Botanicals

An over-the-counter herbal drug has been linked to more deaths in recent years, federal health officials say. Kratom – a plant grown naturally in Southeast Asia and often sold in powder capsules – was a cause of death in 91 overdoses in the United States from July 2016 to December 2017, according to a report released Thursday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In seven of the overdoses, kratom was the only substance to test positive in a toxicology report, though the CDC says other substances couldn't be ruled out. Health officials looked at numbers from state overdose reporting databases and found that of the 27,338 overdose deaths in that time period, 152 of the deceased people tested positive for kratom, even if it was not a cause of death. Read more at USA Toda...

This news ... World Health Organization (WHO) have signalled several changes that will open the doors for more research and clinical trials. Experts at the UN have recommended that cannabis ...

The Food & Drug Administration warns that popular supplements used as an alternative to opioids could contain large amounts of heavy metals. Kratom (pronounced CRATE-um), is a supplement made from leaves of trees native to southeast Asia that have been traditionally been used as way to relieve pain, increase energy and ease opioid withdrawal. The leaves are traditionally brewed as a tea or chewed raw. But in recent years — especially in light of the opioid epidemic — kratom has become a popular alternative to treat pain. In the United States, it is often sold in as kratom capsules at smoke shops, holistic medicine shops and even gas stations. However, according to a health department fact sheet, kratom products are not regulated or required to be tested — meaning the risk of c...

“This bill seeks to provide access to medical cannabis in health care facilities for Californians who are ... it in critical instances,” Hueso said during a downtown San Diego news conference held in ...

Final results of tests performed by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on 30 kratom products confirm the presence of heavy metals, including lead and nickel, at concentrations not considered safe for human consumption, the FDA said Wednesday. The FDA first warned of "disturbingly" high levels of heavy metals, including lead and nickel, last November, as reported by Medscape Medical News. The FDA has posted a list of the kratom products and concentrations of heavy metals found in them on its website. Based on reported patterns of kratom use, heavy kratom users may be exposed to levels of lead and nickel many times greater than the safe daily exposure, the FDA warns in a statement. Based on these test results, the typical long-term kratom user could potentially develop heavy...

Cannabis Stock News: Physician-Led Vireo Health (CSE: VREO) Expands into Adult-Use Cannabis State with Massachusetts Acquisition Company to Position Cannabis as Safer Recreational Alternative to ...

In response to the request of a community drug task force, the St. Johns County Board of Commissioners will consider at their board meeting Tuesday regulating kratom, a plant-based substance considered to be similar to opioids. Kratom is a botanical product found in Southeast Asia that can mimic the “high” of harder drugs like morphine and heroin because of compounds that interact with the same pleasure-producing receptors in the brain, and thus cause dependence, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Reports show that consumption of the drug — sold as powder, capsules or a liquid “K Shot” — has increased over the last few years, particularly among opioid users looking to switch to a less expensive alternative or to move toward sobriety. It has also been shown to produce ...

Unlike many other news organizations ... by the Health Ministry and the police. The Zehut Party, led by former Likud MK Moshe Feiglin, has based a large portion of its campaign efforts on expressing ...

Texas is eliminating hemp from its list of controlled substances, bringing it in line with federal law but possibly feeding confusion about the legality of some hemp-based products. The Texas Department of State Health Services is on Friday removing hemp from a list of Schedule I drugs that can be abused and have no authorized medical use, the Dallas Morning News reported. Other Schedule I drugs include Kratom. Hemp and marijuana are both derived from the cannabis plant, but hemp has low levels of THC, the psychoactive compound that gets marijuana users high. Declassifying hemp doesn’t clear up the legality of hemp products currently sold in Texas, such as pain creams and oils, according to some legal experts. “It’s really not going to have any direct impact other than to confuse p...

Health House is one of the largest wholesalers of medicinal cannabis to Australian pharmacies. In other news, Harvest One said Wednesday that Chief Financial Officer Lisa Dea has resigned and is ...