From Seth Rogen’s gravity-bong-inspired proclamations to US senators slamming the pharmaceutical industry for opposing cannabis legalization, here are the week’s most notable cannabis quotes.
“To them it’s competition for chronic pain, and that’s outrageous because we don’t have the crisis in people who take marijuana for chronic pain having overdose issues. [Marijuana is] not the same thing. It’s not as highly addictive as opioids are.”
—US Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, criticizing slamming pharmaceutical companies for opposing cannabis legalization, on Good Day New York
“We are seeing a steady maturation of the capital markets around the cannabis industry. Early on, it was almost entirely high net worth individuals—and maybe a few family offices—investing in the cannabis space. Now, we are seeing more family offices getting involved, more high net worth individuals, more professional investors getting involved.”
—Harrison Phillips, Vice President of Viridian Capital Advisors, on the $1.23 billion in cannabis-industry investments over the first five weeks of 2018, to Benzinga.com
“The NDPS Act banned the production and sale of cannabis resin and flowers, but permitted the use of the leaves and seeds, allowing the states to regulate the latter. So, crucially, the Act does not totally shut down the possibility of cannabis cultivation for medical, scientific, horticulture and industrial purposes, provided the state governments issue a licence to that end.”
—Lawyer Abhishek Rastogi, explaining India’s complicated but promising relationship to cannabis, to the Indian Express
“My own view is that there are substantial signs that support [medicinal cannabis’] efficacy and the value that it has for us, especially pain management. We’re in talks with the league to see where we can go with it.”
—Michele Roberts, executive director of the National Basketball Players Association, to SB Nation
“We found that if people are using cannabis in the dependent manner, they actually are much more protected from alcoholic liver disease.”
—Hepatologist Terence Bukong, lead investigator and co-author of the new study ‘Cannabis use is associated with reduced prevalence of progressive stages of alcoholic liver disease,’ speaking to Tonic
“Even if the mom smokes just one time, there are studies showing that it crosses the placenta. That causes the concentration of THC in the baby to be about 10% of that in the mom. And with repeated uses, the amount goes up. The other problem is that THC binds well to fats, in cell membranes, and can achieve a significant level not only in the mom’s brain, but also in the fetal brain.”
—Ob-gyn Dr. Mary Jane Minkin, commenting on news that Teen Mom 2 star Jenelle Evans smoked marijuana while pregnant, to People
“Unless exemptions are made for personal amounts of marijuana, cannabis legalization may increase workloads for officers and translate into longer border wait times, particularly at land borders.”
—A declassified Canada Border Services Agency document obtained by Global News, warning that legalized cannabis could lead to longer border waits as officers deal with “cannabis tourists”
We’re no health experts, but we’re pretty sure getting high does not cause enhanced mammary growth in men. We are aware of the misinformation about cannabis that was unfortunately provided to the community by our officers. We’re working to address it.
—York Regional Police (@YRP) February 20, 2018
—Seth Rogen showing us how it’s done
