This 12 months has been nothing in need of transformative for the hashish business. At Veriheal, we’ve had a front-row seat to this evolution: we’ve listened to actual affected person tales, witnessed transformative authorized reforms, and celebrated because the stigmas we’ve lengthy identified to be unfounded start to crumble. As we mirror on the key tales of this 12 months, we see a strong narrative taking form — one which acknowledges the strides we’ve made and the challenges that lie forward. These tales characterize extra than simply information; they’re a testomony to the arduous work, resilience, and advocacy driving hashish ahead.
2024 has set the stage for a good brighter future. Let’s look again collectively on this 12 months of change.
High Hashish Tales From 2024:
As we shut out 2024, we’re trying again on the key hashish information from this 12 months. This 12 months has seen groundbreaking research, historic authorized reforms, and a cultural shift that’s arduous to disregard. As attitudes proceed to evolve and hashish turns into an much more integral a part of wellness and recreation, the tales beneath spotlight the transformative 12 months that was — and the even larger future that’s forward.
JHU and Realm of Caring Announce Nationwide Hashish Examine With Veriheal
Our understanding of medical hashish is ready to increase. A groundbreaking research, supported by a $1.25 million annual authorities grant, is now underway, exploring hashish’s potential to deal with numerous well being circumstances. Led by specialists from Johns Hopkins College, in collaboration with Veriheal and Realm of Caring, the multi-year analysis goals to reshape how we strategy medical hashish, inform medical choices, and affect public coverage.
The research will doc actual affected person experiences, filling the gaps left by earlier analysis hindered by authorized and social limitations. With plans to enroll 2,500 individuals yearly, the research is designed to problem current stigmas round hashish and supply a clearer, evidence-based image of its medical potential.
Members will help form the way forward for hashish analysis by finishing 4 surveys over the course of a 12 months. These concerned about utilizing hashish for circumstances like ache, nervousness, or insomnia could also be eligible to hitch. Members will obtain compensation and contribute to a transformative shift in hashish healthcare.
Weed Really Doesn’t Kill Mind Cells
For years, hashish has been vilified as a reminiscence killer, blamed for cognitive decline and confusion. However hashish analysis launched this 12 months is flipping that narrative on its head. A February 2024 research in Present Alzheimer Analysis discovered that leisure hashish customers even have a 96% decrease danger of subjective cognitive decline (SCD), together with reminiscence issues. This game-changing discovery got here from a survey of over 4,700 folks aged 45 and older, exhibiting that how and why folks use hashish issues greater than we thought.
Certain, previous research have linked heavy hashish use to cognitive points, however the brand new information tells a distinct story. Researchers discovered no important hyperlink between hashish use frequency and cognitive decline. In actual fact, different research, like one in CNS Medicine, discovered that medical hashish sufferers don’t expertise the identical reminiscence or consideration issues as informal customers. The underside line? Hashish isn’t the mind killer some have claimed — and it might truly assist problem outdated stereotypes and pave the best way for broader entry to medical hashish.
Snoop Dogg Charms The World At The 2024 Olympics
Snoop Dogg was the surprising MVP of the 2024 Paris Olympics. From carrying the torch on the opening ceremony to hyping up Workforce USA and even taking a swim with Michael Phelps, he was in all places — and in some way made all of it look easy.
However Snoop Dogg on the 2024 Olympics wasn’t simply entertaining; it was groundbreaking. Sixteen years after Phelps confronted backlash for smoking weed, Snoop was out right here as America’s “ambassador of happiness,” exhibiting simply how far we’ve are available in accepting hashish and the individuals who find it irresistible. It wasn’t only a spotlight of the Olympics — it was a win for hashish tradition in all places.
1000’s Of People Obtain Pardons For Marijuana Convictions
On December 12, 2024. President Biden introduced the biggest single-day grant of clemency in trendy historical past, commuting the sentences of practically 1,500 people and pardoning 39 for non-violent crimes, together with easy marijuana possession. This builds on his file of prison justice reform, as he’s the primary president to challenge categorical pardons for people convicted of easy marijuana possession His actions mark a major step in marijuana laws and set a strong precedent for reform throughout the nation, inspiring states like Maryland and Minnesota to take daring steps towards addressing previous injustices.
