Diddy’s Bad Boy Records announced they were giving artists their publishing back, but the R&B group B5 claim they haven’t heard anything.
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Smoker Sesh App Wins Cannabis Start-Up Competition at Boston University
In last week’s seventh annual Cannabis Start-Up Competition at Boston University (BU) in Massachusetts, on the same night Ohio became the 24th state to legalize adult-use cannabis, a stoner-friendly app JoinME took home the grand prize. It enables users to locate and meet up and join with stoners who share the same goals and interests.
Now in its sixth year, the BU alumni-founders behind Green Lion Partners sponsored an annual start-up competition for current BU Terriers and alums who are developing innovative cannabis-adjacent companies. BU Today reports that student- and alumni-led teams pitch their business concepts Shark Tank–style to a panel of judges for a chance to win $10,000 and free consulting services.
After listening to a series of speakers, each team had six minutes to pitch their start-up concept, and judges had six minutes to ask questions. Former judges include Shaleen Title, Kris Kane, and Jaime Lewis.
This year’s winner was JoinME, an app designed to meet and toke up with other stoners, “the brainchild of Marco Rotella and Claudio Bettini,” BU Today reports, who became friends a few years ago attending BU Italian Students Association meetings.
“We are very proud of what we are doing, and hopefully with everybody’s help we are able to develop our idea even more,” Bettini said after accepting the award and the oversized check.
“We’ve put a lot of work into the app so far, and we’re happy it showed tonight,” Rotella added.
“We have identified two main problems: cannabis consumers want and need partners,” Rotella said. “Social consumers have a much lower correlation with psychological side effects, such as social anxiety and agitation.”
Cannabis advocate, author, and local Peter Grinspoon, M.D., tweeted in support of the competition winner on X.
The application period for the competition closed Oct. 8, and the finals took place last week at the Rajen Kilachand Center for Integrated Life Sciences and Engineering at the BU campus.
The event is co-organized and sponsored by Green Lion Partners, a cannabis-industry business strategy firm founded by former BU classmates Jeff Zucker and Mike Bologna. Green Lion Partners is a Denver, Colorado-based business strategy firm focused on early stage development in the regulated cannabis industry.
BU student- or alumni-led ancillary cannabis start-ups are eligible to enter the competition, so long as they don’t touch the cannabis plant.
Zucker said the cannabis industry is built on the “backs of advocates, people fighting against the War on Drugs. So many people have gone to jail over this plant, yet there are these thriving businesses that are being built around it,” he noted. “I always want to [remind] everyone involved how important it is to be involved in advocacy, continue to work to end the War on Drugs, continue to end racially disproportionate enforcement around cannabis. It’s been great to have this platform, and that BU has been supportive of our vision for the industry.”
Attendees also heard from previous competition winners Marion McNabb, president and cofounder of the Cannabis Center of Excellence, and Carl Palme, founder and CEO of Boundless Robotics.
The Next Steps
Rotella and Bettini plan to set up a university ambassador program and advertise in local smoke shops and dispensaries, BU Today reports. They also plan to monetize their app.
The topic of social equity entered the conversation, something the judges wanted to see in the roster of aspiring start-ups.
“I think you guys had a great presentation and immediate application in terms of what you’re offering,” said Kim Napoli, one of the night’s three judges. Napoli is an industry consultant and advocate, a Massachusetts Cannabis Advisory board member, and chief diversity officer at Soulstar Holdings, LLC. “If I can make one point, it would be to ensure that those pieces of inclusivity and diversity happen, that you hire someone to be the prime accountability position for diversity inclusion within the app and within your company as well.”
The other finalists were software company GreenCloud, developed by Eloise De Jarne; hemp company IPNPC, created by Ziwei Huang, Zhe Huang, and Xingxin Gu; and cannabis delivery service Smoking.com, created by Ethan Davidman and Bradley Magram.
The university is adopting cannabis business with open arms. Boston University defaults to federal law on campus, so cannabis use is illegal on campus, per its drug policy. But rapidly changing laws are pushing the school towards change.
Boston University School of Law Professor Jay Wexler’s new compelling book, Weed Rules (University of California Press, 2023) argues that now cannabis has been legalized in nearly two dozen states, it needs to be normalized.
The university is also involved in medical cannabis research to some degree, while not allowing it on campus. Meanwhile, researchers from Boston University joined other researchers from Brown and the University of Minnesota to find data to suggest that cannabis improves physical activity from people living with HIV.
The post Smoker Sesh App Wins Cannabis Start-Up Competition at Boston University appeared first on High Times.
Petition Calls For Canadian Regulators To Allow More Potent Edibles
Canadian cannabis advocates are calling on the federal government to relax strict limits on the potency of cannabis edibles with a petition seeking a tenfold increase in maximum permitted THC levels.
