Hemp Growing

An Irish study conducted on 211 adolescents aged between 12 and 15 years has revealed that those adolescents who had experienced childhood trauma were almost five times more likely to use cannabis than those who had experienced trauma. In addition, subjects who had experienced childhood trauma are also five times more likely to develop psychotic symptoms .The researchers also found that the joint presence of cannabis use and childhood trauma increased the likelihood of psychotic symptoms in adolescence to a much greater extent than would be expected if each risk factor was working independently.In Australia, a 20-year follow-up study in young adults exposed to childhood trauma revealed that exposure to multiple traumas, rather than a single major trauma, increases the risk of later psychosis .Based on the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey conducted in England in2007 among 7403 subjects whose mean age was 51.12 years , a multivariate analysis demonstrated that those who had experienced non-consensualsex in childhood were over six times more likely to have had a diagnosis of psychosis compared with those who had not experienced this trauma.

Individuals with a history of non-consensual sexual experience under 16years and cannabis use were over seven times more likely to have been diagnosed with psychosis compared with those without these experiences .The multivariate analysis also indicated that subjects who were unemployed,depressed and who experienced sexual trauma after the age of 16 years were more likely to have had a diagnosis of psychosis . Researchers outlined the fact that the experience of non-consensualsex before the age of 16 years was independently predictive of psychosis diagnosis no matter the presence or absence of cannabis consumption.They suggested that childhood trauma may be one of the more prevailing environmental agents in psychosis onset and development and that cannabis use among individuals diagnosed with psychosis may be attributable, in some cases,to their experiences of childhood trauma . The authors also mentioned that those individuals who experienced both childhood sexual abuse and cannabis use, but who experienced their sexual trauma before they began consuming cannabis, were over four times more likely to have a diagnosis of psychosis.

Alternatively,victims of childhood trauma may simply initiate and continue to use cannabis in a similar way to non-victims but could experience psychosis because an existing emotional,psychological and/or physical vulnerability, potentially attributable to their trauma, has been exacerbated .Finally, the authors concluded that the interaction between cannabis use and childhood trauma suggests that being exposed to these two risk factors acts synergistically in the onset of psychosis and that childhood trauma may advance existing gene-environment conceptualizations of the cannabis-psychosis link. Researchers suggested that the psychosis-inducing effects of cannabis are moderated by an early experience of trauma and that a cross-sensitization between stress and cannabis is responsible in shaping the risk of psychotic outcomes. The possible mechanism by which stress or cannabis use impact on psychosis risk is a sensitization involving an increase of the dopaminergic signaling in the mesolimbic system.

Hyperdopaminergia may be associated with psychosis and the interaction between early life trauma and cannabis may increase the risk for psychosis by bringing about enduring sensitization to dopamine agonists.Finally, the authors stated that their work is the first to demonstrate that even on-severe physical trauma can interact with cannabis on psychosis risk .Their results confirm earlier findings that both cannabis and trauma not only affect psychotic illness but also impact on the broader extended psychosis phenotype in the general population, which represents behavior expression of liability to psychotic disorders . However, they outline that their results do not provide information about to what degree the interaction between cannabis and mal treatment contributes to the onset of new psychotic symptoms or to the persistence of existing symptoms.

Researchers emphasized that there was a strong evidence that childhood trauma was correlated with an increased odds of later life events and cannabis use,and that there was evidence for synergistic effects of trauma and more tentatively recent cannabis use on odds of psychotic experiences, such that the odds were greatest in those exposed to trauma and either life events or cannabis in the past year. They also outlined that the impact of both life events,particularly recent events, and cannabis use on the likelihood of psychotic experiences depends, to a certain degree, on prior exposure to physical and sexual abuse. This is consistent with the hypothesis that childhood trauma creates in some individuals a vulnerability for psychotic experiences which unfolds itself in the event of exposure to further risk factors such as cannabis consumption .

Increased synthesisand bioaccumulation of such carboxylic acids have also been reported when C4 perennial grasses are subject to abiotic stress such as drought.This finding indicates opportunity for direct isolation of succinic acid as a coproduct from biomass feed stocks without typical lignocellulosic hydrolysis and upgrading from glucose in competition for use with primary biofuels .In order to investigate this potential, the objectives of this research were to: 1)evaluate succinic acid content and total yield across candidate lignocellulosic feed stocks under field conditions, and 2) characterize the impact of deficit irrigation upon succinic acid bioaccumulation across candidate lignocellulosic feeds tocks under greenhouse conditions. Pearl millet is an annual diploid . It originated in northern Africa in an area extending from western Sudan to Senegal . Pearl millet is mainly used as a grain crop in India, Pakistan, and Africa; however, its main use in the USA, Australia, and parts of South America is as forage. There is an increasing interest in planting this grass as a grain crop to feed livestock in the USA . Although grain production of pearl millethybrid is not comparable to sorghum and maize hybrids, as a forage crop its yield can exceed sorghum and maize. Pearl millet is also more drought tolerant and suited to marginal lands than maize .

