A survey conducted on stress and burnout says that a large percentage of Americans have turned to cannabis as a source of relief.

It’s barely 2021 and already we’re comparing its stress levels to 2020, which was filled with a record number of stressors. But if a recent survey is any sort of pulse check, many of us have found a source of relief: cannabis.

Blue Dream, Purple Haze, Girl Scout Cookies, Red Headed Stranger, Acapulco Gold, Fruity Pebbles or Pineapple Express… all classic strain names and all of them meaningless.

“Strain names are absolutely misleading with considerable variation in the same cannabinoid content among different specimens of the same strain. You can get the same color and the same smell, but actually levels of the THC and CBD and some of the other compounds could be quite different,” says Robin Marles, Ph.D., chair of the U.S. Pharmacopeia (USP) Botanical Dietary Supplements and Herbal Medicines Expert Committee.

Experts say Vermont and other states bordering Canada are seeing increasing rates of black market cannabis seizures at federal crossings.

“Seizures have increased over the past year significantly,” said Michael McCarthy, public information officer for Customs and Border Protection (CBP). “There’s a difference between a personal use amount versus a smuggling attempt in a larger quantity for distribution.”

In December, CBP officers at Highgate Springs Port of Entry seized a shipment of over 1,400 pounds of cannabis inside a shipment of kitchen cabinets from Quebec. CBP officials say the shipment was destined for Massachusetts.

Dozens of cannabis stores are sprouting up in Manitoba, after the province opened the retail market last June to anyone who is interested.

Manitoba's cannabis regulator has approved 23 stores under its new open market licensing system, with 33 more retailers waiting for approval.

That's a big spike from the 33 stores licensed between the legalization of recreational cannabis in October 2018 and May 2020. 

During that period, the province capped the number of licences it awarded for cannabis retail. As of June, it opened the market up.

A new study published in Drug and Alcohol Independence suggests that cannabis use increases as the year progresses and peaks in the final months of the calendar year.

According to researchers, on average, cannabis use is 13 per cent higher in the final months of the year than at the beginning.

To better understand seasonal trends and cannabis use, researchers examined data from 282,768 adolescents and adults who responded to the U.S. National Survey on Drug Use and Health from 2015 to 2019, reports News Medical.

Cannabis NB has reported sales of $19.3 million in its latest fiscal quarter, figures that land amid uncertainty about its future as a Crown operation. 

The figures push sales for the last 52 weeks to $72.7 million – a 79 per cent increase over 2019 – and position the agency to end the fiscal year in "a strong position," Cannabis NB's acting president and CEO Lori Stickles said.

Although the quarterly results are not audited, Stickles says the agency earned a net profit of $2.8 million during the final 13 weeks of 2020 and expects to return $10 million to the province by the end of the fiscal year in late March.

Marijuana use increases throughout the calendar year, with use up 13 percent on average at the end of each year (2015-2019) compared to the beginning, according to a new study published in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence.

We found that marijuana use is consistently higher among those surveyed later in the year, peaking during late fall or early winter before dropping at the beginning of the following year. We think this may be due, in part, to a 'Dry January' in which some people stop drinking alcohol or even stop using marijuana as part of a New Year's resolution. We're now in the time of year when people are the least likely to use marijuana."

As with so many things between 2016 and 2020, the idea that marijuana damages IQ became popular in some circles because soon-to-be-former President Donald Trump said it.

In audio secretly recorded in 2018 and leaked in early 2020, President Trump told a group gathered at a White House dinner party that marijuana "does cause an IQ problem. It lowers your IQ." 

Interestingly, his son, Donald Trump Jr., disagreed with him, saying: "I will say this, between that and alcohol, as far as I'm concerned, alcohol does much more damage. You don't see people beating their wives on marijuana. It's just different."

If you’ve never visited a state where cannabis is legal (and you’ve never been to Canada), you might imagine the fully-legal corners of the world as hash heaven – people picnicking with joints in hand, basking in Bob Ross-like golden rays of sunshine and the sweet freedom that comes from being able to light up whenever you please.

We hate to be the bearer of bad tidings, but that’s not the reality – like, at all.

A consumer poll conducted by vertically integrated cannabis and hemp company Glass House Group, prior to the holidays found that a significant number of customers planned on giving the gift of cannabis. With more than 630 respondents citing flower, edibles, and pre-rolls as top choices for their holiday gifts, results suggested that cannabis gifting was among Christmas 2020’s hottest consumer trends. This pointed to the mainstreaming of cannabis and it turns out the polls were true.