Canada legalized cannabis through an act of Parliament in 2018, and retail sales of cannabis extracts and edibles were authorized for licensed operators one year later. Regulations on edibles set strict potency limits, however, with a cap of 10 milligrams of THC per product. In contrast, California, the largest regulated market in the United States, limits THC to 100 milligrams per package, with a per-serving cap of 10 milligrams.
Last year, an Independent Expert Panel began a mandated review of Canada’s cannabis regulations. Advocates for the regulated industry see the review as an opportunity to push lawmakers to increase the THC limit on edibles, launching a petition last week calling on the federal government to increase the limit to 100 milligrams per package.
Jennawae Cavion, the executive director of the Canadian chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML Canada) told the National Post that regulations that strictly limit the potency of edibles make it difficult for licensed businesses to compete with illicit operators.
“It’s driving the market to the unregulated market, which (licensed) cannabis retailers cannot compete with,” Cavion said.
Sam Gerges, the owner of the licensed retailer Mary Jane’s Cannabis, agreed that the THC limit on edibles hinders the regulated market from competing with unlicensed operators.
“No one who buys 100 to 1,000 mg edibles on the streets is going to buy edibles from legal retailers,” he said. “That’s like selling non-alcoholic vodka and saying it’s the real deal.”
The authors of the petition note that a government agency charged with maintaining a competitive business environment and Ontario’s sole authorized cannabis distributor have called for an increase in the THC limit for weed edibles.
“Both the Canada Competition Bureau and the Ontario Cannabis Store have called upon Health Canada to increase THC limits,” the petition reads. “The Competition Bureau has stated that ‘restricting THC levels may not be necessary to achieve the government’s objectives,’ while the Ontario Cannabis Store has emphasized the need to ‘revisit the current THC limits.’ These endorsements from reputable organizations highlight the importance of reconsidering the current restrictions.”
Report On Legalization Released Last Month
The Independent Expert Panel began its work in 2022 and issued its first report last month. Many of those interviewed for the report recommended against making “large-scale changes” to regulations so soon after they took effect, with some even suggesting that the minimum age for purchasing and using cannabis should be increased to 21 from the current 18.
“Many public health stakeholders and some provincial and territorial government officials focused on reinforcing the value of existing regulatory controls, such as the THC quantity for edible cannabis products and promotion restrictions, to reduce harms,” the report reads.
The review panel’s report also noted that 10 milligrams was established as a “reasonable upper-limit” to avoid overconsumption by inexperienced consumers and that more experienced users tend to prefer smoking or vaping cannabis over edibles. The report also noted that some disputed the notion that the THC cap on edibles is driving consumers to the unregulated market.
“Some researchers suggested that it is rare that higher dose edibles drive consumers to purchase illicit cannabis, as consumers often cite convenience, price and quality as reasons for purchasing illicit products,” the report notes.
Cavion disagreed, saying that low-potency edibles are indeed a factor driving consumers to illicit operators. She also noted the regulations are inconvenient and promote unhealthy eating.
“The other part of it is the amount of sugar you have to consume to get your regular dose,” she said. “I shouldn’t have to eat 10 fun-sized chocolate bars when I can just have a few squares of one chocolate bar — if it has to be chocolate at all.”
Michael DeVillaer, an assistant professor at McMaster University’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neuroscience, argued against hiking Canada’s THC limit on cannabis edibles.
“Given the potential public health risks, I would place the onus on the petitioners to provide market research that shows there is truly high consumer demand for higher THC product,” said DeVillaer, who is the author of a book on Canada’s legalization of cannabis. “But even if there is such demand, that does not mean we should imperil public health protection for the industry’s interests in market expansion.”
“If the cannabis industry and government are sincere about wanting to compete with the unlicensed trade, they need to clean up the licensed one which is fraught with regulatory violations, including poor product integrity which includes use of unauthorized pesticides, mold, microbial and chemical contaminants, incorrect labeling, and misrepresented products,” DeVillaer added. “These are the historical liabilities of the unlicensed trade that the licensed trade was supposed to fix.”
Cavion countered that strictly regulating cannabis industries will encourage consumers to seek the products they like from unlicensed businesses.
“If we want legalization to be a success, we can’t be limiting the creativity of licensed producers,” she said. “This isn’t an institutional product — it’s recreational cannabis, it’s literally meant for us to have fun.”
Canada’s House of Commons began accepting signatures for the petition to increase the THC limit for cannabis edibles on November 8. The signature collection is scheduled to end on March 7, 2024, at 11:31 a.m. EDT.
The post Petition Calls For Canadian Regulators To Allow More Potent Edibles appeared first on High Times.
Rod Wave D.C. Concert Hit With Spate Of Car Break-Ins
Rod Wave’s D.C. concert seemed to be going well until reports of car break-ins in and around the area began cropping up, spoiling the experience.