One study comparing forage yield among sorghum, millet and corn cultivars found greater biomass yield in pearl millet than sorghum cultivars Jumbo, Speed feed, and Sugar graze . Sugarcane is a perennial grass cultured mainly for sucrose production.As a perennial bioenergy crop derived from sugarcane, energycane is derived from sugarcane but selected for greater fiber concentration, biomass yields, and cold tolerance . Improved cold tolerance allows energy cane to be grown in areas further north than sugarcane in the USA . More importantly, its improved adaptation to marginal land gives it more potential as a lignocellulosic biomass feedstock.Biomass yields of energy cane are comparable to other lignocellulose feedstocks . Sorghum is an important crop used mainly for grain and forage production, and it is now being evaluated as a bioenergy crop . Its diverse utilization, including bioenergy potential of grain sorghum, sweet sorghum and high biomass cellulosicsorghum , is significant . Among many traits of foragesorghum that may impact forage quality, one trait is controlled by brown midrib mutants and influences forage quality.Chemically induced BMR mutants in sorghum were first induced in 1978 and can reduce lignin concentration as much as 51% in stems and 25% in leaves. With reduced lignin concentration,BMR sorghum cultivars have greater forage digestibility .

More importantly from a bioenergy perspective, this attribute could improve overall cellulosic ethanol conversion efficiencies when recalcitrance caused by lignin is mitigated. Biomass and estimated ethanol yields among sweet sorghum, BMRsorghum cultivars, and several perennial grasses indicated that the greatest biomass yield and ethanol production can be achieved from sweet sorghum . In the greenhouse trial, succinic acid concentrations did not vary across irrigation treatments. However, feedstock entries differed in their response to irrigation levels. PMN and Merkeron had the highest succinic acid concentration underdeficit irrigation, while the non-BMR annual sorghum had the lowest succinicacid concentration. Under non-deficit irrigation, Merkeron,PEPU 09FL03, PEPU 09FL01 and switch grass had the highest succinic acid concentrations,and the BMR annual sorghum had the lowest concentration . Hemp sesbania, avigorous, nodulating, epigeal, leguminous weed in soybean , cotton and rice , can attain a height of 3 m and was deemed one of the 10 most troublesome weeds in the southern U.S..It can reduce crop yield through shading and competition and has high reproductive capacity. No pre or post-emergent herbicide can provide season-long control of hemp sesbania.This weed exhibits some tolerance to glyphosate, but glufosinate can provide effective control .

Glufosinate is the ammonium salt of phosphinothricin, which is the active ingredient of bialaphos derived from non-phytopathogenic species in the genusStreptomyces .Biological weed control using plant pathogens has received attention by academic and industrial researchers for quite some time.Colletotrichum truncatum is a plant pathogenic fungus with bioherbicidal activity for controlling hemp sesbania. However, as with most foliar pathogens, spores of this fungus require sustained free-moisture,or a dew period to promote spore germination, establish infection and cause disease . Hemp sesbania was effectively controlled in soybean by C.truncatum conidia formulated in an invert emulsion.Greenhouse experiments showed that oil-in-water emulsions of unrefined corn oil and C. truncatum spore suspensions could reduce the dew period requirements for maximum weed infection and mortality of hemp sesbania, and thus delay the requirement for free-moisture.

Hemp has the greatest economical potential if grown both for seeds and stems as residual agricultural products .Hempseed contains more than 30% oil of which more than 80% is polyunsaturated fatty acids . They are present in a ratio of about 3:1, considered optimal in healthy human adipose tissue , and apparently unique among common plant oils . This preferred omega-6/omega-3 ratio was successfully utilized in animal feed to manipulate the fatty acid pattern in bovine adipose tissue and eggs . There are various benefits attributed to omega-3 and include anti-cancer,anti-inflammatory and anti-thrombosis properties,stimulation of general metabolism and promotion of burning fat .Hempseed oil is commonly extracted by solvents and, the resulting by-product, is known as hempseed meal which has good protein level ranging from 30% to 40% in dry matter of flour depending upon the variety of hemp used .