Maryland’s historic pardon of over 175,000 hashish convictions and Minnesota’s expungement of over 57,000 marijuana information mirror the rising momentum in prison justice reform, aiming to rectify the affect of hashish criminalization. Minnesota’s Clear Slate Act and Maryland’s social fairness licensing show the states’ long-term dedication to progress, marking a major shift in federal and state-level attitudes towards hashish.
Can We Cease Pretending We Don’t Like Hashish Now?
A Gallup ballot from this 12 months revealed that the choice for hashish is rising throughout the US. Particularly, cigarette smoking within the U.S. has dropped from practically half of Individuals within the Nineteen Fifties to 16% immediately, whereas hashish use has risen to 17%, up from 7% a decade in the past. This development is especially evident amongst youthful adults, with 26% of Gen Z favoring hashish whereas solely 5% smoke cigarettes. The ballot additionally highlights altering perceptions, with 70% of Individuals supporting hashish legalization and 40% contemplating it safer than alcohol or tobacco.
Veriheal’s affected person information additional helps this rising acceptance. In a report launched by Emily Mullins of Veriheal, Gen Z (born 1997–2012) seems to be probably the most cannabis-friendly technology but. Surveys present that 60% of Gen Z not often or by no means drink alcohol, and 69% want hashish on account of well being considerations, price, and a concentrate on holistic wellness. Veriheal’s insights reveal that Gen Z makes use of hashish primarily for leisure, happiness, and sleep, with flower being their most well-liked product.
Collectively, these findings illustrate a cultural shift towards hashish as a most well-liked substance for wellness and recreation, changing alcohol and tobacco for a lot of. With the hashish business projected to develop from $57 billion in 2023 to $444 billion by 2030, each polling information and Veriheal’s analysis spotlight the plant’s growing position in shaping trendy life.
Veriheal Employees Decide: Hashish Propaganda By way of The A long time
Working within the hashish business, the day-to-day can typically really feel like a gradual march towards justice. When we’ve our heads down in all of the arduous work that also have to be carried out, we typically overlook to search for and acknowledge how far we’ve come. The above tales are, in their very own methods, testaments to our progress. An unprecedented research, nationwide polls about weed’s rising recognition, and a celebrity stoner reaching new heights of world love are all tangible proof that the world is altering. They show what we’ve at all times identified: that hashish isn’t that scary hardcore substance all of us discovered about in well being class.
And what higher solution to acknowledge our progress than to look again to the historical past of hashish propaganda? From ’30s scare ways to that one business with the deflated woman, we appeared again on how training round hashish has modified over time — and it’s giving us all of the hope we have to proceed marching towards a extra knowledgeable future.
Why You Ought to Get Your Medical Marijuana Card
Veriheal has happy hundreds of thousands of sufferers nationwide by giving them entry to those advantages
- Bigger buy limits
- Peace of thoughts
- Enhanced authorized safety
- Entry to increased efficiency strains
- Save as much as 25% on hashish purchases
- Skip the road on the dispensary
Veriheal’s Favourite Hashish Product: Bestie Bong
Once we teamed up with MAV Glass to present away considered one of their iconic Bestie Bongs to our followers, we knew we needed to strive it for ourselves. This two-person beaker permits you and your favourite sesh associate to take hits concurrently, creating a really distinctive and unforgettable expertise. PSA: Unwanted side effects of the Bestie Bong embrace euphoria, a critical case of the giggles, and a next-level bond along with your sesh associate.
Our Bestie Bong Giveaway is now stay on our Veriheal Instagram! Enter now for an opportunity to sesh along with your besties this vacation season.
All-Star Worker: Grant Guthrie
“There are still people who believe that you should be in prison for using cannabis. There are still people that believe that you should be in prison because you are queer. And that alone means that this interview is a privilege and not just a victory.”
At Veriheal, our Head of Human Sources, Grant Guthrie, is thought for his heat vitality, dedication to an moral office, and keenness for stay music (and nice hashish). Earlier than main HR for one of many world’s largest medical card corporations, Guthrie constructed a wealthy historical past in each the authorized and legacy hashish markets.
Rising up “quietly queer” in rural Arkansas, Guthrie usually felt remoted, uncertain if he might actually be himself. Smoking weed in center faculty launched him to a neighborhood the place he discovered each security and the liberty to stay authentically.
