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The marijuana stock market has seen some massive ups and downs over the past few months. This is of course due to the infancy of the market as a whole which we have seen since its inception. The volatility of the marijuana stock market, however, gives two advantages. For one, it allows investors the ability to find cannabis stocks that are below the value that analysts say they should be at. 

The second advantage comes as volatility can give the opportunity to make big gains. With this, one should also keep in mind that there is also the potential for big losses with volatility. Despite this, marijuana stocks have continued to garner attention across the market. With so much potential moving forward, marijuana stocks to watch are showing more promise than ever. 

One Cannabis Stock Looks to Corner the Market

SOL Global Investments Corp. (SOL Stock Report) (SOLCF Stock Report) is widely regarded as one of the leading international investment companies working in the cannabis industry. The company works both out of the U.S. and European marijuana markets including hemp and CBD related products.  SOL Global Investments has made a strong emphasis on increasing partnerships with cultivators, distributors, and retailers throughout the industry. Additionally, they have worked to build their research and development program with the prestigious University of Miami. With all of their future prospects being lined up, the company is a massive player in the growing marijuana stock market. For these reasons, they remain a key pot stock to watch. 

What’s Next for SOL Global Investments?

The company recently announced that they have completed a $50 million debenture financing program. With this new capital, they will be able to finance and build out their large hemp and CBD prospects. The company has stated that they have a heavy focus on moving into Florida, Michigan, and California as they represent some of the largest statewide markets in the nation. 

Because of this new debenture financing, the company will be able to better plan out their long term strategies. This involved both their movement toward CBD and THC based products including the hemp industry as well. SOL Global Investments continues to show that they are a major pot stock to watch. 

Marijuana Stock Competiton on The Rise​

CannTrust Holdings (CTST Stock Report) is one of the largest marijuana growers in the whole of the industry. The company has seen some large downtrends in the past few months, but this has been somewhat of a trend for some of the larger companies in the industry. While this may seem like a downside, the reality is that cannabis has a huge future forecast for it.  This is in no way a guarantee that the largest companies will succeed, but it does give some hope.

The opportunity here is that CannTrust could be a potential value buy if viewed as such due to its current lowered price. Of course, this is up to the amount of research done by the investor and how they determine the value of the company. Regardless, CannTrust has been working hard to continue as one of the key pot stocks to watch in the industry.

Want to know the best way to grow the best marijuana? Start with great seeds. But once you find the perfect strain, how do you save those seeds so that you can use them for future plants? It’s not that hard; actually, you just need to keep them cold, dark, and dry. However, there are few other things that you could do to preserve your precious seeds – keep reading to learn more.

Storing Cannabis Seeds is Important

If you plan to grow marijuana for fun or profit, you’ll need to know how to store your seeds.

Why does it matter?

Those seeds are directly related to the quality of your plants. If they are not stored correctly, when you do get around to planting them, they will not germinate.  On the other hand, if you store them the right way, they are good to go indefinitely.

Some growers keep seeds for years. However, it’s common to leave a few seeds in storage for less than a year, especially when there are limits around how much you can grow at one time. There’s no reason why those extra seeds should go to waste, simply learn how to store them correctly.

Tip: make sure to download my free Grow Bible for more information 

Use the Right Storage Container

When storing cannabis seeds, the first thing to think about is your container. Do not use just any random container that you come across. The ideal container should be made of one material.

Avoid containers with a mixture of materials. An example of this would be a plastic container with a metal lid or a glass container with a plastic cover. Containers made from more than one material react differently to temperature and other changes, and this can create room for undesirable conditions to reach your stored cannabis seeds. For instance, the metal lid on a glass jar will expand at a different rate when the temperature rises, and this may allow some moisture to enter the container.

Many people suggest using plastic containers for long term storage when asked how to store marijuana seeds, but that isn’t a great idea either. Plastic has tiny (microscopic) pores that can let air infiltrate the container and damage your seeds. If you want your seeds to last, don’t store them in a plastic container. Glass is a much better solution. 

Label the Containers

Chances are you are storing more than one strain of cannabis seeds. Even if you are storing just one variety of seed, you must label the container. Otherwise, if you store the seeds for years, you may forget which strain they are and that they are even marijuana seeds!