HSM is a rich source of protein and energy and can represent a nutritious feed supplement for livestock or used for production of a high-protein flour.Identification and characterization of hempseed proteins showed that edestin, rich in valuable amino acids,constituted the main protein component in isolate hempseed protein . Another protein structure, rich in methionine and cystine, was found in hemp seeds and subsequently characterized as an albumin protein family member. Numerous factors are known to influence the nutritional quality of plant proteins, as measured by their amino acid composition and digestibility. The amino acid composition may be affected by genotypic variability or agronomic conditions such as soil fertility and postharvest processing that alters the ratio of seed components. The digestibility of proteins may be affected by protein structure, the presence of antinutritional compounds and high temperature processing.HSM contains antinutritional compounds that need to be considered when feeding this product. In hemp seed,among a vast number of antinutritional compounds, phytate has raised more attention.Phytic acid is the main organic form of phosphorus present in plant seeds.

Its presence reduces protein digestibility and increases the excretion of endogenous nitrogen, amino acids and minerals, in particular bivalent cations. Another nutritionally important group of compounds are the condensed tannins. Tannins are known to negatively affect nitrogenous compounds uptake, absorption of minerals, and reduce weight gain and feed consumption intake in broiler chicks . In the case of sorghum, 1% of increased tannin content reduced the dietary energy value by 10%. Being protein precipitants, the tannins form complexes with feed proteins and endogenous enzymes. Hence, the weight of the pancreas increases if the feed contains high levels of tannins. Other deleterious compounds considered by animal nutritionists are the saponins.These substances consist of a sugar moiety usually containing one sugar , glycosidically linked to a hydrophobic aglycone which may be in nature triterpenoid or steroid.Dietary saponins depressed growth, feed consumption and egg production in poultry.These negative effects have been ascribed to several properties of saponins such as reduced feed intake caused by the astringent and irritating taste of saponins,reduction in intestinal motility and reduction in protein digestibility, probably due to the formation of sparingly digestible saponin-protein complexes.

Moreover,saponins have pronounced haemolytic properties and are responsible for bloat in ruminats. Trypsin inhibitors are considered one of the most important antinutritional factors and are found in many species of graminaceous, cruciferous and leguminosae. In literature, there are few data about the trypsin inhibitor activities in HSM . Lastly, the metabolism of some substances contained in flour may lead to the release of toxic products .In the present study, HSM was evaluated as protein source and for the presence of the main antinutritional compounds . Two groups of hemp varieties were used. The first group was consisting of dioecious varieties and the second group of monoecious varieties . The dioecious and monoecious hemp varieties have strong differences in the flowering time and seed filling. The characterization of these biochemical features will help to better understand the nutritional quality of HSM and its use as feed ingredient. Bioherbicides may offer alternatives to the control of weeds with synthetic compounds including the use of plant pathogens as bioherbicides.

Results from our laboratory demonstrated that the bioherbicidal fungus, Myrothecium verrucaria Ditmar: Fr. , can control several weeds from various families. A substantial portion of this research has been devoted to the potential of MV to control several economically important weeds including, hemp sesbania , sicklepod ,kudzu and glyphosate-resistant and -susceptible Palmeramaranth .Kudzu is an exotic invasive weed in the southeastern US that is difficult to control with current commercial herbicides and this weed has had a devastating impact on forests, rights of ways, etc. . Kudzu, a perennial leguminous vine native to eastern Asia, was introduced into the US in the late 1800’s and now occurs from Florida to New York, westward to central Oklahoma and Texas, with heavy infestations in Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi.

This particular study, which measured the prevalence of illicit drug use, concluded that heterosexual transgender individuals had a lower risk of use relative to their TGD SM counterparts. While heterosexuality has been widely accepted as a protective factor for cisgender populations, there is effectively no research examining the impact of sexual identity within the TGD community. Additionally, visual conformity represents a TGD-specific correlate that likely influences the TGD community’s predisposition to various forms of addiction. In fact, one study in particular determined that low levels of visual conformity increased one’s odds of nicotine use . The same study also determined that participants who had disclosed their trans identity were more likely to report nicotine use. Expanding the stratification of TGD to include dimensions other than gender identity could pinpoint a new group of highly at-risk TGD individuals that have been overlooked by traditional SM categorizations. It is important to note that one of the predominant reasons that TGD individuals experience higher rates of mental health challenges, addictions, and other presumptively negative outcomes is that of minority stress and stigmatization.

Living in a world where one experiences discrimination, harassment, and violence at interpersonal, institutional, and even ideological levels can result in TGD individuals seeking out additional coping mechanisms as compared to their cisgender counterparts . Simply being TGD by itself likely does not indicate an increase predisposition to addictive behavior; however, living in a hurtful and traumatizing world can, indeed, result in such behaviors. Understanding how to support individuals within this framework is key for clinicians in engaging their TGD clients and patients around addiction . It should also be noted that the vast majority of scales and instruments that are used to assess for addiction-related behaviors have not been validated on TGD participants, and rather, are often validated solely on cisgender individuals. In order to ensure these scales accurately measure what they purport to measure, future research must be conducted to norm these existing instruments on this population and/or create new instruments that can accurately measure addictive behaviors among this population. Similarly, the criteria for viewing some addictive behaviors can be viewed as transphobic, such as gendered rates for what is considered binge drinking, when there is no number of drinks noted for nonbinary individuals, and transgender women might be significantly taller and/or weigh more than cisgender women . Both research and practice must take these challenges into account when engaging TGD individuals.

