Tuesday, January 9, 2024
Time to read: About 4 minutes. Contains 891 words.
Good morning!
Question: how much would you guys care if Monday news and product roundups dropped on Tuesdays from now on? I love starting the week out with you, but I also enjoy having one weekday to get a lay of the news land. I’d love to hear your honest thoughts.
Either way, good things are coming this Friday. Over the past few months, I’ve noticed a handful of cannabis-centric brands running sponsored posts on Instagram. Yes, the app we talk about being shut out of every time we mention the “c” word 🍃. But here they are, advertising gummies! I reached out to two of them—Mesobis and Rose Los Angeles—to hear how they made it happen, any lessons learned along the approval process, and their tips for advertising on the platform. If you run a brand, work in marketing, or are preparing to launch a new something in this space, you don’t want to miss this dispatch.

One-Hitters: Cannabis News at a Glance
Terpenes: a plant’s fragrant armor. New research suggests what could drive the terpene production in cannabis plants: bug repellent. Since terpenes primarily show up in female plants, it’s long been theorized that these are “defensive compounds” to protect reproductive processes. The latest experiments show that higher cannabinoid concentrations in leaves led to proportionately less damage from insect larvae. That makes sense to me—I remember the most natural forms of pest control from my growing days were diluted sprays containing essential oils of citrus and maybe chili peppers (tea tree? Something like that). The point is terpenes are a primary ingredient of essential oils.
Bringing weed to the gym. A different study of note recently published backs up research showing the positive effect cannabis can have on a workout. The 42 participants (made up of regular cannabis consumers) reported increased euphoria when exercising after cannabis consumption. Those who consumed CBD-dominant strains even more so. The whole connection between the “runner’s high” experience and our endocannabinoid system gets more interesting with every experiment.
Too much legal weed. A dark bit of weed math: More than 3.7 million pounds of unsold, unpackaged dried flower have been destroyed since Canada legalized it in 2018, equivalent to approximately 1,252 Honda Civics.
More than cannabis booms in border towns. New York Times examines the multifaceted portal of border town access to cannabis, abortion, and immigration through the lens of Sunland Park, New Mexico—a small town where one of the many dispensaries openly advertises “Texas Tuesday” discounts for the many customers driving over from nearby El Paso.
Reviewing sources on rescheduling hot takes. One P.S. regarding last week’s One Hitter re: the Politico interview about cannabis rescheduling with an optimistic former FDA official named Howard Sklamberg. While he did indeed hold top offices at the FDA, the piece neglected to mention that today, as a partner at Arnold & Porter law firm, one of his current clients is the large multistate cannabis company Columbia Care. This fact somewhat colors Sklamberg’s current press blitz about the fears of small cannabis businesses’ over rescheduling cannabis favoring the big dogs most of all being “overblown.”
What if hemp THC wasn’t accidental? Speaking of reader recommendations: Forbes ran a recent series of hemp industry articles by Robert Hoban, one of which is a very helpful complement to my hemp THC dispatch that takes things to a far deeper level. It closely examines the language of the actual 2018 Farm Bill legislation to posit that this was never a loophole for legal THC, but an intentional path forward for cannabinoid-infused products.
Actually shutting down illegal New York dispensaries. In New York, a new bill would empower individual municipal governments to shut down unlicensed cannabis businesses and seize their products. My first thought: Wait, they aren’t able to do that already?! No, they aren’t! Only state regulators with the Cannabis Control Board (CCB) hold enforcement authority to close unlicensed businesses. They performed 369 “enforcement inspections” of illicit operations, but that didn’t result in 369 closures of illicit operations.
Puff, puff planet. I can’t stop thinking about these volcanic smoke rings (ty Lindsay MaHarry! a.k.a. @oystergirl on IG). Earth is always the life of the party.
High Finds: Lifestyle Goods I Like
Fashion brand CRTFD collaborated with custom sneaker artiste The Surgeon on a custom pair of Dunks featuring a symphony of plant-based materials, including embroidered alternative leather of hemp, cactus, grape, pineapple, mushroom, tree bark, banana leaf, and repurposed vintage military ripstop nylon.
Vermont’s WhistlePig Whiskey Distillery released a limited-edition Dank & Dry Old Fashioned Cocktail—a non-alcoholic beverage made with barrel-aged maple syrup and Vermont cannabis terpenes. Those terpenes were also extracted from plants grown in whiskey barrels. Although it doesn’t contain hemp extract and won’t have psychoactive effects, it’s interesting to see a distillery react to both Dry January and cannabis trends in the same product.
Favorite one-hitter gunked up beyond inhalation? Same. You should definitely take the time to clean it—these Sudz by Budz have a carbonated effect to help lift really serious buildup—but if you’re considering a backup, I’ve been eyeing this textured stoneware 2.5” Piccolo Pipe by Debbie Carlos Studios.
From my freshly cleaned smoking corner to yours,
Lauren Yoshiko