Page 32 - January 2021 South Florida Hospital News

Follow Your Mom's CANNABIS
Advice and Eat
Your Greens! BUSINESS

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DIRECTORY

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January 2021

2019 Cannabis Business Award’s Publication of the Year

Homecoming: Cannabis Executive Looks Forward to

Becoming Significant Contributor in Home State

BY DANIEL CASCIATO

Colorado-based Green Dragon has a simple mission to provide premium products at the most
competitive prices, with the best service and lowest operating costs in the cannabis space.
“Green Dragon is one of the most experienced and longest-running operators in the cannabis
industry with activities spanning cannabis cultivation, manufacturing and dispensary opera-
tions, in both the medical and recreational markets,” says Alex Levine, Co-Founder and Chief
Development Officer of Green Dragon.
Green Dragon has been around since 2009 in Colorado’s early medical marijuana market. The
original company was known for its development of R4, a high-CBD strain that was the genetic Michael C. Minardi
parent of the famous strain Charlotte’s Web.
It offers a variety of different products and brands. The staff constantly tests and curates the Even If Passed,
best products and are experts at recommending new premium products for consumers to try.
The company has recently expanded into the Florida marketplace. As one of the few approved
Medical Marijuana Treatment Center Licensees in Florida, Green Dragon will be opening culti- Alex Levine MORE Act Won’t
vation, production and extraction facilities, and medical marijuana dispensaries across the state.
“Growing up in Florida, I knew that I wanted to be a part of the legal cannabis industry when medical cannabis was finally Have Much Effect
approved in the state,” explains Levine. “We’ve been working to get a license in Florida for some time now, and we were finally
able to acquire a license at the end of 2019. Being able to do what I love, in an industry I'm passionate about, in my home state, on Florida’s
is a dream come true.”
The company carries a wide variety of cannabis products, including flower, edibles, tinctures, pills and topicals; all of which
are produced in-house. All of these products are made in both THC-only, CBD-only and THC+CBD varieties, notes Levine. Cannabis
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Industry

Brief Review of the Effects of Recreational Marijuana
BY VANESSA ORR
Legislation on the Use and Abuse of Marijuana On Friday, Dec. 4, the U.S. House of

Representatives voted to pass the
and Other Substances Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment
and Expungement (MORE) Act, which
would essentially legalize marijuana at
BY WOLFGANG H. VOGEL, PHD the federal level. And while this is defi-
nitely a step in the right direction,
The number of states with legal Recreational Marijuana Legislation or RML now stands at 15 with according to pro-legalization groups,
a fair number of other states also considering the legalization of the recreational use of marijuana in there are many more steps that need to
the future including Florida. take place before the Act will make much
At present, there is still some debate if this particular legalization has caused more good than of a difference in Florida, as well as in
harm. Concerns have been raised, for instance, if freely available marijuana will not tempt more peo- the rest of the United States.
ple to use it, if this increased use will lead to more individuals to become addicted to marijuana, and According to Regulate Florida, for
if it will increase the use of other drugs. Fortunately, a fair number of studies are now available which example, while a historic move, the
have addressed these issues and can answer some of these concerns. House’s support of the MORE Act was a
First, did legalization of recreational use of marijuana increase the number of users? largely symbolic vote, as the Act still has
A review of 8 major studies reporting on pre-and post RML use of marijuana or comparing states to go to the U.S. Senate for a vote, where
with RML to states with non-RML showed some slight increases, some slight decreases and no it isn’t likely to pass the Republican
changes. For instance, a comparison of pre- and post-legislation showed marijuana use in Colorado stronghold.
(RML) was 25% pre- and 31% post- and in Kansas (no RML) it was 12% and 16% pre- and post- Wolfgang H. Vogel, PhD “As things stand right now, even if the
legislation. While Colorado showed higher numbers – even before legislation – its increase after MORE Act passed, it wouldn’t affect the
RML (24%) was smaller than the one observed in Kansas (33%). In contrast, another survey found that the number of users increased cannabis industry in Florida at all,
in Colorado by 29% as compared to a non RML state. These studies, however, need to be interpreted carefully since they are based except for providing medical marijuana
on questionnaires and individuals might not have reported marijuana use out of fear if the use was illegal in a particular state or at a treatment centers (MMTCs) with access
pre-legislation time. Thus, pre- legislation numbers might be most likely higher. However, it can be concluded safely that RML did to banking,” explained Michael C.
not increase the use of marijuana significantly if it increased its use at all. Minardi, Esq., of Minardi Law. “What it

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