November 15th Highlights

• The Hurdles for Psychedelics and Cannabinoids - I read an interesting expert this week that stated, there’s still a stigma attached to psychedelics and cannabinoids as being dangerous drugs that contain no medical value, but it’s slowly disappearing. However both psychedelics and cannabinoids have their own unique challenges, for example, cannabis can be used to treat a variety of symptoms (due to its effect on the endocannabinoid system), furthermore, the plant contains hundreds of compounds which appear to have therapeutic properties - this means that conducting research is more challenging due to the number of variables which research need to consider. Psychedelics, on the other hand, have fewer compounds and these drugs are typically focused on addressing symptoms related to mental health - therefore researchers are able to be more specific when conducting research and compiling data. However psychedelics also require specific psycho-assisted theory, which few mental health professional poses, furthermore treatment sessions can span over 8 weeks with 2 psychedelic-assisted therapy sessions which last up to 8 hours - this creates time and cost barriers for doctors and patients. Nonetheless, the abundance of research findings demonstrating the medicinal properties of these drugs continues to spread into the medical community, which is causing a breakdown in the stigma of these substances.
• Germany’s medical cannabis flower market shows signs of cooling - Germany imported 1,759 kilograms (3,878 pounds) of medical cannabis flower for pharmacy dispensing during the third quarter of 2020, new data from the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM) shows. This represents a 28% decrease over the previous quarter but is 34% lower than the same quarter last year. Reference link to the article can be found here

GW Pharma begins recruitment for US-based Sativex trial

Israel to legalise, regulate recreational cannabis market within 9 months

Argentina to allow medicinal cannabis to be grown at home

During coronavirus pandemic, American consumers turn to CBD for stress relief

Australian health fund becomes the first to offer rebates for medicinal cannabis

Cannasouth submits product assessment and registration application to Medicinal Cannabis Agency

University Of Sydney next cannabis survey is ready for data

AusCann sells cannabis JV company on Chilean govt. restrictions

New Zealand-made, pharma-grade cannabis medicines - will they be affordable?

Puro given licence to grow 10 hectares of medicinal cannabis