Medical

When New Jersey approved legal recreational marijuana in 2020, more than 70% of borough voters cast ballots in favor of the idea. Now they’re getting their wish as the first medicinal marijuana shop has opened in town just days after state officials approved what will be the borough’s first recreational, or adult use, dispensary. “The people of the community voted overwhelmingly for the sale of recreational marijuana, we are only following the will of the people,” said Borough Administrator Steve… Read more.

A bill to legalize medical cannabis was introduced last Friday – late in the session and through means that would circumvent the committee process, East Idaho News reports. The measure was introduced as a personal bill by House Health and Welfare Committee Chairman John Vander Woude (R) but personal bills don’t typically advance.   Personal bills are usually introduced at the beginning of the state’s session and used as groundwork for future policy discussions, the report says. The measure did not appear on any legislative agendas on… Read more.

A Kansas Senate Committee last week tabled a medical cannabis legalization bill, likely killing the bill for the session, the Associated Press reports. On Twitter, Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly said she was “disappointed that some legislators are saying they don’t want to move forward with legalizing medical marijuana this year – effectively turning their backs on our veterans and those with chronic pain and seizure disorders.”  The measure would have allowed physicians to recommend non-smokable medical cannabis products to treat 21 illnesses or conditions, including cancer, epilepsy, spinal cord… Read more.

The New Hampshire House of Representatives has approved a bill to allow medical marijuana patients to grow their own plants for personal use. Weeks after moving through committee, the full chamber passed the legislation from Rep. Wendy Thomas (D) on a voice vote as part of the uncontested consent calendar on Wednesday. The measure—which would allow patients and designated caregivers to cultivate up to three mature plants, three immature plants and 12 seedlings—now heads to the Senate. Plants would have to be grown… Read more.

A Kansas Senate committee on Wednesday held the first of two scheduled hearings this week on a medical marijuana legalization bill. The legislation was taken up by the Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee, which is sponsoring the bill as a panel. Members heard from proponents and neutral witnesses who shared stories about their personal experience with the plant, research into the medical potential of cannabis and more. People with chronic migraines, spinal injuries, as well as medical professionals, academics, veterans… Read more.

Cannabis continues its rise in popularity as more and more states legalize its use either as a medical or recreational drug. Cannabis remains illegal at the federal level, but a number of medical experts and researchers appear to disagree with this decision maintained by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). While more peer-reviewed clinical research is needed, myriad studies support cannabis as a legitimate and safe therapeutic substance when used properly under expert supervision. Learn more about the various medical conditions cannabis… Read more.

Israeli-based next-gen psychedelics biotech Clearmind Medicine  CMND+0.83%+ Free Alerts together with partner clinical-stage pharma company SciSparc SPRC-0.44%+ Free Alerts has filed three provisional patent applications with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The patents cover psychedelic-based therapeutics, including monotherapy and novel combinations of SciSparc’s CannAmide and classical psychedelics. More specifically, the patent applications refer to proprietary combinations of LSD, psilocybin, and DMT with SciSparc’s Palmitoylethanolamide (PEA), a cannabimimetic compound and the active ingredient of its proprietary CannAmide drug. The fruitful collaboration between… Read more.

New research is exploring whether psychedelic drugs, taken under strict medical supervision, might help in treating post-traumatic stress disorder, chronic pain, depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder. SciLine interviewed Dr. Jennifer Mitchell—a professor in the Departments of Neurology and Psychiatry & Behavioral Science in the School of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco—to discuss what scientists have found so far about the effectiveness of these drugs in treating these disorders and how they might safely be administered. The Conversation has collaborated… Read more.

It came as a surprise to many when, on Feb. 3, Australian regulators announced that medicines containing the psychedelic substances MDMA and psilocybin can soon be used there to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and treatment-resistant depression, respectively. That decision makes Australia the first country in the world to formally recognize the therapeutic use of psychedelics. Other countries, including the U.S., may be headed toward a similar outcome, some experts say. Research increasingly suggests that psychedelics can be powerful tools for treating a… Read more.

Lifesciences biotech company Psycheceutical Bioscience  BWVI, of which Benzinga’s advisory council member Zappy Zapolin is Chief Visionary Officer, patented a topical ketamine formulation to treat PTSD. The patent includes related methods using drug delivery technology NeuroDirect. Psycheceutical CEO Chad Harman says NeuroDirect’s topical delivery system could potentially provide “new solutions and treatments for PTSD and other mental health conditions,” considering the disorder is in some cases associated with anxiety, depression and substance use disorder. The system’s design would topically distribute neuro-active compounds to the back… Read more.

DMT — the most potent psychedelic known to man —  treats people with severe depression after a single dose, a cutting-edge clinical trial suggests. Up to six in ten who received a single dose of DMT intravenously before therapy were declared depression-free three months later. And three in 10 participants were declared depression-free two weeks after one session, compared to one in ten in the placebo group who just had therapy on its own. N,N-Dymethyltriptamine (DMT) has received the backing of celebrities… Read more.

Viagra is the brand name of sildenafil, a class of drugs that are designed for the treatment of erectile dysfunction (ED). Men who suffer from ED struggle with starting and maintaining their erections. Depending on the case, it may be a short-term or a chronic problem. This can have a serious impact in the self-esteem and sex lives of affected males because it affects both you and your partner’s sexual satisfaction. It can be short-term or a chronic problem, depending on one’s… Read more.

Drug discovery company Mindset Pharma  MSSTF has been greenlighted by the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on its application “Psilocin Derivatives As Serotonergic Psychedelic Agents for the Treatment of CNS Disorders.”  The application includes the company’s psilocybin analogs lead drug candidate MSP-1014, its backup MSP-1009 and additional pro-drug candidates belonging to the family 1 tryptamine drug compounds. Both MSP-1014 and MSP-1009 demonstrated improved efficacy and safety profiles with reduced potential side effects and evidence of increased target engagement in preclinical studies. … Read more.

It was 1985 and John Lawn had seen enough.  In Boston nightclubs and Dallas bars, MDMA — better known by its street name, ecstasy — had become an enormously popular recreational drug. It had also terrified the Reagan administration, which was in the midst of its historic War on Drugs. Lawn, the administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration at the time, acted quickly. Despite the outcry of medical professionals pointing to the range of MDMA’s clinical uses, Lawn classified the drug as… Read more.

The age of buying marijuana when you fill up your car has arrived in the United States – at least in Florida. Green Thumb Industries, one of the biggest multistate operators in the U.S., signed an agreement with Circle K – one of the largest convenience-store chains in the world – that allows the cannabis company to lease space and open medical marijuana dispensaries adjacent to Circle K locations in Florida. The Chicago-based cannabis company plans to start a “test and learn”… Read more.