The consumption of illicit drugs represents an important public health problem worldwide , contributing to morbidity and mortality . Nowadays, Europe has one of the highest percentages of students who reported lifetime use of any illicit drug, with 29% in the Czech Republic, followed by 28% in Italy. Besides, the most widely used illicit drug at least once in their life in Europe was cannabis , followed by other illicit substances , such as ecstasy, amphetamines, cocaine, and LSD, among others . According to the survey on alcohol and other drugs in Spain , cannabis is by far the most widespread in Spain, obtaining in 2019 the highest value in its history , followed by cocaine . In the population aged 15–34, the prevalence of illegal substance uses at least once in their life, in Spain, were cannabis , cocaine , ecstasy , and amphetamines . The use of these substances is associated with multiple consequences, including traffic accidents, violence, infectious diseases, mental disorder, impaired psychosocial development, and suicide, between others, particularly in the young population. Among the likely contributors to the elevation of drug use during adolescence and in young people are maturational changes . In this line, in a study conducted in Spanish adolescents, the role of self-esteem and selfefficacy was highlighted, as was the importance of increasing the risk perception.

Besides, the authors highlighted the social influence of the family and the people around them on binge drinking, highlighting the importance of increasing parents’ awareness factors, communication skills, adequate family influence, parental supervision, and control . In addition, some authors also proposed that family environment and family support are key elements when starting to use drugs . Moreover, there are studies that consider people from dysfunctional families to be at higher risk of consumption . On the other hand, other authors highlight the importance of peer influences . A weak relationship has been observed between gender and consumption with a higher prevalence of drug use among men in particular, with the exception of sedative hypnotics, where use is higher among women . Furthermore, previous studies have shown that marital status may be related to substance use, although with mixed results . Only some of the studies performed to date have taken the age of onset of consumption into account, despite the importance of this variable.

A large number of studies claim that the likelihood of risky consumption is higher among rural adolescents, compared to the ones living in urban areas . However, other studies agree with the results obtained in the present survey, which shows a greater consumption of substances in adolescents living in urban settings . As it was already mentioned, maybe cities had more open establishments and people had more options to acquire substances during the lockdown period. Our study is in line with other investigations showing a connection between lower parental education and higher prevalence of consumption . Indeed, we found that adolescents with parents with primary education were more likely to use substances than adolescents with parents with secondary and university education. Alcohol was the most consumed substance before the lockdown, and the one that underwent the greatest reduction during the COVID-19 lockdown period. In the same direction of other studies that identified an association between the socioeconomic status and substance abuse, our findings show that adolescents with a medium or high SEP drank more frequently and with a riskier pattern, in comparison to adolescents with a low SEP, both before and after confinement.

Our data reveal a notable decrease in the prevalence of binge drinking and hazardous drinking during the lockdown period in all groups, objectifying the impact of restrictions and social distancing on adolescents. In agreement with other surveys, we found that younger adolescents drank less alcohol during confifinement. This might be due to the closure of leisure establishments and the suspension of school classes, that prevented social meetings and reduced the opportunities to access psychoactive substances . Furthermore, parental disapproval towards binge drinking could explain the reduction of risky consumption patterns . The hazardous consumption of cannabis showed the lowest prevalence among the different substances before confinement, and its prevalence was even lower during the COVID-19 lockdown period. Under normal conditions, adolescents perceive that accessibility to cannabis is high, even though cannabis is an illegal substance. However, we believe that COVID-19 confinement and the restrictions to mobility and social contact could have increased the obstacles for the illicit trade of the substance, thus reducing its availability and accessibility . Additionally, spending more time with the family, together with parental disagreement on the use of cannabis, could have contributed to diminish its risky consumption.Our results agree with previous studies showing that people with a lower SEP and those who live in urban areas have higher opportunities to consume illicit substances as cannabis.

