliament a report on the advisability of generalizing experimentation relating to the use of medical cannabis” in order to make medical cannabis “truly accessible to treat the 5 pathologies” of the experiment.

Environmentalist Julien Bayou submitted an amendment to legalize cannabis for adults. Aurélien Taché presents an amendment from the Addiction Federation to decriminalize drug use in France.

The fate of the amendments will be determined during the first reading of the PLFSS 2024 which begins on Tuesday October 17, 2023.

Activists for the evolution of cannabis laws in Wyoming will continue their plan to include questions relating to the legalization of the use of cannabis for medical and adult purposes on the 2024 ballots, reports the local daily Star Tribune.

The new mobilization of associations Compassionate Options Wyoming, Wyoming NORML And Wyoming Libertarian Party follows a misunderstanding of the guidance from the Secretary of State’s office, which told them that the proposed measures were not eligible, when in fact they were.

Initially, organizers thought they had thousands fewer signatures than needed, and so did not submit them to the Secretary of State’s office by the March deadline; however, they had in fact reached the threshold set. Under the Secretary of State’s updated guidance, the campaign must now collect signatures and submit them before the next legislative session, which begins in January.

Apollo Pazell, spokesperson for the organizers, told the Star Tribune that the procedure was “really convoluted and confusing”, but that the campaign would seek to extend the procedure beyond the start of the session due to confusing directives from the Secretary of State’s office.

Wyoming requires organizers who wish to place issues on the ballot to collect a number of signatures equal to 15 percent of the votes cast in the last general election and to meet that same threshold in two-thirds of counties of the state in order to put the question to the voters. The petition must be signed on paper, in person.

Once proponents receive their petition form from the state, they have 18 months to collect the required signatures and must submit their petition with signatures before the start of the legislative session for the year in which they wish their initiative to be put to a vote. The groups collected about 36,000 signatures for the two initiatives before the March deadline, Mr. Pazell said.

When organizers received their petition in September from then-Secretary of State Edward Buchanan, it was impossible to know what number of signatures would be required based on 2022 turnout, because the election had not yet taken place, the report said. The number of signatures required based on 2020 voter turnout was 41,776, meaning the measures fell short of the 15% threshold for two-thirds of Wyoming’s counties. However, the Secretary of State’s office now says that, based on 2022 voter turnout, 29,730 signatures are needed to place an initiative on the 2024 ballot, allowing the petitions to be valid.

After the inclusion of several synthetic cannabinoids in the Narcotics Directory in spring 2023, the Federal Department of the Interior (FDI) added 10 individual substances and a group of additional substances on October 9, 2023, at the request of Swissmedic. fight against the abusive use of new synthetic substances as narcotics.

A group of synthetic cannabinoids as well as the individual substances HHCP, delta-9-THCP, delta-8-THCP, H4CBD and other substances are therefore subject to authorization in Switzerland from October 9, 2023 and cannot be manufactured, neither traded nor distributed. Authorizations may be requested for industrial and scientific use. Cannabinoids naturally found in the hemp plant, such as CBD, CBC and CBG, are not affected by the ban.

IG Hanf, the Swiss cannabis association, welcomed “the list of substances mentioned for the protection of citizens’ health as an important step. Likewise, the list has created greater legal certainty for distributors in Switzerland. The recurrent listing of synthetic and semi-synthetic cannabinoids shows that the problem has not been effectively addressed since 2011. Effective health protection can only be ensured in a regulated market for hemp and hemp-based products. hemp. »

“Reasonable cannabis regulation forms the basis for youth and consumer protection, quality assurance, the fight against the black market and the sustainable development of the Swiss hemp industry. »

Questioned by MP Caroline Janvier during the Social Affairs Committee of the National Assembly linked to the examination of the PLFSS 2024, the French Minister of Health, Aurélien Rousseau, indicated on Wednesday October 11 that the experimentation of medical cannabis would take end in 2024 without generalization.

