Cannabis Countdown: Top 10 Marijuana And Psychedelics Industry News Stories Of The Week

Welcome to the Cannabis Countdown, the Legal Marijuana Industry’s Number One Curated Weekly News Recap.

In This Week’s Edition, We Recap and Countdown the Top 10 Cannabis and Psychedelics Industry News Stories for the Week of February 1st – 7th, 2021.

Without further ado, let’s get started.

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10. A Global Cannabis Pharmaceutical Leader and the Smart Money Heavyweight Betting on Them

GW Pharma is Leading the Charge in the Burgeoning Pharmaceutical Cannabis Space and Following Recent News That Jazz Pharmaceuticals Will Acquire GWPH for $7.2 Billion, Demand for Cannabis Pharma Investments is on the Rise

The tremendous success of GW Pharmaceuticals GWPH has investors searching for the cannabis pharma sector’s next big winner and one such company with all the right ingredients to potentially experience a similar rise is Creso Pharma COPHF. The pharmaceutical Cannabis market is quickly becoming an enormous opportunity ahead of the ever-increasing likelihood of major U.S. Marijuana reforms and it’s got the full attention of the MJ sector’s top “Smart Money” investor Bruce Linton. Fresh off leading Canopy Growth CGC shareholders to all-time gains of +4,160%, Linton’s sights are set on the cannabis pharma space joining forces with sector leader Creso Pharma, which has global operations in lucrative markets worldwide.

READ FULL CANNABIS PHARMA ARTICLE

9. Canada Moves Closer Toward Legalizing Psychedelics

Canada is Poised to Become the Next Country to Legalize Psychedelic Medicine

Health Canada has traditionally taken a progressive approach to healthcare, publicly funding a healthcare program, supporting assisted dying laws, and legalizing cannabis in 2018. But the country outlawed Psilocybin in 1974, a full six years after the U.S. However, for years Health Canada has granted “Section 56” exemptions to its Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. This was done to enable companies access to Psychedelic therapies. Some organizations are working to go beyond the Section 56 exceptions, lobbying Health Canada to loosen restrictions on existing policies. This, they hope, is to allow greater access to psilocybin as well as other hallucinogenic therapies.

READ FULL CANADA PSYCHEDELICS ARTICLE

8. Schumer Hosts First Marijuana Meeting to Formulate 2021 Federal Legalization Plan

Key U.S. Senate Leaders Held a Meeting With Marijuana Stakeholders on Friday, the First Formal Step Toward Crafting a New Bill to Federally Legalize Cannabis

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) heard from a group of Cannabis advocates and stakeholders as the trio prepares to unveil draft reform legislation “in the early part of this year.”

READ FULL FEDERAL LEGALIZATION ARTICLE

7. COVID-19: Some Turning to Psychedelic Micro-Dosing to Cope with Mental Health Stress, Anxiety

Jen Burke Lost Her Full-Time Job as a Clothing Store Manager Because of COVID-19 But Says the Pandemic Has Been the Most Peaceful Time in Her Life

The reason, says Burke, is Psychedelic drugs, which she has been micro-dosing along with about two dozen other members of the Edmonton Hiking and Psychedelic Society. As the facilitator of the group, Burke says she has seen an increasing number of participants in online monthly group discussions about psychoactive or hallucinogenic drugs. Members talk about exploring substances such as DMT, Psilocybin, LSD and MDMA, commonly known as ecstasy or molly.

READ FULL PSYCHEDELIC MICRO-DOSING ARTICLE

6. Red White & Bloom Applauds Joint Statement on Cannabis Reform

“This Announcement is a Major Step Towards the End of Cannabis Prohibition in the Largest Economy in the World and RWB Has Aggressively Claimed Our Stake and Positioned Ourselves for the Impending Explosion of Growth in the United States”

Red White & Bloom RWBYF provided comments on the joint statement by U.S. Senators Cory Booker, Ron Wyden, and Chuck Schumer, regarding comprehensive Cannabis reform legislation in the 117th Congress. RWB currently owns leading vape supplier Platinum Vape, whose products are sold in over 800 locations throughout California, Michigan, Oklahoma and soon to be available in Arizona. RWB also owns a 3.6 million sq ft greenhouse in Illinois and recently announced definitive agreements to acquire THC operations in Illinois; owns the exclusive rights to brand both products and dispensaries in Michigan, Illinois and Florida with High Times, the leading Marijuana brand in the U.S.; and has made the largest investment of any Multi-State Operator (MSO) in the State of Michigan.