Keep Light Out

This part is simple; germination needs light. If you do not want your seeds to sprout, keep the light out. That’s why the most immediate answer to “how to store cannabis seeds” is “keep the environment light free.”

Want an easy way?

Try using an opaque container. If the glass jars you used aren’t opaque, then place your seeds in something opaque, such as black plastic wrap, then put that in the glass jar. Again, keep in mind, plastic is not the best for long term (years), but if you are purchasing at the end of one grow season in preparation for the next, it should work just fine

You can also place your cannabis seeds in a fridge that doesn’t get opened much or another dark location. 

Keep the Temperature Constant

Another thing that you need to think about when storing cannabis seeds is to maintain a stable temperature. Try and keep the seeds around 40° Fahrenheit. You do not want them to freeze.

Many people do this by keeping their seeds in a fridge or freezer. (Again, do not allow the seeds to freeze.) The most critical thing is keeping that temperature constant. Your marijuana seeds can deteriorate when the temperature fluctuates.

Keep Moisture Out

Moisture is the other condition that is required for germination, so you’ll need to keep your seeds dry as well. Depending on how much moisture your marijuana seeds are exposed to, they could either germinate or even rot while in storage.

For the best results, keep moisture levels between 5% and 9%.  An airtight, sealed container is a great way to do this. You could also add something to help absorb any moisture, such as silica packets or even cooked rice.

TIP: Buy the best seeds at my seed shop

If you decide to use one of these methods, make sure you use something food-grade. Remember, this material will be sitting in storage next to your seeds. It’s also a good idea to use some sort of barrier, such as some cotton wool, between your moisture-absorbing packs and the marijuana seeds. This will leave the seeds undisturbed while the moisture problems are addressed. 

Keep the Storage Environment Clean

How to store marijuana seeds properly also means keeping the storage environment clean. If you’re not careful, pests can quickly destroy your cannabis seeds if they access the storage container and its contents.

A clean environment also keeps other contaminants, such as microbes, from compromising the quality of your seeds. After all, you will eventually plant those seeds, and you don’t want to consume cannabis grown from contaminated seeds.

Nature designed seeds to last until the ideal germination environment occurs. Therefore, if you follow these storage tips and prevent that environment from happening, you could store cannabis seeds indefinitely.  

Does it need to be perfect?

No. If you only need to store cannabis seeds for a few months, you don’t need to be that strict.  However, if you’d like to keep your seeds for years, plan ahead and take the necessary precautions, and you’ll be delighted that you did.

Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) is a hormonal disorder that affects 1 in every 10 women of childbearing age, from 15 to 44.

Being such a common condition, one would assume that there is a cure for PCOS. Unfortunately, up to this day, there hasn’t been any proven medical breakthrough that can completely heal this hormonal imbalance, only treatments that can decrease or (if you’re lucky) eliminate the symptoms of PCOS.

In recent years, however, there has been a lot of hype built up around cannabis being used as a treatment for PCOS.

In numerous studies, cannabis has been seen to effectively treat pain and stomach cramps, relieve anxiety and perform wonders with bad skin and hair, all of which are common symptoms of PCOS. But, can cannabis cure PCOS?

Let’s hear what science has to say about it.

What’s Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS)?

Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) is a medical condition that is caused by an imbalance in female hormone levels.

Women who suffer from the condition produce high levels of the male hormone Androgen (steroid hormones that affect the development of the male reproductive system) in their ovaries.

The most common symptoms of  Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) are:

• Irregular and very painful menstrual periods
• No menstrual periods, which can further lead to different health complications such as infertility and the development of cysts in the ovaries. 
• Hirsutism or excessive hair on the chin, cheeks, chest and other body parts where men commonly have hair (but women don’t)
• Severe acne and oily skin
• Thinning hair and hair loss (male pattern balding)
• Increase in body weight 
• Fatigue
• Skin tags

The exact cause of PCOS is still not entirely clear. Some evidence suggests it is a genetic disease, so if your mother, sister or close female relatives have PCOS, you’re at a higher risk. Additionally, those who are obese stand a good chance of developing PCOS.

Women suffering from PCOS are at increased risk of developing more serious health conditions such as:

• Glucose intolerance or type 2 diabetes (more than 50% of women with PCOS develop this condition later in life) 
• High blood pressure and high cholesterol
• Mood disorders such as anxiety and depression
• Sleep apnoea
• Endometrial cancer 

How is Polycystic Ovary Syndrome treated?