In our dialog, Guthrie shared his experiences navigating Southern tradition as a queer youth, discovering company within the legacy hashish market, and breaking the stigma round hashish and queerness.
Veriheal Affected person Tales: Dylan Rogers & Abdulai Mansaray
The tip of the 12 months marks a possibility for the Veriheal staff to depend our blessings. In 2024, we launched into a mission to heart the human tales behind medical hashish — and, fortunate for us, our sufferers have been greater than prepared to inform their tales. Beneath, we share two of those tales, each of which spotlight the life-changing potential of medical hashish.
Dylan Rogers Makes use of Medical Hashish For Trigeminal Neuralgia
This 12 months, considered one of our Veriheal sufferers joined us on our podcast, The Inexperienced Commonplace. Dylan Rogers, who lived with Trigeminal Neuralgia and Occipital Neuralgia, shared his journey with these intensely painful neurological circumstances. Also known as the “suicide disease,” Trigeminal Neuralgia precipitated sudden, extreme facial ache, whereas Occipital Neuralgia led to continual ache at the back of his head and neck. Each circumstances considerably affected his high quality of life, making each day duties terribly difficult.
After prescribed drugs and invasive medical procedures failed to offer aid, Dylan turned to medical hashish. He described how the plant helped alleviate a few of his debilitating signs, giving him hope and a solution to reclaim components of his life. Dylan additionally shared his ardour for creating artwork, which turned a significant outlet for self-expression and connection. His testimony on the podcast highlighted his resilience, creativity, and the transformative affect of hashish for these dwelling with continual ache.
Abdulai Mansaray’s Medical Marijuana Testimony: Life After An Aneurysm
“Come close, Mary / I can’t imagine my life without you.”
Abdulai Mansaray started utilizing hashish recreationally at 10 years previous, however after surviving a mind aneurysm at 18, it turned important to his psychological well being. Combating extreme melancholy and nervousness, a medical hashish card provided him aid and helped him rediscover his passions, like writing poetry and singing. Now 29 years previous, Mansaray credit hashish with bettering his high quality of life and permitting him to deal with challenges in a approach that conventional therapies couldn’t.
Regardless of potential dangers related to hashish use after a mind aneurysm, Mansaray stays a robust advocate for its medicinal advantages. His medical doctors assist his alternative, and he hasn’t skilled any additional aneurysms in over a decade. By way of hashish, Mansaray has reclaimed his happiness and continues to advocate for breaking the stigma surrounding its use. Learn Mansaray’s medical hashish testimonial for extra on how medical hashish introduced again his high quality of life — and a poem Mansaray wrote.
Whether or not it’s been a lifeline throughout an sickness, a assist with parenting, a game-changer in sports activities, or one thing else fully — your story issues. Share your expertise with us for an opportunity to be featured on our weblog and social media.
Human Highlight: Jessica L’Whor
“I’m giving so much of myself to everybody else, and [weed] allows me to just sit and almost be numb for a little bit. Not in a bad way, but it let me shut off for an hour or two. It helped me sleep better and recharge faster to go do the next show. It really does change me specifically and helps me so much.”
Denver’s drag scene thrives year-round, particularly throughout Satisfaction Month, and native icon Jessica L’Whor is at its coronary heart. With over a decade within the highlight, Jessica has grow to be a cultural staple, performing every thing from drag bingo to reveals whereas championing inclusivity, physique positivity, and LGBTQ+ illustration. A embellished entertainer, she’s additionally a passionate hashish advocate, incorporating weed-themed outfits and partnerships into her work. For Satisfaction Month 2024, we sat down with Jessica to discover her journey, drag persona, and dedication to selling protected hashish use.
Glad New 12 months From The Veriheal Workforce!
As we mirror on the milestones of 2024, we’re grateful to have witnessed such optimistic momentum firsthand. At Veriheal, we’re excited for the 12 months forward and desirous to proceed advocating for progress and supporting the rising hashish neighborhood. Right here’s to a different 12 months of breaking limitations, increasing data, and embracing the longer term. Glad New 12 months from all of us at Veriheal – let’s make 2025 a good larger 12 months for change!