Indeed, we observed a maintenance in the hazardous consumption of cannabis among people living in disadvantaged neighborhoods. We think that this might be explained by the frequent breaches of the confifinement restrictions and the easy of trafficking and acquisition of the substance in these areas. While some groups decreased their daily consumption , others even increased it . At these ages, we fifind a large part of social smokers, who smoke tobacco in social settings and with the group. The COVID-19 pandemic led to restrictions of social meetings, spending more time with parents at home, and in some cases the information about the worsening of respiratory problems that COVID could generate in smokers increased the health risk awareness , and could explain the observed decrease. Moreover, a family attitude toward the tobacco with parental disapproval towards its consumption at home could have contributed to this reduction. On the contrary,the increased consumption in some groups could be a way to alleviate negative emotions related to COVID-19, beat boredom, and overcome the lack of social relations . Additionally, some parents may have been using tobacco to cope with the situation, making it more accessible to their sons, or maybe being more permissive and allowing them to smoke at home.

The results of this study provide the first data about the effect of COVID-19 confinement on consumption of legal and illicit substances among teenagers from Central Catalonia. The measures of social distancing forced adolescents to spend more time at home with family members, and less in social and leisure environments. This reduced the opportunities of engaging in binge drinking and the consumption of alcohol, cannabis and tobacco. However, in spite of the general tendency to decrease, a higher risky consumption of substances was observed in older adolescents attending advanced courses. We believe that, by reducing risky consumption among teenagers, confifinement could reduce the probability of future related problems. To confirm this hypothesis, further follow up of the cohort is warranted once the pandemic situation has passed and restrictions about mobility and social contacts had been overcome.

As innovation in food production increases to meet the demands of sustainability and increasing populations, early evaluation of potential novel foods is essential.The theory of planned behavior posits that intention to perform a behavior is correlated to actual behavior in an extension to the theory of reasoned action where behavioral and normative beliefs are reported to contribute to attitudes toward a behavior, and subjective beliefs form through perceptions of societal norms regarding that behavior Cognitive evaluations of these attitudes and beliefs contribute to consumers’ intention to perform the behavior themselves. Expanding on this, TPB includes volitional control as an additional consideration, reporting that people must have a perception of control over the behavior if the intention is to be realized as actual behavior . Several hundred studies have applied TPB within a variety of disciplines with accuracy and the utility of the theory in the evaluation of novel food acceptance has been supported by experimental validation of the intention–behavior relationship . A review of 42 studies employing TPB as a measure of intent to consume a discrete food while evaluating the intention–behavior relationship reported a strong association overall between intention to consume and actual consumer behavior.

There is currently no standardized psychometric instrument available that is appropriate for capturing the unique associations attributed to a discrete novel food within a TPB framework. Consistent with previous novel food research this study has developed a fit-for-purpose scale for use in the study. Examination of currently available literature did not discover adequate research on consumer perceptions and attitudes toward hemp food to enable the development of the TPB items without consumer consultation. As a result, a mixed-method approach as described by Teddlie and Tashakkori was adopted for the project which was conducted under a pragmatic framework. While pragmatism is more of a philosophical framework than a methodology, it allows for the methodology appropriate to each phase to be applied and a re-evaluation of the findings from each to form meta-inferences beyond those yielded from the findings within each phase. The first phase consisted of semi-structured interviews which informed the development of TPB items, and the second phase employed the TPB items in a questionnaire that was disseminated online nationally to evaluate consumer acceptance of hemp food in the Australian market. However, it was difficult to discern how much of this belief was the result of internet browsing by the participant before the interview. None of the participants reported knowing that hemp food had been legalized in Australia prior to the hearing of our study and was not able to specify particular health benefits.

Where participants confessed to having only read of the health benefits on the internet prior to the interview their response was recorded as knowledge rather than subjective belief. Some participants, however, associated hemp food with medicinal cannabis, also known as cannabidiol oil, and made the association of health benefifits based on that. Four items were developed relating to this theme which reflected the positively perceived attributes of hemp food. “Eating hemp food is healthy; Eating hemp food would make a person feel more relaxed; Eating hemp food would likely reduce anxiety; There are many benefits to eating hemp food” Participants rated each statement on how much they agreed with them. Response items were developed as a collaborative exercise between researchers to reflect the TPB constructs of behavioral and normative beliefs and perceived control as described in .Previous studies using TPB have found positive and negative attitudes toward novel food to have differential influence on their acceptance, leading to occasion for evaluation of the oppositely polarized viewpoints as a discrete entity.

For example, found negative attitudes toward insect-eating behavior to be a significant barrier to insect consumption after perceived control and food neophobia. Measuring disgust as it applies specifically toward insect-eating behavior and evaluating this construct within a negative behavioral belief paradigm might have provided clearer insight into attitudes toward eating insects. While not using TPB as the theoretical framework per se, reported that negative perception of factors related to genetically modified foods were critical to acceptance. It has previously been suggested that highly salient negative factors relating to hemp food’s association with alternate uses for cannabis have a greater influence on early acceptance and uptake of the novel food than positive health benefits .