Although there is no cure for PCOS, it is a treatable condition. The course of treatment largely depends on the extent of the symptoms the woman may have.

If the symptoms aren’t severe, for example, changing unhealthy habits and losing weight can regulate and correct the hormonal imbalance of the body.

For more severe conditions of PCOS, a combination of a healthy diet and medication is necessary for treating symptoms.

Women who don’t wish to become pregnant can turn to birth control pills to restore their hormonal balance and help with regulating their menstrual cycle.

If a woman has developed insulin resistance, she’ll need to look to using different diabetes medication.

In addition, for women who suffer from problems associated with anxiety and depression, different antidepressants can be prescribed.

On top of that, pain killers are a commonly used medication that can be used to help alleviate painful menstrual cramps and pelvic pain.

What role does cannabis play in PCOS treatment?

In recent years, cannabis has attracted huge attention to its medical properties. But when it comes to PCOS, can cannabis treat or even cure this tough condition? This is what we know so far.

First of all, cannabis is a widely used form of medication for pain treatment, a symptom that is often associated with PCOS.

Most women who suffer from PCOS have very painful menstrual cramps, intense back pain during their menstrual cycle and sometimes abdominal pain due to the development of cysts in their ovaries.

In the case of depression, which is also a common symptom for women suffering from PCOS, marijuana can have both beneficial and harmful effects.

Although there is no consensus on this topic, the popular opinion seems to be that marijuana with a high dose of THC is going to improve symptoms of depression, while lower doses of THC and higher doses of CBD seem to have the effect of an antidepressant.

So, cannabis can be used as a palliative treatment for the numerous side effects of PCOS. But what we want to know is if cannabis can become a potential medical cure for this unpleasant condition?

The endocannabinoid system and ovarian function

In order to fully understand how cannabis can influence a hormonal disorder such as PCOS, we need to understand the biological processes that happen in the female body and the importance of the endocannabinoid system for reproductive health.

The endocannabinoid system is a signaling network of the body that consists of:

• Endocannabinoids (molecules created by our body that are structurally very similar to cannabinoids from cannabis).
• Different metabolic enzymes that break down endocannabinoids. 
• Endocannabinoid receptors that are located in the cell membranes and spread throughout the body.

The main purpose of the endocannabinoid system is to maintain homeostasis, or in simplified words, to maintain the balance of all physiological operations in our body. This is the reason why all physiological systems in our body have cannabinoid receptors (CB1 and CB2).

CB1 receptors are mainly located within the central nervous system and CB2 receptors are predominantly found within cells of the immune system.

However, both of these receptors are also present in female sex organs and play a vital role in the regulation of reproductive health.

Ovaries are the female reproductive organs that produce reproductive cells (gametes) for fertilization and reproductive hormones, namely estrogen, testosterone, inhibin, and progesterone. These play a crucial function in the menstrual cycle and fertility.

During the menstrual cycle, the ovaries undergo three series of changes: the follicular phase, ovulation, phase, and luteal phase.

During the follicular phase, a woman’s brain (the hypothalamus) releases the Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) that stimulates the secretion of two hormones in the anterior pituitary gland: follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH).

Those hormones travel through the blood to a woman’s ovaries where they produce 15-20 eggs in the ovarian follicles.

Estrogen is then synthesized in significant amounts from the preovulatory follicle to decrease the levels of LH and FSH.

Lower levels of these hormones will lead to the death of most of the produced follicles, and only one, dominant follicle will completely mature to release the egg. This phase is called ovulation.

Then comes the luteal phase when ovaries make a hormone called progesterone, which helps thicken the lining of the uterus in preparation for a possible pregnancy.

The reason why I’m explaining all the phases of the ovarian cycle is not that I want you to recall study material from 10th-grade biology classes, but to explain the effects that cannabinoids seem to have in this natural process.

The effect of cannabinoids on female hormones 

Science has discovered so far that CB1 receptors are localized in the hypothalamus, the brain areas where the GnRH is produced.

What this means is that a high level of endocannabinoids (produced in our body) and exogenous cannabinoids (from cannabis intake) restrain the release of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH), which further suppresses the production of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) in the anterior pituitary gland.

