Wine…weed…or both?

Why choose when you don’t have to. Right?

At least that’s what Van Solkov probably thought as he sat at a coffee shop in Sonoma Square, California. He had been watching wine tour bus after wine tour bus pass by.

That’s when the idea came to him. Why not mix wine and weed in a tour?

Solkov is now the founder of Happy Travelers Tours, a tour company that does just that, takes you on a wine and weed combination tour.

As they say on their website, Happy Travelers’ weed and wine tour is for the ‘Canna-Curious.’ For people who want to learn more about California’s weed production but also to educate people on the medicinal properties of weed.

The results are in from the first structured review of legal medicinal cannabis product prices in the Australian market, and it’s very encouraging for patients.

The study, undertaken by Cannabis Access Clinics Research Centre, revealed that over the past 12 months, the number of legal products available to Aussie patients is up threefold from 11 products to 35, and entry level product prices have nearly halved as pricing competition has intensified.

For years, Sydney woman Natalie Moubarak battled skin problems caused by psoriasis — until she discovered hemp oil.

The mum of two used the oil topically and found it worked wonders, and also knew it was used around the world in drinks to achieve similar health benefits.

She was sure hemp-infused water would be a hit on the Aussie market, but faced one huge hurdle: it was not legal to use hemp in food in this country at the time.

However, the 31-year-old knew there was a growing push to legalise it, and in 2016 she began her own slow business journey.

Australia's first cannabis farms are expected to be providing medical marijuana by next year. Medifarm, located in the Sunshine Coast, opened its doors to reporters recently to show the healthy plants in their facility.

“I know what this plant can do, my neighbour was cured,” Medifarm master grower Steffen Kraushaar said. “So I dedicated my career to use cannabis under legal circumstances and it is really exciting now.”

Master grower Steffen Kraushaar in the greenhouse at MediFarm

Aphria Inc. (TSX: APHA and NYSE: APHA) today announced that its Australian-based partner Althea Company Pty Ltd. has been granted a Manufacture Licence by the Australian Government's Office of Drug Control.

The license provides Althea with authorization to manufacture extracts and tinctures of cannabis and cannabis resin in accordance with relevant manufacture permits.

Although Australia legalized the medicinal use of cannabis in 2016, accessing it remains a lengthy, bureaucratic ordeal that’s left many Australians frustrated. The introduction of a new online application was intended to simplify the process. But reports from Down Under have indicated that the road to acquiring medicinal cannabis in Australia might be bumpier than most people realize.

Despite “strong” stigma locally, opportunities are aplenty for founders wanting to take advantage of the fast-growing cannabis market according to Australian entrepreneur and industry expert Saul Kaye.

But if startups want to see success, they’ll need to look beyond the “low-hanging fruit” and devise a way to best integrate their existing expertise into the market, rather than diving into something they have no experience in. These nugs of wisdom come from a founder who’s spent the last five years in Israel, building out his pharmaceutical cannabis brand iCAN and running international cannabis technology conference CannaTech.

A group of Australian researchers will be the first to conduct a clinical trial to determine whether cannabis will kill brain cancer cells in live patients. Nearly 82 patients with glioma, a form of brain cancer, will be chosen to take medical THC for a three month period along with their regular treatment. Ideally the THC will slow the growth of cancerous cells in addition to killing them and preventing regrowth.

“The standard treatment for a brain tumor is basically surgery, chemotherapy and radiation,” said Dr. Janet Schloss from Endeavor College of Natural Health. Dr. Schloss hopes the trial will improve the patients’ overall quality of life. 

Young Henrys have unveiled their latest brew, a collaboration with Afends with a very special secret ingredient; hemp.

The Hemp IPA will be available on tap and in cans, rolled out at selected venues and retailers nationwide on October 24th.

To find out a little more about the new brew, we spoke to Oscar McMahon from Young Henrys and Daniel Schultz of Halcyon Bioscience.

Everything’s gone green. With Canada set to legalise recreational weed in just under two weeks' time, and the US hot on its northern neighbour’s heels, we’re seeing the rapid emergence of a hothouse industry that has far outpaced earlier predictions.

According to a report published by Arcview Market Research alongside BDS Analytics, worldwide consumer spending on legal weed is now expected to reach US$57 billion by 2027.