VOTING NOW OPEN: 2016 Board of Directors Election

NCIA’s annual board of directors election is now open for all members looking to help select the leadership of the cannabis industry’s only national trade association!

If you are a member of NCIA, we hope that you will take some time to consider the great candidates vying for a seat on the board and cast a vote between now and May 16, when the online election closes.

For NCIA members:
In order to cast a vote, you will need to log into NCIA’s secure member ballot using your member company login. Only ONE ballot can be submitted per member company.

If you do not remember your password or are having trouble logging in, please contact us at info@thecannabisindustry.org or (303) 223-4530.

Please be sure to download and review our complete Voter Guide (PDF) before casting your vote.

Not yet a member of NCIA?
If you are not a member of NCIA but want to participate in the election, join today and we’ll provide you access to the online ballot. Your membership will also support the industry’s only unified and coordinated effort to reform federal marijuana laws as well as provide other member benefits enjoyed by the nearly 1,000 responsible cannabis businesses that make up NCIA’s network.

A few other important items about the board election:

  • Each member business can only vote once and votes cannot be changed once submitted online.
  • Members can vote for up to 11 of the 22 nominated candidates.
  • Votes are weighted according to membership status. If you are a member and would like to upgrade your membership to increase your influence in the board election, please contact us at (888) 683-5650 to process the upgrade before completing your online ballot.

There are eleven open board of directors seats and 22 nominated candidates (including ten current board members seeking reelection). Please refer to your voter guide for information on all the candidates and for more information on board election logistics before casting your vote online.

2016 Board Candidates:

Caela Bintner – Faces Human Capital Management
Brian Caldwell – Triple C Collective
Alex Cooley – Solstice
John Davis (incumbent) – Northwest Patient Resource Center
Troy Dayton (incumbent) – The ArcView Group
Etienne Fontan (incumbent) – Berkeley Patients Group
Steve Janjic – Amercanex
Neil Juneja – Gleam Law
Aaron Justis (incumbent) – Buds and Roses Collective
Brendan Kennedy – Privateer Holdings
Kris Krane (incumbent) – 4Front Ventures
Neal Levine – LivWell Enlightened Health
Jaime Lewis (incumbent) – Mountain Medicine
Randy Maslow – Ianthus Capital
Norris Monson – Cultivated Industries
Lance Ott (incumbent) – Guardian Data Systems
Erich Pearson (incumbent) – SPARC
Glenn Peterson – Canuvo
Tom Quigley – Gluu
Ean Seeb (incumbent) – Denver Relief Consulting
Bryan Sullivan – DANK
Scott Van Rixel (incumbent) – Bhang Corporation

DOWNLOAD MEMBER VOTER GUIDE

CAST YOUR VOTE

Participation in NCIA’s board election is one of the most important ways to engage as a member of your trade association, as it ensures that your values are represented within NCIA’s leadership. NCIA’s elected board is responsible for approving the organization’s budget and strategic plan as well as contributing to the organization financially and through developing membership.

Thank you for your membership and commitment to working together to build the responsible, legitimate, and sustainable industry that we envisioned at the founding of NCIA.

Member Spotlight: District Growers

dglogoWhile the fate of establishing a well-regulated cannabis industry in the District of Columbia remains up the air, a small handful of medical marijuana dispensaries have been operating for several years to serve extremely ill patients in our nation’s capital. Located in the northeast neighborhood of our nation’s capital, District Growers is a close-knit, local business founded with the goal of creating only the highest quality cannabis products on the market. This month, we chat with owner Corey Barnette to hear more about efforts to serve the community of Washington, D.C.

Tell me a bit about you and why you opened District Growers?

District Growers owner Corey Barnette
District Growers owner Corey Barnette

My background is that of an engineer-turned-investment-banker-turned-venture capitalist. In early 2003, I stepped away from the Small Enterprise Assistance Fund, an emerging market venture fund, to acquire small high-growth companies operating in traditional industries. Between 2003 and 2010, I and my team acquired six different small businesses across the country in numerous industries.