READ FULL RED WHITE & BLOOM ARTICLE

5. Cambridge Votes to Decriminalize Psychedelics and All Controlled Substances

A Second Massachusetts City Has Signalled That it Wants to Decriminalize the Use and Possession of Entheogenic Plants or Most Psychedelics

The policy order, approved by Cambridge, Massachusetts city councillors Wednesday night, also seeks to decriminalize all controlled substances. Councilor Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler, who sponsored the order, cited research suggesting that Psychedelic plants and fungi — such as Psilocybin aka Magic Mushrooms) — can help treat some mental health and substance use issues. The measure directs the Cambridge city manager to work with federal and state partners to decriminalize Psychedelics, which are illegal under federal law and are classified as controlled substances.

READ FULL CAMBRIDGE PSYCHEDELICS ARTICLE

4. New Jersey Governor Signs Psilocybin Bill to Immediately Reduce Penalties for Possession

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) Signed a Psilocybin Reform Bill Into Law on Thursday, Immediately Reclassifying Possession of Up to an Ounce of Psychedelic Mushrooms as a Disorderly Persons Offence

The new classification means individuals caught with small amounts of Psilocybin are now subject to a maximum $1,000 fine, up to six months in jail or both. Previously the offence was a third-degree crime and carried a penalty of between three to five years behind bars and fines of up to $15,000.

READ FULL NEW JERSEY PSILOCYBIN ARTICLE

3. Creso Pharma Applauds Start of Over-the-Counter CBD Product Sales in Australia

Creso’s CBD Portfolio, Including its Flagship Product CannaQIX® 50 is Currently Being Sold in Multiple Counties Around the World and is Already Available in Australia With a Prescription, Under the LozaCan Brand

Creso Pharma COPHF announced the company welcomes the commencement of over-the-counter (OTC) sales of low-dose cannabidiol (CBD) products in Australian pharmacies, which officially began on February 1, 2021. This new development is a major win for Australia‘s medicinal cannabis industry with Creso Pharma well-positioned to capitalize on the market opportunity estimated to be worth more than $200 million per year.

READ FULL CRESO PHARMA ARTICLE

2. COMPASS Pathways Announces Publication in Frontiers in Psychiatry of Paper on Therapist Training Programme for Psilocybin Therapy

The Programme Sets Out a Formal and Scalable Methodology for Psychological Support in Psilocybin Therapy

Compass Pathways CMPS has shared details of its comprehensive and rigorous therapist training programme for Psilocybin therapy, in a paper jointly written with a group of academic researchers, and published in Frontiers in Psychiatry today. It is currently being used to train therapists taking part in COMPASS’s phase IIb clinical trial of COMP360 psilocybin therapy for treatment-resistant depression, as approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), as part of COMPASS’s Investigational New Drug (IND) application.

READ FULL COMPASS PATHWAYS ARTICLE

1. Will GW’s Multibillion-Dollar Sale ‘Open Floodgates’ to Pharma-Cannabis Deal-Making?

Jazz Pharmaceuticals’ $7.2 Billion Acquisition of UK-Based GW Pharmaceuticals Could Kick Off a Wave of Deal-Making Between Pharma and Medical Cannabis Companies, Analysts and Industry Sources Say

But rather than all cannabis producers benefiting, only businesses that have marketable intellectual property and an established foothold in the medical cannabinoid arena will draw serious interest. In the case of GW Pharmaceuticals GWPH GWPRF, for example, Ireland-based Jazz Pharmaceuticals JAZZ was attracted to the British company’s Cannabis-based epilepsy medicine, Epidiolex.

READ FULL GW PHARMA ARTICLE

Photo by Esteban Lopez on Unsplash