Consequently, this harms the female gonadal function and decreases estrogen and progesterone production.

To put it simply, chronic cannabis consumption can lead to the following:

1. Decrease in the concentration of the sex hormones.
2. Disruption of the menstrual cycle.
3. Delay in sexual maturation.
4. Depression of the ovarian follicular maturation.
5. Decline in female fertility.

Another study, published in 2009, was the first to discover the presence of an entire endocannabinoid system in the human ovary. It was also discovered that CB2 is concentrated at a much higher level in the ovarian follicle than CB1.

This finding could suggest that the endocannabinoid system has a very important immunological role in ovarian function, but this hypothesis has not been proven so far. 

The endocannabinoid system (ECS) and Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS)

When it comes to a direct connection between ECS and PCOS, one recent study has found that some of the most dangerous characteristics of PCOS (insulin resistance and obesity) may be associated with ECS activation.

This means that an increased level of endocannabinoids in your body and high stimulation of the CB1 receptors (both of which occur by consuming cannabis) can be a risk factor for insulin resistance in women that suffer from PCOS.

Based on this study, one wouldn’t suggest using cannabis as a treatment for PCOS, as it could potentially lead to the progression of PCOS.

On the other hand, a different study found evidence of increased C-reactive protein (CRP) levels, inflammatory cytokines and leucocyte count in women with PCOS.

In other words, PCOS could be an inflammatory process. And, we all know that cannabis is proven to be a great anti-inflammatory.

In fact, several compounds found in cannabis (THC, CBD, terpenes) are shown to have great capabilities in the treatment of many inflammatory disorders.

However, there haven’t been any studies to find a direct connection between cannabis smoking and PCOS.

Conclusion

Although the majority of studies on the effect of cannabinoids on ovarian function have been conducted in vitro, on animals, or on a small sample, it’s been implied that PCOS could be tied to a dysfunction in the endocannabinoid system.

Cannabis-derived cannabinoids may distort the delicate connection between the ECS and the homeostatic mechanism in the female’s reproductive process.

As such, it isn’t recommended to use marijuana as a potential cure for PCOS or any other female reproduction-related disorders.

Having said that, there haven’t been enough human studies to prove a negative linkage between cannabis consumption and female reproductive health either.

All we know so far is that ECS plays a vital role in keeping our reproductive health in balance, and exogenous cannabinoids in cannabis are certainly playing a significant role in keeping or disturbing that equilibrium.

References

1. Walker OS, Holloway AC, Raha S. The role of the endocannabinoid system in female reproductive tissues. J Ovarian Res. 2019;12(1):3. Published 2019
2. Gammon, C. M., Freeman, G. M., Xie, W., Petersen, S. L., & Wetsel, W. C. (2005). Regulation of Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone Secretion by Cannabinoids. Endocrinology, 146(10)
3. Brents LK. Marijuana, the Endocannabinoid System and the Female Reproductive System. Yale J Biol Med. 2016;89(2):175–191. Published 2016

According to a large-scale study of American high school students, legalising medical cannabis has actually led to a drop in its use among teenagers.

The study, published in the American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, used the results of an anonymous survey given to more than 800,000 high school students across 45 states to calculate the number of teens who smoke cannabis.

Less use where medical cannabis is legal

In states that have enacted medical cannabis laws, the study found that the number of teenage cannabis users was 1.1% less that in states that have not. This result was found even when taking into account other variable factors such as economic trends, state demographics and youth characteristics, as well as tobacco and alcohol policies.

Dr Rebekah Levine Coley, a Professor of psychology at Boston College, who led the study, said: “We found that for every group of 100 adolescents, one fewer will be a current user of marijuana following the enactment of medical cannabis law.

“When we looked at particular subgroups of adolescents, this reduction became even more pronounced. For example, 3.9% less Black and 2.7% less Hispanic youths now use marijuana in states with medical cannabis laws”.

The survey

This particular survey took place over a period of 16 years – allowing the researchers to compare changes in teenage use of cannabis in states that have enacted medical cannabis laws. Results from the study showed that the longer the laws had been in place the less the use of cannabis was amongst teenagers.

Dr Coley said: “Some people have argued that decriminalising or legalising medical marijuana could increase cannabis use amongst young people, either by making it easier for them to access, or by making it seem less harmful.