In 2008, a friend and colleague invited me to serve on the board of – and eventually acquire – the San Diego Medical Collective (SDMC), a dispensary in San Diego, California. The purchase of SDMC was my entry to the formal medical cannabis industry. While operating in San Diego, my team and I built two of the ten largest dispensaries out of more than 238 dispensaries in the San Diego area. We served a patient base greater than 16,000 patients strong and produced approximately 30% of the medicine provided within our own patient gardens. After federal authorities began threatening landlords in the San Diego area, I sold the operations in San Diego to my employees after converting our platform to a delivery service.

Upon winning a license in Washington, D.C., where I maintained residence since 1999, I founded District Growers to offer medical marijuana program patients with safe, high-quality, medicinal-grade cannabis and cannabis-infused products. I also acquired the Metropolitan Wellness Center, a licensed dispensary in Washington, D.C., to provide a high-quality, dignified purchasing experience to patients in a comfortable and aesthetically pleasing environment. Leveraging our prior experience, knowledge of local preferences, and superior operating tactics, we have become the largest dispensary operator in Washington, D.C., with approximately a third of patients belonging to our dispensary exclusively.

Why should patients seeking medical cannabis seek out District Growers?

districtgrowersAt District Growers, we recognize that patients depend on our products for their livelihood and well-being. Further, many of those patients are our employees, relatives, and friends. Because of this, we engage in a constant quest to offer the best quality products – bar none.

Internally, we use the phrase “Grow True” to define our efforts. We use this term as a constant reminder of our goal to provide to those who depend on our solutions. To accomplish this, we marry cutting-edge cultivation solutions, proven technologies, and nature’s very own touch to achieve unmatched quality. When it comes to cultivation, we believe that convenient shortcuts should never overcome proven methods. Consequently, we have taken the time to optimize our methods and processes to deliver the highest quality. From our production methods to our service, we endeavor to exceed all expectations. It is not enough to be the best if the best is not perfect. Put simply, to Grow True is to pursue perfection.

As a business owner, you’re very involved in your community and in causes that you care about. Can you tell us more about what matters most to you, and how your business participates in pushing for progress?

The team at District Growers
The team at District Growers

As a provider of relief solutions to the sick and vulnerable, District Growers views its entire offering as a betterment to the community. Additionally, we recognize that our industry carries with it a negative taboo. To combat this taboo and to carry the burden of good stewardship within our community, we push for progress primarily in three ways: in the garden, in the community, and in the town hall.

In the Garden – Simply put, we endeavor to be the most trusted source of medicinal grade cannabis to patients seeking treatment with cannabis.

In the Community – District Growers is a strong supporter of community gardens in Washington, D.C. We offer employees paid time-off when such is approved in the service of working with community gardens and in-home fruit & vegetable gardens.

In the Town Hall – District Growers actively works with legislators, regulators, and activist organizations to set policies around cannabis that better serve the public interest. It is our belief that today’s prohibitionary policies do more harm than good to our society. Consequently, we actively seek to change these policies for the betterment of our communities and our industry.

Why did you join NCIA?

Because we exist in an industry that suffers a negative stigma, it is imperative that we organize as an industry to promote our industry image, to promote good policy, and to promote good outcomes. NCIA is best positioned generally to do that. Consequently, we seek to be supportive.

NCIA Members Get Results!

Following up with Ean Seeb three months after his visit to D.C. to meet with Hawaii’s congressional delegation on cannabis industry issues, we checked in to hear about some of the progress made on his efforts. We also spoke with fellow NCIA Member Tae Darnell, who accompanied Ean on several of his congressional office visits.

On April 4th, Senator Schatz of Hawaii became the 12th Senate co-sponsor of the Marijuana Business Access to Banking Act (S 1726).

Ean’s overall sentiment about the experience? Hard work pays off.

Ean Seeb, Denver Relief Consulting:
It was a sense of accomplishment in that when you’re working with Congress, things are very slow-moving and we have been dealing with the banking and tax issues repeatedly since my first NCIA Lobby Days in 2013.

