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Heavy Metal Cannabis Coming to Massachusetts

March 21, 2023

#KahliBuds #MMJ #CBD #THC

Typically, cartoon characters are forbidden territory for cannabis companies and branding, but the adult-oriented cult favorite Heavy Metal has managed to find a way.

Regulators fear that allowing cartoons to be used in cannabis marketing will attract children to the products. But Heavy Metal has always been clearly targeted to an adult audience, helping it pave the way to combine science fiction, entertainment, and art with cannabis through a partnership with a Massachusetts company.

Background

The original Heavy Metal film came out in 1981 and was adapted from the Heavy Metal magazines which began publication in the 1970s. The magazine featured artwork from famous fantasy illustrators such as Frank Frazetta and H.R. Giger.

Like the magazine, the film features a great deal of graphic violence, sexuality, and nudity – and has long had to navigate content restrictions.

Tommy Corriale who owns the license for Heavy Metal, recently spoke with Green Market Report about the new venture.

“Heavy Metal is an adult-oriented brand. Across all of its verticals, it will continue to be that,” Corriale said. “The current management team that has just recently taken the reins is excited about building additional kinds of content and products in adult-oriented spaces. So cannabis was a natural fit, and Berkshire Roots actually approached us. James had the idea of heavy metal being a brand that would cut through for a number of reasons.”

Old School Appeal

Corriale is working with Massachusetts dispensary Berkshire Roots to launch Heavy Metal Cannabis on April 1. The product will be available in other stores with plans to expand into other legal states. Berkshire Roots CEO James Winokur also took time to talk with Green Market Report.

Winkour highlighted that even though the movie and the cannabis will be targeted at adults, there will still be steps taken to ensure that is the audience the content reaches.

“As a long-term licensee in Massachusetts, we know all the packaging rules or marketing rules,” Winokur said. “One of the things that we did when we were working with Heavy Metal is figure out that we can have this really great logo on the outside of the packaging, we can have very subtle imagery on the outside, and then play with what goes on on the inside of the packaging that only someone 21 plus is going to be opening.

“You know, this isn’t Snoopy or Mickey Mouse, and that’s what states are generally concerned about is having some image that looks like that,” he added.

Corriale can see opportunities for crossover between the cannabis products and storylines for the magazine, as well, with interactive experiences developing specific artwork, characters, and storylines that customers could access. For example, a QR code could be included within the packaging that could unlock special artwork.

For the Heavy Metal Cannabis brand, Berkshire Roots said it will introduce new flower strains the company hasn’t previously sold.

“I’ve seen a lot of different branding opportunities,” Winokur said. “The name can be interesting, the packaging could be interesting, but what’s inside that has to be really good.”

Welcome to the Cannaverse

Berkshire Roots created five “collections” for the initial launch, collectively called the Cannaverse. Each collection will be associated with certain product types and draw from the library of stories and characters in the “Metalverse”:

1981: Drawing from the old-school movie and delivering old-school products.
Never Never: The Peter Pan-style fantasy stories will be the home for an elevated flower experience.
Taarna: Vape cart and disposable vapes that pair nicely with the sword-wielding, take no prisoners character.
Cold Dead War: The zombie apocalypse stories make for a great connection to face-melting concentrates.
Dark Wing: The sci-fi based collection will include some “out there” palate-challenging edibles.

Where the Metalverse meets the Cannaverse is definitely a different approach to cannabis marketing and could spark more 1970s and 1980s nostalgia in the industry.

The post Heavy Metal Cannabis Coming to Massachusetts appeared first on Green Market Report.

420GrowLife

via www.KahliBuds.com

Debra Borchardt, KahliBuds, 420GrowLife

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New Bipartisan Congressional Bills Would Allow Hemp Derivatives Like CBD As Dietary Supplements And Food Additives

March 21, 2023

#KahliBuds #MMJ #CBD #THC

Bipartisan congressional lawmakers have refiled a pair of bills meant to provide a pathway for the regulation of hemp derivatives like CBD as dietary supplements and food and beverage additives.

The two measures that were filed on Friday—the Hemp and Hemp-Derived CBD Consumer Protection and Market Stabilization Act and the CBD Product Safety and Standardization Act—are being sponsored by Reps. Morgan Griffith (R-VA) and Angie Craig (D-MN).

Earlier versions of the bills were filed last Congress and ultimately did not advance, but advocates and industry stakeholders feel that the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) recent announcement that it wouldn’t be taking steps to regulate CBD will put pressure on lawmakers to act this time around.