“However, we saw the opposite effect. We were not able to determine why this is, but other research has suggested that after the enactment of medical cannabis laws, youths’ perceptions of the potential harm of cannabis use actually increased.

“Alternatively, another theory is that as cannabis laws are becoming more lenient, parents may be increasing their supervision of their children, or changing how they talk to them about drug use”.

The influence of state laws

One of the prominent findings of the study was that legalising recreational marijuana had no noticeable effect on adolescents’ cannabis use, except for a small decline in marijuana smoking among 14-year-olds and people from Hispanic backgrounds, and an increase in use among white adolescents.

Neither policies had any effect on frequent or heavy users of marijuana, suggesting that these students are not easily influenced by state laws.

President Trump announced on Wednesday that the federal government would award nearly $2 billion in grants to state and local governments to help fight the opioid epidemic. The funding to improve access to treatment and support a system to collect near real-time data on the nation’s ongoing drug overdose crisis was announced at a White House press conference on Wednesday afternoon by the president and Trump administration officials from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that more than $900 million in new funding for a cooperative agreement between states, territories, and localities will advance the understanding of the opioid abuse epidemic and improve prevention and response activities over three years. The CDC has released $301 million for the first year of grants.

The federal Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration will award another $932 million in State Opioid Response grants to all 50 states, according to HHS. By the end of the year, the agency will have awarded more than $9 billion dollars in grants to state and local governments to improve access to treatment and prevention services since 2017.

“These funds will be delivered to the communities where their help is most needed,” Trump said.

Addressing a National Epidemic

Over the last two decades, more than 400,000 lives have been lost to drug overdoses related to opioids. But the tide may be turning. Provisional counts show a 5% drop in overdose deaths from 2017 to 2018 and opioid overdose deaths went down by 2.8%, according to HHS data.

“Our country is seeing the first drop in overdose deaths in more than two decades, more Americans are getting treatment for addiction, and lives are being saved,” Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said in a statement. “At the same time, we are still far from declaring victory. We will continue executing on the Department’s 5-Point strategy for combating the opioid crisis, and laying the foundation for a healthcare system where every American can access the mental healthcare they need.”

The agency’s strategy to address the opioid epidemic includes better addiction prevention, treatment, and recovery services; better data, better pain management, better targeting of overdose-reversing drugs, and better research.

In October 2017, President Trump declared the nation’s opioid crisis a public health emergency and the following year the White House released the Initiative to Stop Opioid Abuse. The three-part plan includes reducing demand and over-prescription, reducing the supply of illicit drugs, and improving access to evidence-based treatment and prevention services.

Since the legalisation of cannabis for medical use in America and a number of other countries, more and more people are turning to cannabis to treat symptoms of PTSD.

A new UCL study, however, reports that more research is needed to determine whether it should be routine clinical practise to prescribe it as a treatment for PTSD.

The systematic review, published in the Journal of Dual Diagnosis, found that the active components of cannabis, called cannabinoids, may hold promise as a treatment for PTSD, particularly for reducing nightmares and helping people sleep.

Potential of cannabis to treat PTSD

The study’s lead author, Dr Chandni Hindocha (UCL Clinical Psychopharmacology Unit), said: “There has been a recent surge of interest in the use of cannabinoids to treat PTSD, particularly from military veterans, many of whom are already self-medicating or obtaining prescriptions in some American states.

“The lack of evidence supporting cannabis as a PTSD treatment is striking given the vast interest in it, and the large unmet need for better PTSD treatments”.

Both THC and CBD may be helpful at treating PTSD as they can change how the brain processes memories by acting on the brain’s in-built endocannabinoid system, which also regulates other brain functions that are affected by PTSD.

The researchers say there are still many unanswered questions about the safety and efficacy of cannabis-based medications for PTSD, and potential long-term effects such as addiction or a risk of psychosis.

The existing evidence shows promise, however, as some studies showed that cannabis products appeared to reduce PTSD symptoms such as insomnia and nightmares.

More research is needed

The study’s senior author, Dr Michael Bloomfield of UCL Psychiatry and the Traumatic Stress Clinic, St Pancras Hospital, said: “Based on the evidence, we cannot yet make any clinical recommendations about using cannabinoids to treat PTSD. Current prescribing of cannabinoids for PTSD is not backed up by high quality evidence, but the findings certainly highlight the need for more research, particularly long-term clinical trials.