As far as the experience of going into a congressional office and telling them you’re working with cannabis and asking them to back or co-sponsor some legislation, back then, it was a foreign thought. Contrast that with now – to walk in and have the recognition, know what we’re doing, and three months later to see a Senator actually fulfilling the only request that we made to him, specifically, to co-sponsor this bill.

All of our efforts are not for naught. If you put your mind to it, you go to work, and you extend some effort on behalf of the industry, you can make powerful, meaningful change here. Having another Senate supporter, even harder to come by than on the House side – it’s an incredible accomplishment.

I was delighted. It’s not due to any one person individually. NCIA’s Michael Correia, Director of Government Relations, set up the meeting and put it all together. It made me feel better about working hard and diligently with a team and getting to the solution to the challenge we’re facing. Sen. Schatz can’t himself enact the banking bill, but this is one more step toward chipping away at cannabis prohibition as we know it.

Tae Darnell and Ean Seeb stand outside of Senator Schatz's congressional office in D.C.
Tae Darnell and Ean Seeb stand outside of Senator Schatz’s congressional office in D.C.

It was really helpful to have my fellow NCIA member Tae Darnell there. I didn’t know it at the time, but Tae wrote the draft legislation for Hawaii, so he was really well-informed on the issues we were discussing and was able to provide some good examples as to why it was important to get behind the bill.

Tae Darnell, Sensi Media:
I’ve been deeply involved with Hawaii since 2010, when I drafted the first version of the medical marijuana bill that just passed. Although much has shifted since the original version, I’ve developed close connections at the state level and have a particular affinity for Hawaii’s role in the advancement of cannabis regulation because of those relationships.

When Ean approached me about lobbying with Michael and speaking with the federal arm of Hawaii (one of those being Senator Schatz’s office), I jumped at the opportunity. I think it’s incredibly helpful to be able to share direct experience and engage conversation that personalizes the story at a federal level. I also think it helps to be able to diversify perspective. In that regard, Ean was able to share his NCIA experience as well as Denver Relief’s experience both as a dispensary and consultant. I was able to share my experience as an (almost) 10-year cannabis lawyer who assisted Colorado with HB 1284, SB 109, and A64, and also as a drafter of Hawaii’s legislation. As a co-founder of Surna and Sensi Media, I was also able to share my experience as an entrepreneur on the ancillary side.

In the end, and based on my experience as a cannabis lawyer and entrepreneur, I’m incredibly excited that the work of NCIA is able to facilitate such incredible accomplishments. The countless hours of effort, put in by so many, are rewarded when we, as an industry, are able to accomplish goals like gaining sponsorship for critical banking legislation. I think successes like these are further validation of how critical it is that we continue to aggressively support the work of NCIA. The time is now to effect change, and the nearly 1,000 member businesses of NCIA are a major catalyst for why it’s happening.


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Want your voice heard in our nation’s capitol on issues affecting the cannabis industry? Join us for our 6th Annual NCIA Member Lobby Days in Washington, D.C., on May 12 & 13, 2016.

To make the most out of the Lobby Days experience, register early so that we can begin the process of setting up meetings for you on the Hill. Members who register before April 30th will be entered to win admission and travel expenses for two at NCIA’s Cannabis Business Summit & Expo, including airfare and lodging.

Breaking It Down: Appropriations

by Michelle Rutter, NCIA Government Relations Coordinator

CannApprops

Every year, Congress must pass appropriations legislation to fund federal government operations for the upcoming fiscal year. This annual funding bill has been one of the only avenues by which pro-cannabis reform language can be inserted into the federal budget, due to Congress’ inability to pass meaningful stand-alone legislation addressing the legal cannabis industry.

The Appropriations Committees have always been two of the most influential committees in Congress, since the Committees’ power is derived from its ability to disburse funds. The House Appropriations Committee is currently chaired by Rep. Hal Rogers (R-KY), with Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY) as the highest-ranking Democratic member, and the Senate Appropriations Committee is chaired by Thad Cochran (R-MS) with Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) as the ranking Democrat.