Individuals residing in urban areas are more likely to be employed and have better access to alcohol and psychoactive drug use. In contrast to this, studies done in first-world countries like Germany and Canada found that the use of alcohol and psychoactive substances was more prevalent in rural rather than urban areas . The reason for the increased prevalence of risky alcohol and psychoactive substance use in the rural populations in Germany and Canada has been speculated to be due to limited access to drug education, treatment services, employment opportunities, and extra-curricular activities. These amenities are not available in rural areas .Cannabis use in the adolescent population is currently a serious public health concern . In the latest report from the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Addiction , it is estimated that 17.5 million young Europeans aged between 15 and 34 used cannabis in the last year. Regarding the situation in Spain, cannabis is the most-used illegal psychoactive substance among students aged 14 to 18: 33% of Spanish adolescents are reported to have consumed this substance at some point in their lives; 27% consumed it during the last year; 15.4% reported problematic cannabis use which is related to the excessive amount of consumption, consumption at the offer of friends, etc. .

The latest Spanish Survey on Drug use in Secondary School Students  shows that the average age at which cannabis use starts is around 14–15 years. The frequency and quantity of cannabis consumption increases with age and its use is more common among men than women. Various studies have highlighted that peer group cannabis consumption is one of the main causes of the use of this substance among adolescents . Likewise, adolescents who begin cannabis consumption at an early age are more susceptible to consuming other illegal substances and developing a pattern of risky alcohol consumption . The use of this substance has also been associated with increased incidence of academic problems, conflicts or physical aggression at school , behaviors related to gambling and problematic internet use , sexual abuse , episodes of anxiety and depression, acts of suicide , and greater probability of dependencyin adult life . The seriousness of these consequences highlights the need to reinforce preventive strategies from an early age . From the Positive Youth Development model a perspective focused on personal protective factors for healthy development is adopted, which includes the necessary skills to face diverse risks such as the use of addictive substances . In this sense, coping styles deserve particular attention , as well as assertive behavior, which is considered a fundamental element of the socialization process.

To these factors a new beneficial construct for healthy development called Emotional Intelligence is added, whose promotion at an early age could represent a novel preventive approach . Given that cannabis use begins at an increasingly young age , this research aims to study the inflfluence of these personal factors on the use of this substance in adolescence. Coping styles play an important mediating role between stressful situations, adolescents’ resources to deal with them, and the resulting consequences for their physical and mental health . This moderating function is especially relevant in this complex period of life in which important changes are experienced . Following Ebata and Moos , it is possible to distinguish between an active coping style that facilitates the adolescent’s adjustment, and a dysfunctional or avoidant coping style that increases the probability of psychosocial problems. Some studies with adolescents have found that less use of active coping has been related to an increase in the probability of ever consuming cannabis, as well as to doing so more frequently and in greater quantities . Other studies suggest that the use of a dysfunctional coping style has been related to greater risk of consuming cannabis due to peer pressure.

The literature has confirmed a link between coping styles and drug use behaviors . Despite this, the access to substances such as cannabis could be more complicated for adolescents as they are not financially independent, consequently, many of the studies have been carried out with adult samples and would be relevant to analyse what happens in the adolescent stage. In turn, one of the personal variables that is most related to the use of drugs in adolescents is assertive behavior.Assertiveness implies acting in defense of one’s own interests, defending oneself without unjustifified anxiety, sincerely and kindly expressing one’s feelings, and putting one’s personal rights into practice while respecting those of others . Focusing on cannabis consumption, the effort dedicated to prevention is generally justified on the assumption that peer group influence is relevant in the initiation and maintenance of this habit . Various studies have claimed that a deficit in assertive skills is associated with an increased risk in adolescents’ use of cannabis , as well as a lower capacity to oppose peer pressure when consuming it.

The phytochemical study of C. dactylon revealed details of its constituents like flavonoids, glycosides, alkaloids, tannins, flavonoids etc. are responsible for its dermatological action . Similarly, the anti-diabetic activities of A. parviflflora have been confirmed by various researchers . Several studies have revealed that today’s youth are uninterested in the traditional medical system . They have little or no knowledge of plants, not even about the species of plants found in their surroundings. Only a few old people are left to pass on their knowledge to the next generation, but it has not been very effective . The knowledge of medicinal plants of the Himalayan region has been reduced due to the absence of proper documentation and knowledge in the present-day generation . Therefore, it is important to preserve ethnomedicinal knowledge by documenting literature and by proper interaction with the younger generation. This is because, notwithstanding the coordinated efforts to disrupt cannabis market, both supply and consumption indicators have constantly increased over the past decades . It is estimated that in Europe around 15% of young adults used cannabis in 2019, and the prevalence reaches 19% when only 15- to 24-year-olds are considered .