“Many of these studies have been conducted in military veterans, but we also need to be looking at other groups, as PTSD can vary depending on the nature of the trauma so different approaches may benefit different groups”.

Dr Hindocha added: “Unfortunately, medicinal uses of cannabis have historically been difficult to study due to legal restrictions, so it could take a long time before there is enough evidence to support clinical recommendations. New approaches are needed to make the most of existing evidence in the meantime.”

What is PTSD?

PTSD can be a debilitating condition and currently impact around 1% of the UK population, typically consisting of re-experiencing a traumatic event through intrusive memories, flashbacks or nightmares, and often involves hyper-reactivity (a state of constant vigilance) and insomnia.

The study was conducted by researchers at UCL and the University of Amsterdam and was supported by the National Institute for Health Research UCLH Biomedical Research Centre.

North America’s legal cannabis industry could be worth more than $47.3 (€43.23~) billion annually by 2024.

The North American Cannabis Report finds that despite Canada becoming the first G7 country to legalise adult-use cannabis, US cannabis market growth will greatly exceed its North American neighbour. Currently the most profitable industry in the world, the US, is expected to enjoy triple-digit growth by 2024, despite not having legalised cannabis on a federal scale.

The cannabis market report, published by Prohibition Partners, includes detailed market value forecasts, regulatory timeline analysis, consumption data, healthcare analyses and commercial opportunities across North America.

The report

The report found that although the US is currently the most profitable cannabis industry in the world, the model is imperfect. The lack of legislative clarity at the federal level is disrupting a market that could be worth $44 (€40.20~) billion within the next five years

It also showed that in the US, medicinal cannabis is legal in 33 states, while adult-use cannabis is legal in 11 (and Washington DC). In the near-term, data suggests that value sales of medicinal cannabis will dwarf the recreational market, although this will fall to just over half of value sales by 2024.

Conflicting adult-use laws in the US are sending business out of state and regulators are keen to protect tax revenue are accelerating legislative change. As western countries experience a long-term decline in smoking and stagnation in alcohol consumption, big tobacco and drinks businesses are looking to boost growth by investing in the sector as exemplified by deals from Constellation Brands and Altria.

Other key findings in the cannabis market report showed that the North American cannabis consumer goods market is the most advanced in the world and 2019/20 will see an unprecedented expansion of CBD lifestyle products. Also, as European countries such as Luxembourg look set to legalise adult-use cannabis, North American brands are best-placed to take advantage of the potential of the untapped European market.

The cannabis market

Ahead of the launch of the report, Daragh Anglim, Managing Director at Prohibition Partners, said: “Although North America’s legal cannabis industry could be worth more than $47.3 billion within the next five years, the true value of the cannabis market is likely to be much larger than current estimates. This is because, contrary to the hopes of regulators, legalisation is unlikely to eradicate black market sales, particularly in Canada.

“In the US, the model is imperfect. The legal disconnect between federal and state, and between states themselves, presents significant challenges for businesses looking to mature a market with significant potential. Moreover, conflicting adult-use laws in the US are forcing businesses to move to neighbouring states. On a positive note this is fuelling momentum behind legislation as state regulators look to generate and protect tax revenues

“From an international perspective, in many ways the regulatory frameworks across Europe mirror the patchwork of legislation across the US. Europe, and indeed the world, will continue to monitor developments in North America closely”.

For all cannabis legalization’s progress, and all the excitement drug-policy reform and a booming CBD and cannabis market make, much of the United States remains outwardly hostile to marijuana — in some cases, outwardly so.

Against this backdrop, a few states stand out for soldiering on with the drug war.

In Mississippi, where CBD oil was legal even prior to the Farm Bill-sparked CBD craze, an Oregon man was sentenced to 12 years in prison for simple possession — a draconian punishment that was, in fact, a re-negotiated sentence that was meant to be kind. And in Oklahoma, which may be the most marijuana entrepreneur-friendly state in the country, a shipment of what was supposedly hemp was seized by authorities, who as of earlier this month remained hellbent on proving that what Mitch McConnell said was a legal commodity is grounds for imprisonment. With some notable exceptions, the entire American South has been a last bastion of cannabis prohibition and the drug war status quo.