Because it is unlikely that Congress will enact stand-alone pro-cannabis legislation this session, NCIA has decided to focus intensely on the appropriations process this year. In addition to making sure that the Rohrabacher-Farr medical cannabis amendment passes for the third year in a row, NCIA will be focusing on getting amendments included in the final budget bill that pertain to banking access and that protect all state-compliant cannabis businesses, not just medical ones. The continued inclusion of the Rohrabacher-Farr amendment in the final budget bill is crucial to cannabis policy moving forward into a new administration. We at NCIA want to ensure that this amendment is seen as non-controversial as we go into FY2017.

Over the years, the budget process in Washington, D.C. has become broken and it has become harder for Congress to perform basic functions. New Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI) has thrown his support behind returning to “regular order” in the budget process – meaning that Congress would return to the piece-by-piece appropriations process rather than passing large omnibus budget bills as has been the case in recent years. Although the Speaker has good intentions, small groups and caucuses in the House of Representatives are unhappy with the spending levels proposed in many of the new appropriations bills, making it more likely that an omnibus bill will again be passed, despite Speaker Ryan’s desire to return to regular order.

This “regular order” of the appropriations process usually starts in February as various pieces of legislation works its way through the Appropriations Committee and finally to the House/Senate Floor. Congress typically starts with less controversial bills in April and then works through the spring and summer months until all appropriations bills are completed. Legally, they need to be completed by September 30th (as October 1st is the start of the new fiscal year). Regular order gives NCIA multiple opportunities to insert pro-cannabis amendments into the legislation. With an omnibus or stopgap bill, it becomes much more difficult to include pro-cannabis amendments.

In Years Past

Last year, there were two pro-cannabis amendments included in the Commerce, Justice, and Science Appropriations bill that made it into the final budget: the Bonamici-Massie industrial hemp amendment and the Rohrabacher-Farr medical marijuana amendment. The Bonamici-Massie amendment blocks federal money from being used to prevent states from allowing the use, distribution, possession, or cultivation of industrial hemp. This means that the federal government cannot use federal funds to enforce federal law against state-compliant businesses dealing with hemp. This measure passed the House of Representatives overwhelmingly: the vote was 282-146, with 101 Republicans voting in favor.

The second pro-cannabis amendment in the FY2016 budget was the Rohrabacher-Farr medical marijuana amendment, which was included for the second year in a row. This amendment bans the Department of Justice from spending money to prevent the implementation of state-level medical cannabis programs, in addition to removing funding for federal medical cannabis raids, arrests and prosecutions in states where medical cannabis is legal. The vote count increased from 219-189 in 2014 to 242-186 this year, with 67 Republicans voting ‘Yes’. Just like the Bonamici-Massie hemp amendment, the Rohrabacher-Farr amendment prohibits the Department of Justice from enforcing federal law against state-legal medical cannabis businesses.

Remember…

It’s crucial to remember that these appropriations amendments only pertain to the current fiscal year and have to be voted on and renewed every year. The NCIA team and our lobbyists in Washington, D.C., are working intently with appropriators and other Members of Congress to ensure that pro-cannabis amendments and provisions are included in the federal budget this year – whether that be through “regular order” or otherwise.


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Want your voice heard in our nation’s capitol on issues affecting the cannabis industry? Join us for our 6th Annual NCIA Member Lobby Days in Washington, D.C., on May 12 & 13, 2016.

To make the most out of the Lobby Days experience, register early so that we can begin the process of setting up meetings for you on the Hill. Members who register before April 30th will be entered to win admission and travel expenses for two at NCIA’s Cannabis Business Summit & Expo, including airfare and lodging.

Video Newsletter: Member Spotlight on Eden Labs

In our latest Video Member Spotlight, NCIA introduces you to one of our Sustaining Members based in Seattle.

Eden Labs specializes in the design, manufacture, research, and development of a wide range of botanical CO2 extraction equipment. CEO AC Braddock also serves on NCIA’s Board of Directors.