FDA “has dragged its feet in properly regulating CBD and hemp-derived products on the market, creating confusion about its legal uses,” Griffith said in a press release on Friday. “Americans need better guidance and that is why I have introduced these two pieces of legislation, which will create a pathway for regulation in both the food and dietary supplement spaces.”

The Hemp and Hemp-Derived CBD Consumer Protection and Market Stabilization Act would mandate that hemp, hemp-derived CBD and other derivatives from the federally legal cannabis plant would be made lawful as dietary supplements under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA).

The CBD Product Safety and Standardization Act, meanwhile, would require FDA to develop rules and hold a public comment period on the maximum amount of hemp-derived CBD that could be added to a food item or beverage per serving, labeling and packaging requirements and the “conditions of intended use,” the text of the legislation states.

“In Minnesota we’ve seen firsthand that our local governments and small businesses need more guidance when it comes to CBD and hemp-derived products,” Craig said. “That’s why I’ve partnered with Rep. Griffith on these bipartisan bills to better regulate CBD products, keep consumers safe and ensure our hemp farmers and businesses have the support they need.”

FDA announced in January that it would not be creating rules to allow the marketing of CBD as dietary supplements or food items, leaving the massive industry without regulations despite repeated calls for administrative action from lawmakers, advocates and stakeholders.

Following a “careful review” of the non-intoxicating cannabinoid, FDA said it reached the conclusion that the existing regulatory pathways that are in place for other dietary supplements and food additives will not work for CBD. Instead, the agency said that wants to “work with Congress on a new way forward.”

“The FDA has made it clear that legislative action by Congress is needed to solve its CBD regulatory problem and these two bi-partisan bills re-introduced by Reps. Griffith and Craig serve as the solution,” U.S. Hemp Roundtable General Counsel Jonathan Miller said in a press release. “The FDA’s inaction over the past four years has had a devastating impact on U.S. hemp growers, and has left thousands of unregulated products on the marketplace, raising health and safety concerns for consumers.”

FDA’s announcement came days after the agency released finalized guidance that focuses on developing cannabis-based drugs and outlined the process and unique considerations for scientists when it comes to hemp and marijuana.

Meanwhile, House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY), said in January that he was preparing to confront FDA over their failure to enact regulations for hemp-derived products like CBD.

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FDA has faced increased pressure from bipartisan lawmakers and industry groups to do something about the issue since hemp and its derivatives were federally legalized under the 2018 Farm Bill.

Top officials in the agency have previously signaled that they felt it may take work from Congress to adequately regulate CBD.

Griffith and Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-KY) sent a letter to FDA Commissioner Robert Califf last year, demanding answers over the continued lack of regulations for CBD for those purposes.

Griffith and other bipartisan lawmakers sent a separate, related letter to the FDA commissioner in August. They expressed frustration over the “completely insufficient response” the agency provided in response to their bill calling for hemp-derived CBD to be permitted and regulated as a food additive.

After the earlier version of the CBD Product Safety and Standardization Act was filed in late 2021, the sponsors sought technical assistance from FDA to advise on key provisions. But four months after they sent the inquiry, FDA returned a “one-page” response that was “simply a reformatting of a document provided to Congress over two years ago,” the lawmakers said

At a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing last year, FDA’s Califf recognized that the agency had moved slowly with rulemaking for CBD in the food supply, stating that the situation “looks pretty much the same in terms of where we are now” as compared to when he first worked on the issue in 2016.

He said the FDA has taken steps to research the safety profile of cannabinoids to inform future rules, but he also punted the criticism about inaction to Congress, saying he doesn’t feel that “the current authorities we have on the food side or the drug side necessarily give us what we need to have to get the right pathways forward.”

“We’re going to have to come up with something new,” Califf said. “I’m very committed to doing that.”

FDA also recently touted its role helping a state agency crack down on a company selling delta-8 THC gummies that they said are linked to “serious adverse events.”

In November, the agency sent warning letters to five companies that sell foods and beverages containing CBD.

The agency didn’t specify why it targeted those particular five companies out of the many more that market similar cannabidiol-infused consumables, but it said that they sell products “that people may confuse for traditional foods or beverages which may result in unintentional consumption or overconsumption of CBD.”

All of this comes in the background of a major task for FDA: Conducting a scientific review into marijuana, at the direction of President Joe Biden, to aid in an assessment of its federal scheduling. FDA’s recommendation won’t be binding, but officials say they expect DEA to product a scheduling recommendation that’s consistent with their findings about its risks and benefits.

Also this month, bipartisan congressional lawmakers introduced a new bill that seeks to end what they say is a “discriminatory” federal policy that bars people with prior felony drug convictions from owning or leading legal hemp businesses.

Read the text of the hemp and CBD bills below: