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The euphoric feeling acquired by cannabis is due to Delta-9 THC. As has been taught here, it is the primary psychoactive component in cannabis. It is also the main target for regulators who are seeking to control its use. The cannabis plant contains many chemicals that can alleviate many conditions. Producing a euphoric feeling and sensation is only one of these effects.
Although there are 144 known cannabinoids in the cannabis plant, which produce varying levels of psychoactivity, federal drug laws mainly target Delta-9 THC. Cannabis entrepreneurs are turning to the many other molecules found in the cannabis plant. Among them is CBD, which has achieved a lot of growth since 2019. It is currently contained in many products, such as edibles like ice cream, oils, and CBD pet products, as well.
Another cannabinoid which is popular is Delta-8 THC. Just as with CBD, Delta-8 exists in small amounts in every cannabis plant. It is very versatile, in that it can be cooked into food or added to beverages, taken sublingually, under the tongue, or smoked when it is sprayed onto hemp flowers. It can be ordered online or bought in hemp shops in most states. It is even sold in some gas stations, which can be an unusual sight in states such as in New York and in Georgia, where there are still highly regulated and restrictive cannabis laws.
Some of these newly revised rules have been sent to lawmakers. The changes are not surprising, given that changes to a major and key legislation, such as this cannabis bill, are coming about for a newly legalized industry. In fact, a cleanup bill had to be passed even before Governor Murphy signed the cannabis measures into law one month ago today.
There have been numerous public hearings since Election Day, and leading lawmakers said that they expected to pass additional legislation to address unforeseen issues, as well as those which had been overlooked, in the near future, and over the coming months and years. A leading legislative advocate for the cannabis laws stated back in December that there would likely be more revisions in the law one or two years later, if an unknown circumstance were to arrive. The reason was because the state lawmakers hope that the cannabis industry will thrive.
Legislators have introduced or have proposed many bills to change the cannabis laws, and these changes have been classified into three categories. As was written about in this forum, the first one is about minors and cannabis. The legal cannabis laws were delayed for more than six weeks while the legislators and Governor Murphy\’s office negotiated penalties for underage cannabis users. There is a feeling that this part is not yet completely accurate. At first, a compromise was reached to treat both underage alcohol and cannabis use and possession as the same type of offense. It allowed for police officers only to issue written warnings. Under the new cannabis laws, police are only required to notify the parents or guardian of a minor under age 18 years old after the second and then subsequent offenses.
Before the bills were signed, both elected officials and police unions pressed for parental notification after the first warning for alcohol or cannabis use. That concept had influence, since Governor Murphy said that he supported that measure as well. The Assembly Community Development and Affairs Committee recently advanced a bill that would accomplish this task, in order for parents to have authority and control over their children.
The second part of the cannabis bills which were signed into law in New Jersey about one month ago is Decriminalization (A-1897). This part removes criminal and civil penalties for cannabis possession. Consumers over the age of 21 years old are allowed to carry up to six ounces. Conversely, the distribution of cannabis of one ounce or less will result in a written warning for the first offense, and after that, subsequent possession would be considered fourth degree offenses.
The third part of New Jersey\’s cannabis bill is Underage Penalties (S-3454). This part removes criminal penalties for alcohol and cannabis possession for everyone over the age of twenty one years old. As far as for underage penalties, there is a three-tiered mandate. This is a warning system for alcohol and cannabis use and possession. For the first offense, the minor would be issued a written warning, then for the second offense, the person\’s parents or guardian would be notified and would be informed about community groups or services offering education about substance use. Then for the third and subsequent offenses, the minor would be referred to the community groups or services.
Police officers would be required to have their body cameras enabled during interactions regarding cannabis incidents. The footage of these interactions would then be required to be reviewed by the state\’s attorney general. Police officers would also have less criteria or less of a chance for criminal liability that would prevent them from conducting illegal cannabis searches. They would not be able to conduct searches based solely upon the odor of cannabis as the cause for the search.
There are some key points of cannabis legalization that derive from the three cannabis bills that were signed into law on Monday, February 22, 2021. The first point from the first part of the cannabis bill, Legalization (A-21), is that the new law permits adults over age 21 years old to possess up to six ounces of cannabis. The second provision of the law is that the Cannabis Regulatory Commission will be established to regulate this newly legalized industry.
Six types of cannabis licenses will be issued. These include: those for the cultivation, wholesale, processing, distribution, retail and delivery of cannabis. Another aspect of the cannabis law directs that 70% of the state sales tax revenue from purchases will be allocated to certain communities who have been disproportionately affected by the war on drugs. This includes all of the excise fees on growers. However, this part of the law does not guarantee these actions.