He specified that a solution would be put in place for current participants in the experiment, who should be able to continue to receive their treatments.

However, Mr Rousseau confirmed the positive conclusions reported by patients, which the experiment set up to evaluate the prescription and distribution circuit for therapeutic cannabis was not supposed to measure.

“We are in a situation where we have clinical feedback which shows a benefit for the patient,” said Mr Rousseau.

He then took refuge behind the absence of marketing authorization on a European scale for medical cannabis to explain the refusal to generalize. 20 countries in Europe, including Germany, already make cannabis-based treatments available.

He specified that such authorization should be available by 2025, otherwise compassionate access, by definition very restrictive, could be put in place.

???? access to cannabinoid-based medicines (“medical cannabis”): listen to the commitments of the Minister of Health @aur_rousseau following a question from the MP @CarolineJanvier before the social affairs commission of the@AssembleeNat 11/10/23 ????️ #pain #cancer pic.twitter.com/kAQyh05CpR

— Nicolas Authier (@NicolasAuthier_) October 12, 2023

In the meantime, an amendment to the social security budget (PLFSS 2024) should be proposed to ensure that all participants in the experiment can continue to benefit from it.

Numerous patient associations, French medical cannabis companies and a transpartisan collective of deputies had mobilized to include the generalization of medical cannabis in the PLFSS 2024. In this latest column, published on Libération, we could read that “ignore the positive results of the experiment and not generalizing access to medical cannabis in 2024 would be a betrayal for those who suffer, in particular from cancer, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis or other chronic pain.

Medical cannabis could help 300,000 sick French people in the medium term and bring in almost 300 million euros per year.

The British Food Standards Agency (FSA) announced in a press release that it was lowering the recommended daily limit of CBD from 70mg to 10mg, citing risks to the liver and thyroid problems.

10 milligrams of CBD per day is equivalent to four or five drops of 5% CBD oil. Previous advice, from 2020, set a much higher limit of 70 mg per day.

“The more CBD you consume over your lifetime, the more likely you are to develop long-term side effects, such as liver damage or thyroid problems,” said Professor Robin May, chief scientific advisor to the FSA.

Mr May suggested consumers check the labels of the products they use and consider heeding this new advice. “The level of risk is linked to the quantity consumed, as is the case with other potentially harmful products such as alcoholic beverages. »

According to the FSA, this change of gear is based on new data provided by certain industry players as well as on the contributions of its independent scientific committee.

This change is expected to shake up the UK CBD sector, with some products currently on sale containing more than 10mg of CBD per serving. However, the recommendation is only advisory and regulators are not calling for the products to be removed from shelves.

Marika Graham-Woods, executive director of the Cannabis Trades Associationa British association which has 200 members, declared to the Guardian that this decision was unfair and that the new guidance was only advisory.

“All it does is scare consumers and retailers and prevent the industry from moving forward.” I don’t see any benefit to what they did.”

The FSA said consuming more than 10 mg of CBD per day posed “no acute safety risks” based on the data it had assessed. However, beyond this level and over a certain period, “there is evidence of some adverse effects on the liver and thyroid”.

The FSA data is not yet known. Previous studies noted a risk for the liver in the event of massive and repeated absorption of CBD, at doses starting at more than 600 milligrams per kilogram of body, or 42 grams of pure CBD per day for an adult weighing 70 kilograms.

The American company Mile High Labs, whose cannabis extracts are authorized on the British market, requested in a press release “an urgent meeting with the FSA in order to obtain more transparency on the ongoing evaluation of safety data and to understand why precautionary statements were issued without evaluation of all applicable data.”