Watch the video to hear AC describe the passion for plant-based medicine that brought her to Eden Labs and the commitment to advocacy and community that brought her to NCIA.

“Once you become a businessperson in this industry, you automatically become an activist…”

You can meet the Eden Labs team and more than 3,000 other cannabis industry leaders at the 2016 Cannabis Business Summit in Oakland, CA, June 20-22. Get your tickets today!


Want your voice heard in our nation’s capitol on issues affecting the cannabis industry? Join us for our 6th Annual NCIA Member Lobby Days in Washington, D.C., on May 12 & 13, 2016.

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Guest Post: If I use marijuana, will you hold it against me?

by Jeanine Moss, Founder of AnnaBis Handbags and Accessories

Someone, someday is going to demonstrate their disapproval of you by choosing a distinguishing characteristic and labeling you with it. Like horse face. Or eagle beak. Or pothead stoner.

It’s called stigma, and it’s a form of prejudice that is especially fascinating to me because I’m one of the cadre of professionals who wants to bring cannabis out of the alley and onto Wall Street.

I am the founder of AnnaBís, a company making fashionable, functional and odor-controlled accessories to carry cannabis. We’re dedicated to helping women feel free and sophisticated when carrying their medicine, recreational supplies, or both.

So we asked Penn Schoen Berland (PSB) to ask a nationally representative sample of 800 Americans, 18+, about their attitudes toward people who consume marijuana, alcohol, and cigarettes. We wanted to know: Who is most judgmental? Against whom? For what?

Here’s what we learned:

  • More than half of people surveyed either don’t care or are favorably disposed about marijuana usage among their friends, co-workers and family members.
  • Nearly 50% are neutral or favorably disposed about the marijuana usage of teachers, elected officials, doctors and police officers. Though all respondents were most judgmental of police officers who consume cannabis, even in this group more than 4 in 10 either don’t care, or are favorably disposed.
  • Alcohol remains less of a stigma, but cigarettes are pretty close to cannabis when you consider they’re a legal product.

The overarching question we asked was:

“How would your opinion of each of the following people change if you knew they were a responsible consumer of marijuana / alcohol / cigarettes? (Much more favorable, somewhat more favorable, no more or less favorable, somewhat less favorable, much less favorable.)

Table 1

We also learned that Republicans are the most judgmental about marijuana consumption, particularly when it involves police officers, doctors, and elected officials. And the majority of Democrats say they are either more favorable or no more or less favorable towards people who are responsible consumers of marijuana across the board:

Table 2

Based on 61 percent of Americans being in favor of marijuana legalization (according to AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research) and our data reflecting positive or neutral attitudes about responsible consumption among key community members, we think we’re experiencing a tipping point in favor of tolerance and choice. Additional findings are coming soon, and this will serve as a benchmark to see how things have changed in a few months. We’ll keep you posted!


 

JM_close_up_50_percent_400x400Jeanine Moss is the Founder of Annabis, LLC, a member of NCIA since November 2015. She grew up in Venice, California, so she is no stranger to cannabis. The daughter of an artist and a rocket scientist, she loves doing things that have never been done before and also owns Turning Point Solutions, a marketing firm established 13 years ago to help companies capitalize on change. She created the first computerized horse buying and breeding registry, the first newsletter for women business travelers, the first New York City Fun Pass, the first Bring Your Parents to Work Day, the first luxury accessories for women who consume cannabis, and is especially proud of her work as communications chief for The September 11th Fund.

Guest Post: Cash Management in the Cannabis Industry

Jeff Foster, Co-Founder, Jane, LLC
Interviewed by Vinnie Fiordelisi, Sr. Director of Corporate Communications, Jane, LLC

Jeff Foster, co-founder of Jane
Jeff Foster, co-founder of Jane

For nearly two decades, Jeff Foster has worked with some of the world’s largest retailers and financial institutions to define, design, and implement e-commerce and retail payment processing and risk management solutions. Here he shares some advice and insights on cash management and financial services in the cannabis industry.