Since 2013, Uruguay, 10 jurisdictions in the United States and Canada have passed laws that license the production and retail sale of cannabis to adults for non-medical purposes, often referred to as recreational use. In parallel, a renewed debate about reforms to the national cannabis policies has developed in Europe . In fact, although there is some European Union regulation concerning cannabis trafficking offences, legislative responses to unauthorised cannabis use and minor possession are still primarily responsibility of individual member states and therefore little harmonised . As an example, cannabis policies range from the more liberal example of the Netherlands, with a system of limited distribution, to countries like Hungary, where personal possession of cannabis is punishable with imprisonment. Furthermore, some countries legally treat cannabis like other drugs, whilst in others penalties for cannabis are lower, typically because the level of harm that the use of the drug may cause is taken into consideration . As an outcome, over the past years several European countries have implemented policy reforms modifying thesize of the penalties for cannabis possession for personal use: despite a general trend to reduce punishments, few countries moved in the opposite direction.

Some countries have reduced penalties for low-level offences, have removed criminal sanctions for possession or use, or have introduced formal or informal procedures that decrease the likelihood of sanctions being applied . Others have increased penalties for personal possession, either treating them as criminal or administrative offences . This results in a variety of policy approaches running in parallel in Europe, which range from administrative to criminal offences for personal cannabis possession , with the notable exception of the Dutch system. The potential effect of policy reforms to the treatment of cannabis possession for recreational use on rates of cannabis use is a topic of considerable debate . However, empirical research on the effects of the different types of control policies is still limited . Gathering scientific evidence firstly on whether and which type of cannabis policy reforms are able to affect the availability of the substance and the prevalence of use, and secondly by which type of users and by how much seems crucial in order to understand their public health impacts.

In particular, while cannabis policy changes are currently limited to adults, increasing attention is being devoted to the effects that these might have on adolescents . This is because cannabis is by far the most popular illicit substance among youth, particularly in Europe, where adolescents report high rates of easy access to the substance and show higher prevalence of cannabis use compared to the adult population . Furthermore, research shows that initiation into cannabis use typically occurs during the mid to late teens and that there is a strong positive relationship between early first use and the length and intensity of cannabis consumption during adulthood , with a range of possible associated poorer outcomes later in life.In general, policies ruling cannabisrelated offences are primarily targeted at adults and some authors suggest that they do not affect adolescent consumption . Despite this, several authors suggest that policy changes might indirectly affect adolescents by modifying their access to cannabis and by contributing to shape the social norms of a society . Most of the existing studies on cannabis use associated with cannabis control policy reforms has been conducted in the United States, Australia and Canada, and mainly focused on the adult population.

Nonetheless, it can be speculated that infertility might improve cannabinoid yield by the following two different mechanisms: by avoiding the termination of inflorescence development and/or by avoiding reductions in cannabinoid accumulation. Similarly to Arabidopsis, C. sativa has an indeterminate inflorescence architecture, which means the inflorescences keep growing and developing additional flowers until a specific event sends a signal to halt the flowering process . In the Arabidopsis model, successful pollination can induce AGAMOUS expression , which will trigger downstream signals to end flowering and begin flower senescence . The triploid plants in our research showed no response to pollination, which could be a sign that the terminal flowering signals might not initiate in the triploid plants following a pollen challenge. On the other hand, seed development after pollination may alter carbon resource allocation, which might reduce the development of inflorescences and secondary metabolism synthesis.

Our research showed that triploid plants rarely produced seeds following pollination, and could therefore suggest that plants will not allocate carbon resources from flower development or cannabinoid synthesis to seed development. It is also possible that neither of these physiological processes are impacted, but rather the reduction in cannabinoid content in pollinated flowers is merely due to a dilution effect of the presence of seeds, which do not contain the cannabinoid-producing trichomes. More research on the effect of infertility on cannabinoid development is warranted to further confifirm the value of commercial triploid cultivars. Although plants containing even numbers of chromosomes are generally considered fertile, reduced fertility or even infertility have been reported in other species containing even ploidies. For example, the allotetraploid, or natural tetraploid, Hibiscus acetosella ‘Panama Red’ has been reported as producing no viable seeds.Reporting the reduced fertility of tetraploid C. sativa has important implications for the hemp breeding and hemp seed industries. Our results indicate that the investment of producing triploid seeds may be higher than producing diploid seeds, due to the lower seed numbers produced in the tetraploid × diploid crosses studiedin this research.