The number of growers is limited to 37 statewide for the first two years, but it does not limit the number of retail outlets. All home growing of cannabis is prohibited. The New Jersey sales tax of 7% and a municipal tax of up to 2% will be added to the sales when they begin. This also will include a sliding tax for growers, which will range from $10 per ounce, up to $60 per ounce, as the price of cannabis declines over time. The sales of certain cannabis edibles will also be allowed, provided that they cannot be mistaken as candy by children.
As was previously stated, Governor Phil Murphy signed the long anticipated cannabis legalization bill into law on Monday, February 22nd. He also signed a law which decriminalized cannabis possession. This law took effect immediately, and ended arrests from cannabis possession, as well.
There are still many aspects of the bill which must be put into effect, and the legalization will not become fully enacted until the commission adopts rules and regulations that will serve as guides to the licensing of new businesses, drug testing in the workplace and funding for community programs. Legal cannabis sales will not take place until these actions occur.
The new appointments to the Cannabis Regulatory Commission bring the legalization of cannabis in New Jersey more of a reality. The commission currently has 180 days from the enactment of the law to develop and adhere to its rules. Then the commission will request applications for new Cannabis licenses. The legalization law for cannabis gives the commission a lot of autonomy to set up the new Cannabis industry. It will decide how many cannabis dispensaries are required, and who will be granted the licenses to operate them. An official in the governor\’s administration stated that the law did not specify a six month deadline to appoint the commission, only that it was required to draft rules in this time frame.
It has been a long road to the inception of cannabis legalization. Currently, 38 states have legalized it, and everyone who is a cannabis consumer, business person and overall aficionado of it, has seen progress made in the direction toward its legality at the federal level.
As has been talked about here, New Jersey is one of the first three states to legalize CBD and its derivatives not only for medicinal, but also for recreational use. A senator from South Jersey has the intention of proposing a constitutional amendment to earmark revenue from the cannabis industry to communities adversely affected by the sale and use of CBD, particularly from illegal market sources.
More legislative drafts are certain to come about, and the first step is that there will be a bill introduced that will allow for citizens to grow small amounts of cannabis for personal use. This clause was intentionally left out of the current cannabis bill, and was also largely criticized. There are also requests for additional funds to be provided to expunge convictions which were related to cannabis.
Furthermore, some lawmakers are also calling for a bill that more clearly defines rules and safety in the workplace. This has been an unresolved issue, that still remains a contentious one, as well. Currently, it is illegal to refuse to hire someone who has tested positive for cannabis. Dealing with a situation of whether or not an employee appears to be intoxicated from cannabis on the job is still undefined and ambiguous, and this situation will most likely have to be worked out through the judicial system.
The upcoming Cannabis Regulatory Commission will face the challenge of avoiding cultural inequity that exists in the current medical cannabis industry. The situation is that the legal cannabis market is currently run by large corporations which are out of state and which are also predominantly white. These corporations charge twice the prices of cannabis sold illegally.
The new Cannabis law seeks to avoid this scenario by issuing micro permits, which are aimed at providing hundreds, and maybe thousands, of small businesses to enter the cannabis industry.
Even with these goals, where the new Cannabis law will stream most of the new revenue from cannabis into minority communities, it is not guaranteed. Where the money will be allocated is still to be determined in state budget negotiations which are held on a yearly basis. The Senate president of Gloucester County, in South Jersey, intends to propose that the money be earmarked for the intended purpose by proposing a constitutional amendment to solidify this earmark.
The list of what CBD can do for all aspects of health is impressive, and the owner of the cannabis shop in Gulf Gate, Florida, said that he preferred the traditional forms of cannabis over Delta-8. There are, however, many forms of edibles that have proven efficacy for a condition such as insomnia. A muffin that contains 40 mg of Delta-8 has proven to be effective for his father. He eats one whole muffin before bedtime, and that allows for five hours of sleep. For consumers who weigh less than 200 pounds, the shop owner recommends eating one half of the muffin to help with insomnia.
Another cannabis expert in a leadership role states that the demand for cannabis has grown significantly. There will be a festival with CBD vendors, who will be promoting Delta-8, and also food trucks, bands and DJs are booked for an outdoor festival in Florida, on April 24th. There will be an event specifically at 4:20 p.m., as is the significant date for cannabis and all of its products.
The public relations promotion firm\’s chief officer also states that Delta-8 is popular there locally since a patient card is not required to obtain this form of THC. It is particularly appealing to those who are afraid of losing a weapons permit if they had to carry a cannabis medical card. There are also those who simply do not want the government to have their personal information.