But these are not the worst offenders. These are not quite as bad as Idaho, Nebraska, and South Dakota. In these three states, there is no medical marijuana access of any kind. Outliers, last redoubts of a failed idea, clinging desperately to a lost cause, these are the only three states in the Union with no cannabis reform laws on the books at all, according to NORML.

What “progress” there is here borders on an ironic joke. About the best there is to report from any of these legal cannabis-free zones is what the. Marijuana Policy Project called the “most restrictive and limited of any state law that acknowledges some form of cannabis’s medical value.” A 2017 law that says South Dakota residents can access CBD-only oil, but only if and when CBD products receive official federal Food and Drug Administration approval, a process that is likely to take years.

The good news is that all three states allow for citizen-driven ballot initiatives. And activists in all three states are trying to put substantive medical cannabis measures on the 2020 ballot. But even if they succeed, access could be years away and, in the meantime, state residents must contend with some of the country’s strictest possession laws.

Idaho

Idaho is in the West, where legal cannabis made its first and most lasting stand. Idaho also abuts several legal states. Ad Idaho, stubborn and obstinate, refuses to play the game and, in fact, joins states like California and Colorado in openly flouting federal law, but in favor of making cannabis more illegal than even the Controlled Substances Act calls for.

Simple possession of 3 ounces or less is a misdemeanor punishable by a $1,000 fine or a year in jail; more than 3 ounces is a felony. If you’re growing at home, as you can do across the border in Washington, you’re playing with a felony charge punishable by up to 15 years in prison, if authorities argue the cultivation is for sale.

Idaho is also where state police decided that the Farm Bill signed into law by Donald Trump last December doesn’t apply. Though federal law now says that cannabis sativa with 0.3 percent of less of THC is hemp and legal to possess, Idaho state law declares THC of any amount verboten and so hemp shipments here are subject to seizure, in open defiance of federal authorities who insist that hemp is OK.

After yet another session in the state Legislature ended with no reform, activists will try for the 2020 ballot. If they can collect 55,000 signatures from registered voters by the end of April 2020, voters will have the chance to bring the state “up to speed with states like Oklahoma, Arkansas, and West Virginia,” as campaign spokesman Bill Esbensen recently told reporters. That might not seem like much of a benchmark — West Virginia’s program is not yet operational and it took Arkansas, governed by a former DEA chief, several years to get a voter-approved measure off the ground — but deliberately comparing Idaho to other conservative states who are far ahead is a wise move.

Nebraska

Of the three medical-less states, Nebraska may offer the safest harbor, but lurking behind every slight crack in the prohibitionist facade is nuclear-level punishment.

The maximum penalty for possessing small amounts of cannabis is $300, though sales of “any amount” can be punished with a mandatory minimum of one year in prison. Possessing cannabis concentrates — like a vape-oil cartridge — can land you in state prison for five years.

That’s all bad. A bill that would legalize medical marijuana stalled out in the state Legislature earlier this year and during debate, a crowd of protesters assembled outside the state house to demand that prohibition be kept in place.

To understand why, perhaps it’s helpful to peek into some Nebraskans’ mindsets. Lincoln resident Margaret Wall described herself to Omaha.com as a “pot refugee,” who specifically moved to Nebraska because it was one of the Last Three states without any marijuana reform laws on the books — and that opposing even a limited medical-cannabis bill is necessary to keep the state from slipping towards legalization. Wall and all of her friends may have to repeat the performance next year if advocates are successful in putting a measure on the ballot.

South Dakota

This may be the final frontier for cannabis reform in America.

It wasn’t always this way: South Dakota actually decriminalized cannabis in 1977, but experienced a severe case of reformers’ remorse and “almost immediately” repealed the law, as the Marijuana Policy Project notes. But in the decades since, South Dakotans have consistently shown they’re not interested: medical-cannabis ballot initiatives were voted down in 2006 and 2010 by increasingly wide margins — the last effort lost by nearly two-to-one — and a proposed initiative last year did not qualify.

It seems likely that cannabis reform here may hinge on federal action in Congress, which shows you how entrenched prohibition remains in the minds and in the law books of a select few Americans.