What is the state of cash management in the cannabis industry?

It’s a real mess. Employee theft is even higher than in bars and restaurants. Many of the dispensary owners we talk to say it’s as high as 10-15% of sales. Robberies are a real threat. The cash reconciliation process is time-consuming, costly, and susceptible to human error. But the biggest issue is it’s almost impossible to run a multi-million dollar business with all cash.

What are the common problems you hear from dispensary owners when it comes to them doing business effectively and simply?

The cannabis business has the most complicated legal and regulatory framework in the history of retail and many of the dispensary owners are first-time entrepreneurs. Combine these two things, further complicate it by a lack of banking and a business that is bustling seven days a week, and you find it extremely difficult to navigate this constantly evolving landscape.

What challenges do dispensaries face as it relates to financial services?

What challenges don’t they have? Very few have access even to depository banking, much less checking. Most cannot process credit or debit cards legitimately so they are on a strictly cash basis. So imagine having to make payroll, pay rent, or buy hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of product without the ability to write a check or send a wire. Most of the dispensary owners we talk to spend as much as 25% of their time simply managing this process. With full access to banking and financial services those same tasks would take almost no time at all.

Where do the federally regulated banks stand on working with cannabis businesses?

Marijuana is still a Schedule I drug, selling it is a felony, and the Bank Secrecy Act prevents banks from taking deposits known to be a result of a crime. This obviously makes the landscape particularly treacherous for a federally chartered bank.

I do believe more and more banks will get involved in the marijuana business. We are seeing it with the financial institutions we are working with in Colorado for our Triple Play program. There is too much momentum and popular acceptance to put the genie back in the bottle. So it is important for marijuana retailers to be prepared. Banks that do accept cannabis businesses are going to be very cautious and only accept clients that are unquestionably above board and fully transparent.

Any final advice for dispensary owners?

Yes, for dispensaries accepting Visa and MasterCard, my advice is to stop unless and until you have signed a contract that includes the name of the bank. I’ve been in payment processing for almost 20 years and our other company currently processes over $3 billion annually in Visa/MasterCard for some of the largest retailers in the world, so I have some knowledge on the subject. There are very few sponsor banks in the U.S. who will knowingly accept a merchant in the cannabis business and both Visa and MasterCard strictly prohibit utilizing a bank outside of the U.S. for domestic transactions.

Unfortunately some dispensary owners have been led to believe that if they have a terminal and their deposits show up in the bank that “it’s working.” Well that may be true, but I can nearly guarantee there is a break in the chain somewhere and that broken link can lead to fines in the hundreds of thousands of dollars and expulsion from the Visa/MasterCard network for life…just for a start.

Banking is coming. Credit card processing is coming. Dispensary owners need to focus on running their businesses within the framework established by the Department of Justice, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and their state and local laws regarding the sale of marijuana. If they do that, and remain patient, they will be first in line as legitimate financial services finally arrive.


Jeff Foster is co-founder of Jane, LLC, a Sponsoring level member of NCIA since July 2014. For nearly two decades, Jeff has worked with some of the world’s largest retailers and financial institutions to define, design and implement e-commerce and retail payment processing and risk management solutions. Jeff co-founded Jane after recognizing the overwhelming need for cash management and financial services solutions in the legal cannabis industry. As an innovator in financial services, Jeff is a sought-after expert and speaker. He has been quoted in numerous publications including; The Wall Street Journal, Business Week, The Financial Times, The Washington Post and The Washington Business Journal and has appeared on Bloomberg Television and ABC News. Jeff also speaks at countless financial services and cannabis trade shows globally, where he advocates and educates on everything from strategy and trends to best practices.

