canna FACTS
Canadian Cannabis Retailers Still Struggle with Banking
Despite cannabis being fully legal in Canada for three years , many retailers in British Columbia say they still struggle to find access to basic financial services from banks . International pressure and decades of stigma around cannabis still plague the fledgling industry , forcing shop owners to dig into their savings to open their small businesses , limiting the sector ' s growth . Charles Varabioff , owner of Kingsway Cannabis in Vancouver , says finding a bank to take on his business account was next to impossible . “ I tried every single one of them . And every one [ of the banks ] was , ‘ No , no , no , no , no ,’” he says . Branch managers would tell him the cannabis industry is too high risk , says Varabioff , who also owns a shop in Grand Forks , B . C . The Association of Canadian Cannabis Retailers says 50 of its 52 members in B . C . have been denied access at traditional banks and have turned to local credit unions instead .
Cannabis-Related Arrests Decline in 2020
The estimated number of persons arrested in the U . S . for violating cannabis laws declined precipitously in 2020 , according to data released recently by FBI . Nonetheless , several hundred thousand Americans continue to be arrested on marijuana-related charges , primarily in states where possession of the plant remains criminally outlawed . According to the FBI ’ s Uniform Crime Report , police made an estimated 350,150 arrests for marijuana-related violations in 2020 . This total is a 36 percent decrease from 2019 totals when police made an estimated 545,602 marijuana-related arrests . Not since the early 1990s has the FBI reported so few marijuana-related arrests in a single year . Of those arrested for cannabis-related activities , some 91 percent ( 317,793 ) were arrested for marijuana possession offenses only . Overall , cannabis arrests are down more than 50 percent from their peak in 2008 , when police made more than 800,000 marijuana-related arrests . Marijuana arrests represented 30.3 percent of all drug-related arrests .
No Short-Term Impacts from THC-Positive Breast Milk
It ’ s not a thumbs up to consume THC and breast feed a child , but researchers have shown THC-positive breast milk has no shortterm health impacts ( breathing difficulty , lung development , and feeding issues ) on early pre-term infants . Since THC passes through breast milk , many neonatal intensive care units restrict the use of breast milk from THC-positive women because the effects on early pre-term infants are unknown . Researchers at the University of Maryland compared early pre-term infants who were fed breast milk from THC-positive mothers to those who were fed either formula or breast milk from THC-negative mothers and found no differences in short-term health impacts such as breathing difficulties , lung development , and feeding issues . Overall , early pre-term babies born to mothers who tested positive for marijuana at delivery were similarly healthy by the time of their discharge when fed their mother ’ s breast milk compared to those who did not receive their mother ’ s breast milk .
18 Maximum Yield