Reporting on cannabis policy, science, business, and culture from The Alkaloid.
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For as long as cannabis has been cultivated, the leaves have been an afterthought — biomass, waste, compost. A team of analytical chemists at Stellenbosch University just identified 79 phenolic compounds in those leaves, 25 never reported before, including 16 rare flavoalkaloids.
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Walk into a high-end dispensary in Brooklyn, Toronto, or West Hollywood and try to find a marijuana leaf on the wall. You probably won't. Cannabis legalization has produced something almost no one predicted — a design renaissance. What gets left out is its own kind of statement.
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On November 12, 2026, the federal government will effectively ban most hemp-derived THC products — delta-8 gummies, THCA flower, HHC vapes. Buried in the shutdown spending bill, the provision affects 95% of products on the market. Seven months to adapt.