“It is important to note that toxicological data from Mile High Lab was not included in the FSA’s risk assessment process and subsequent report, as only three applications were considered for the evaluation of the acceptable daily intake (“ADI”). If we take into account Mile High Lab’s proprietary data set and apply the same criteria as the commission’s approach, this will lead to a recommended daily dose significantly higher than the recommended 10 mg per day. »

The Georgia State Board of Pharmacists has begun accepting applications from nearly 120 pharmacies to offer medical cannabis products, making Georgia the first state in the country to authorize the sale of cannabis products in independent pharmacies.

This expansion of medical cannabis sales to pharmacies, known as pharmaceutical regulation, will significantly expand patient access. There are only seven dispensaries in Georgia for people suffering from conditions such as Parkinson’s disease, seizures, terminal cancer and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Considered restrictive compared to other states like neighboring Florida, Georgia’s 2019 MMJ law only allows oil with low THC content, up to 5%. Flowers are prohibited.

The only two licensed medical cannabis producers in Georgia, Botanical Sciences and Trulieve will supply the products to pharmacies. These two companies were the first in Georgia to get the green light earlier this year to provide cannabis to sick people.

“Pharmacists have been answering patients’ questions for years without being able to do anything,” said Gary Long, CEO of Botanical Sciences, according to theAtlanta Journal-Constitution. “Finally, they have the opportunity to not only advise people, but also provide them with the therapies they are looking for. »

Georgia has more than 400 independent pharmacies and most are expected to participate in the program, with the exception of chains such as CVS and Walgreens according to Georgia Board of Pharmacy member Cecil Cordle.

This new measure will allow approximately 90% of Georgia’s population to be within 30 minutes’ drive of a pharmacy that sells medical cannabis products, according to the newspaper.

Andrew Turnage, executive director of the Georgia Medical Cannabis Access Commission, said the pharmacy rule is “great news.”

“It helps both our licensees and especially our patients,” he told the publication. “It will provide access to virtually every county in the state. »

How many medical cannabis patients are there in Georgia? It’s an important question that caused a mini-scandal last week.

The Georgia Department of Public Health recently revealed that it had miscounted and inflated the number of patients registered for medical cannabis use. Only 14,000 active patients and caregivers are currently registered, far fewer than the 50,000 previously declared.

This weekend, Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill to legalize coffeeshops, another to decriminalize certain psychedelic plants, and a third that would have imposed new restrictions on labeling. and packaging of cannabis products.

In his veto message regarding the bill on cannabis cafeswhich would have allowed cannabis dispensaries to sell non-alcoholic beverages and food, Mr. Newsom said the measure “could undermine California’s long-standing smoke-free workplace protections,” but he urged the bill’s author to address this concern in subsequent legislation.

In his veto of the bill to decriminalize certain psychedelic plants, including mescaline, DMT, psilocybin and psilocin, Mr. Newsom said that although “peer-reviewed science and personal anecdotes” lead to “supporting new opportunities to treat mental health through psychedelic medications,” he believes the state should first “begin work to establish regulated treatment guidelines,” including “information on dosage, therapeutic guidelines, rules to prevent exploitation during guided treatments, and medical clearance for the absence of underlying psychoses.”

“I urge the Legislature to send me legislation next year that includes treatment guidelines. Additionally, I am committed to working with the Legislature and the sponsors of this bill to develop legislation that would authorize their uses and consider a framework for possible broader decriminalization in the future, once the impacts, the dosage, best practices and safety safeguards will have been carefully studied and put in place. » explained Gavin Newsom.

Mr. Newsom’s veto of the bill that would have banned cannabis product labels and packaging from being “appealing to children” is because he believes the term “appealing to children” is ” too big “. He said the state’s medical and adult-use cannabis laws, as well as Department of Cannabis Control (DCC) regulations, already prohibit this type of marketing.

“By banning entire categories of images, this bill would capture common designs,” Mr. Newsom said in his veto message, “and I am not convinced that these additional limits will meaningfully protect children beyond beyond what is required by existing law.”

Mr. Newsom added that he would direct the DCC to “strengthen and expand existing cannabis protections for youth.”