Although Delta-8 affects people differently, much like CbD does, with varying dosages having very different effects, Delta-8 is produced in many forms. It comes in tinctures, gummies, vapes, flowers, etc. If too much is taken, there can be unwanted effects, and saturated fats, such as those found in a large hamburger, can help with feeling lightheaded, or a little too euphoric.
It is a step towards progress, to legalize cannabis for both medicinal and recreational use. In order for the process of the legalization to begin on a viable path, a new Cannabis Regulatory Commission will be formed. This commission will have the ability to oversee most aspects of the legalization process, and it will create and enforce rules that will be responsible for the cannabis marketplace in the state of New Jersey.
These regulations are required to be put into place within six months. The commission will also be in charge of determining the amounts of taxes and fees. It will also attempt to charge affordable prices for legal cannabis, and will make legal cannabis preferable to that obtained illegally. The commission will also make the decisions as to whom to grant the licenses to grow, sell and distribute cannabis.
The new bill requires that certain minority communities receive preference with the tax revenues and licenses. The places where certain segments of the population in the largest cities in New Jersey have received unjust treatment in the war on drugs are Newark, New Brunswick and Jersey City. There are also smaller cities where certain groups of people could benefit from receiving preferential opportunities to enter the cannabis marketplace in either the private sector or on the consumer side, such as Salem City and Bridgeton, in South Jersey.
These reforms are compelling, but as happy and relieved as the mood among many democrats was on Monday with the passage of the three cannabis laws, there is an arduous task ahead of developing a credible cannabis industry, which is worth about two billion dollars. It is in its early stages. Initially, legal sales of a potent cousin of cannabis, hashish, and other cannabis products, are not expected to happen until next year.
There will be many challenges and political battles to overcome at this inception of cannabis legalization. The actions of Monday, February 22nd, culminated a task that began as a campaign promise from Governor Murphy, in 2017. He is a democratic governor who sought to end social and racial injustices that affected various communities disproportionately. The bill that was promised in Governor Murphy\’s first 100 days of his term did not have enough legislative votes despite that the democrats controlled both houses. As a result, the lawmakers decided to ask the voters to decide the fate of the cannabis bills, and in November, they approved an amendment to the Constitution to legalize recreational cannabis. This was to become effective on January 1, 2021, but Democratic lawmakers still could not reach an agreement on the social justice provisions of the bill, so it was posted and then pulled until it finally passed on December 17, 2020.
After that date, Governor Murphy felt that there was contradictory language in the bill regarding penalties for minors who illegally possessed cannabis, and he demanded another draft. A democratic senator from Union, NJ, who is the bill\’s lead sponsor, stated that the bill\’s signing was a new era for social justice, that was a step forward to reducing racial disparities in the criminal justice system, according to Governor Murphy. Murphy also said that the cannabis industry is promising and new, and that it was being built on the right side of history.
Hemp derived CBD products became legal in New Jersey in August 2019. In addition, CBD which comes from cannabis plants, is legal for patients who are authorized to participate in New Jersey\’s medical cannabis plan.
The New Jersey Hemp Farming Act made CBD derived from hemp legal, after the passage of the 2018 Farm Bill. This law applies to cannabis users who are not registered in the medical cannabis program, and it legalized industrial hemp at the federal level.
The state of New Jersey made hemp completely legal, and it requires growers to have a license to grow hemp as an agricultural product. The New Jersey Department of Agriculture administers its licenses and regulations, and the hemp program in New Jersey was among the first three states to be approved by the USDA.
In August 2019, lawmakers in NJ passed New Jersey Assembly Bill 5322, and this bill provided for the requirements to grow and process industrial hemp. Even though many states worked on legalizing hemp after the 2018 Farm Bill at the end of that year, on December 31st, New Jersey was one of the first states that began working on the passage of the hemp bill, after the first Farm Bill in 2014. This bill was the first one to distinguish between industrial hemp, from which CBD is derived, and cannabis.
That is true, that there is a specific chemical bond that appears on the eighth carbon molecule instead of on the ninth molecule. Delta-8 THC has part of the psychoactive properties as those of Delta-9, but not all of them. Due to the lower potency of Delta-8, people anecdotally report that they experience a milder and lighter euphoric feeling. This feeling also has less of a sedative sensation that leaves users in more of a functional state of mind than with Delta-9 THC.
These characteristics were reported by a physician, and another physician stated that people reported that Delta-8 provides the benefits of Delta-9, but without paranoid or anxious feelings.