Help support a marijuana and multiple sclerosis study at CSU

by Thorsten Rudroff, PhD, FACSM, Colorado State University

Medical marijuana is commonly used to treat pain and spasticity, or uncontrolled muscle contractions, in people suffering from multiple sclerosis. While scientific studies have shown marijuana and its constituents to be fairly effective in treating these specific symptoms, not much else is known about the positive and negative effects marijuana may have on other disabling symptoms of MS. People with MS often have a multitude of symptoms and side effects related to the disease, and these symptoms often present themselves in very individualized ways. Currently our research group is hoping to investigate how medical marijuana may affect symptoms other than pain and spasticity, specifically motor impairments. Motor impairments range from difficulties walking, fine motor control, and the customary loss of strength that many people with MS develop.

In our study we are proposing to investigate this by performing a battery of physical function tests that are commonly used in the clinical setting, e.g. the timed up-and-go, the 5 rep sit-to-stand, and the 6 min walk test, on people who do and do not use medical marijuana. We also plan to determine whether the use of medical marijuana affects how the brain uses sugar, which is its primary source of energy. Previous investigations in our lab and others, have shown that people with MS often have a reduced usage of sugar in the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) at rest and during exercise. This lower utilization has been linked to walking impairment, fatigue, and other side effects that people with MS often have. Our lab is unique in the fact that we are able to trace/quantify the usage of sugar as a source of energy by using what is called Positron Emission Tomography, or PET.

Total Body_3PET imaging is often used in cancer diagnostics, staging, and to determine the effects of treatment. We are one of the few labs in the world that use this technique for the investigation of exercise/physical activity related functions, such as the functional tests we are planning to perform. PET produces 3-dimensional images of the body to show where the sugar is being used. Using specialized computer software we can them compare the images of the groups and determine how regular marijuana usage affects the “normal” usage of sugar in people with MS.

Once the data has been collected we can compare the results from the medical marijuana users group to the “control” group and determine if there are any differences between the groups’ performance on any of the tasks. These comparisons will be the foundation for larger future research studies investigating the additional benefits of medical marijuana as a treatment for symptoms of MS.

In order to raise money to perform these studies we are currently running a crowdfunding campaign hosted by Colorado State University Charge!

Donations can be made here.

The funds raised from the crowdfunding campaign will be used to pay our participants for their time spent in the lab, as well as to cover the cost of the PET imaging. At the conclusion of this study we hope to preliminarily identify additional benefits and potential side effects of medical marijuana and continue to scientifically justify the continued use of medical marijuana for people with MS.


Thorsten Rudroff, PhD, FACSM is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health and Exercise Science at Colorado State University (CSU) where he is the Director of the Integrative Neurophysiology Laboratory. Dr. Rudroff’s research interests include the neurophysiology of motor function and fatigue. He is unique in the fact that he employs neuroimaging techniques (e.g. Positron Emission Tomography (PET), Computed Tomography (CT), and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)) to study the interaction between the central nervous system and muscle. His current research projects are aimed at identifying the effects and mechanisms of cannabis on motor and cognitive function in people with Multiple Sclerosis.

His research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health/National Institute on Aging to investigate muscle energetics in older adults and by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society to investigate skeletal muscle glucose uptake during walking in people with MS. Currently, he is conducting a crowdfunding campaign to collect preliminary data identifying the benefits and potential side effects of medical marijuana use by people with MS. The goals of this research are to improve the quality of life for people with MS and scientifically justify its continued use as a therapeutic agent in neurological diseases.

New Member Benefit! Share your company news with the cannabis community

Did you just release a new product? Hire a hotshot new executive? Do something great for your community? Let the cannabis community know about it by posting your story to NCIA’s new Member News page.

MemberNews

In an industry growing and changing as rapidly as ours, exciting things happen at our member businesses every day. That’s why NCIA is rolling out a new member benefit, allowing you to share your company news, announcements, and press releases directly on the NCIA website – a central information hub for the cannabis business community.

The Member News section can be found under the ‘Resources’ menu on our website. If your business is a member of NCIA and you would like to submit a company news update for online publication, please fill out our Member News Submission form.

We look forward to sharing your exciting news!

NOTE: Member News items are published as submitted by NCIA member companies and are not edited, fact-checked, or endorsed by NCIA.

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