The legality of Delta-8-THC is complicated, similar to the manner in which CBD is. Delta-8-THC is legal if it is derived from hemp. However, the process of producing Delta-8-THC by synthetically altering CBD into Delta-8, is most likely not legal. A member of NORML, who is a lawyer representing cannabis businesses in the state of Texas, explained that synthetically modifying the CBD is considered the cost-effective means for manufacturers to produce Delta-8-THC on a wholesale basis. This only pertains to fractions of one percent of hemp plants, and is illegal on the federal level.
The data analysis and collection of CBD usage and products will be refined by the FDA in the upcoming months. Research projects will utilize certain strategies and other means in order to address what is not currently found in CBD data research abilities.
The first method involves working with existing and emerging data systems to enable the exact identification of CBD products. These will include poison control data bases, which have been mentioned in this forum, electronic health records, and consumer and patient registries, which will enable these users to opt in to reporting adverse effects through data coding and collection. There will also be measures put in place to connect adverse effects data with product testing and sampling data. Collaboration in the areas of development and evaluation of the methods and systems will include an open registry for CBD consumers to be able to opt in. This will occur in order to achieve a better understanding of the safety outcomes and also to incorporate data from additional sources regarding these outcomes. The FDA will also begin to utilize market research data and other sources to provide insight as to which CBD products are being taken, and by which populations.
Data linkage approaches will be evaluated to provide knowledge about safety risks which appear over a period of time, as typically measured by longitudinal studies, while simultaneously protecting the privacy of CBD consumers and patients. The methods of combining data and research approaches about the safety effects overall, across various CBD markets and over time, will also be studied to provide data on the safety and quality of CBD products. The FDA will further determine the best strategies to monitor the quality and safety profiles of different CBD products, as well.
Real world data is useful and will be a beneficial tool. In order for CBD data collection and analyses to have the most optimal scientific impact, they have to be designed to focus on the most practical and scientific questions in the study of CBD.
There are both practical and scientific challenges in the current means for collecting and analyzing CBD data. These are a framework for the FDA\’s ability to develop research projects. These new endeavors will utilize novel data sources, and will form the basis for further research on the safety profile of CBD products.
There are certain principles on which the FDA\’s work will be based. The first one is that the research studies should lead to more sophisticated data, and build upon this, in order to better understand the safety and quality of CBD and its derivatives. The research projects also should reveal information that will help shape future studies. An example of this method is to identify certain characteristics of the CBD product, such as adverse effects or subpopulations, that are the most beneficial for further study. Also, the research products should be designed to coordinate with existing public health agencies, such as SAMHSA and the NIH, in additional to other interested parties. States are useful sources of novel data collection and analysis. Therefore, the FDA should base its projects on the existing work at both the state and national levels to utilize poison control centers and other informational sources, on any adverse effects of CBD products. In addition to emergency situations, more data analysis will also be vital for studying and understanding the safety risks of CBD.
Yes, it\’s true that CBD and THC are similar in some ways. They both have similar chemical formulas, of 21 carbon atoms, 30 hydrogen atoms and two oxygen atoms. The order in which these atoms are arranged is what determines their various effects on the body.
It is also true that there is a principal difference between CBD and THC. This is the manner in which they behave in and act upon the brain, according to a professor at the Yale University School of Medicine. The body produces compounds that resemble cannabis, the cannabinoids that we discuss in this forum. This is the ECS, the endocannabinoids system, and the endocannabinoid compounds are produced in the central nervous system, primarily in the brain. They are also produced in the peripheral nervous system, which are the other, surrounding bodily organs. Both CBD and THC resemble and behave like or intensify the body\’s naturally occurring endocannabinoids. THC binds onto receptors in the brain, and in particular, the CB1 and CB2 receptor sites. These comprise the endocannabinoid system. In comparison, CBD doesn\’t interact in as direct of a path as CB1 and CB2 receptors. So the exact way in which CBD affects the brain is still not clearly understood. It is believed, however, and according to an assistant psychiatry professor at UC San Diego, that this is the reason why CBD isn\’t intoxicating in the way that THC is. Specifically, a person could not achieve a high feeling,or have mind altering effects, even with a very high dose of CBD. It doesn\’t interact with the ECS receptors in the same way as THC.
In some states, THC is allowed to be used for recreational purposes, similar to alcohol use. It is sometimes stereotyped as being more negatively perceived than CBD. People tend to think that CBD is good for more conditions, but what they may not realize is the fact that the activity of the CBD helping anxiety, for example, is further helped with low THC doses. These can help with anxiety and PTSD, as long as they are not an intoxicating levels.