To compensate for the reduced seed number, more intense pollination or extending the pollination period may be recommended. Furthermore, the asymmetric nature of the crosses involving the tetraploid, at least as observed in the genotypes tested in the current study, indicate that the selection and breeding of the pollen recipient as the tetraploid parent has important ramifications for the success in breeding triploid C. sativa. The unidirectional compatibility or asymmetric interploidy crossing compatibility of hemp might be caused by an asymmetric triploid block. A triploid block is a phenomenon in which seed development fails due to an imbalance in genome size and gene expression between the parents of different ploidies; in many cases, triploid block leads to abnormal development or underdevelopment of the endosperm and embryo . Studies in Brassica oleracea showed the same asymmetrical interploidy compatibility pattern as we observed in C. sativa; that is, when the paternal parent had the higher chromosome number, there was a lethal disruption in embryo development, whereas when the maternal parent contained a chromosome excess, viable seeds were formed . Imbalances in the expression levels of the AGAMOUS-like gene families appeared to play important roles in the endosperm and embryo development failure in B. oleracea .

Research on potato showed that the strength of triploid block can vary among genotypes . Therefore, research into multiple genotypes and gene expression variations may be useful in obtaining a full understanding of asymmetrical compatibility and asymmetric triploid blocking in C. sativa as a species. Plant growth, development, metabolism, and morphology can be greatly manipulated by the quality and duration of light . Light quality denotes the color or wavelength adjacent to the surface of the plant, which affects plant growth, foliar and floral morphology, biochemical changes, and photosynthesis process.Plants use light sources both as energy sources and to adjust to environmental conditions.It was demonstrated that wavelengths ranging from 430 to 500 nm is effective for pigmentation, secondary metabolites production, chloroplast development, and functioning in photosynthesis . The wavelength range 500–600 nm also influences chlorophyll production and photosynthetic activity . On the other hand, the wavelength range 640–670 nm was found effective in leaf area, photosynthetic activity, and plant biomass accumulation.

Measuring disgust as it applies specifically toward insect-eating behavior and evaluating this construct within a negative behavioral belief paradigm might have provided clearer insight into attitudes toward eating insects. While not using TPB as the theoretical framework per se, reported that negative perception of factors related to genetically modified foods were critical to acceptance. It has previously been suggested that highly salient negative factors relating to hemp food’s association with alternate uses for cannabis have a greater influence on early acceptance and uptake of the novel food than positive health benefits. Consistent with a previous approach , negative behavioral beliefs have been treated as a discrete construct in the current study resulting in four constructs to be evaluated against intention; negative behavioral beliefs, positive behavioral beliefs, normative beliefs, and perceived control. Response items were then evaluated by four third-party volunteers who gave their interpretation of each item including whether they considered the behavioral beliefs to be a positive or negative attribute of hemp food, and this was compared to the researchers’ transcript for confirmation.

Once it was agreed that the interpretation was consistent with intended meanings, the items were transposed into the phase 2 questionnaire. The use of TPB as a theoretical framework for the evaluation of acceptance of a novel food is not a new concept, however, evaluating the behavioral beliefs that form attitudes toward the food as discrete positive and negative entities is a new approach.For example, included negative attitude as a discrete construct in their study of acceptance of insects as a novel food. The current study accepted empirical evidence of the importance of negative factors in the evaluation of novel foods and developed discrete positive and negative attitudinal constructs from qualitative surveys of consumer behavioral beliefs. This approach proved beneficial to understanding the acceptance of hemp food as the negative attitude items while loading onto a single factor and correlating positively with each other, had differential effects on the construct associated with the psychological benefits of Cannabidiol oil. Originally developed as a component of positive attitudes, anomalies detected early in the analysis of the data led to the construct defined as relating to CBD being identified as a potential mediator between negative attitudes and intention to consume under the TPB framework.

While the negative association of the CBD constructs with three of the items was theoretically and statistically supported, the positive association with two of the items was counterintuitive and is discussed below. In the qualitative phase of the study, a perception of an association between hemp food and CBD oil provided an impetus for the development of the items relating to the psychological benefits of CBD oil. Reduced anxiety and increased relaxation were perceived by survey participants as a positive aspect of hemp food through this association. While these benefits are not promoted as applicable to hemp food, it is the perception of the benefits through association with CBD oil that contributes to a consumer’s intention to consume the food. What has been revealed through the application of SEM, however, is a differential influence of the perception of CBD on intention to consume hemp food, dependent upon which negative aspect of attitude is being addressed. On further examination, there appear to be three possible interpretations of the findings. The first is that despite the association of hemp food with CBD oil being perceived as a positive aspect of the product, there remains a belief that; a: There remains an association with both THC and CBD and a subsequent belief that potential for testing positive to THC after consumption of hemp food exists, and b: That not enough is known about the effects of eating hemp food.

This association would be potentially problematic for the hemp food industry as it may suggest that despite assurances from industry and government sources that THC in hemp food is below detectable levels , consumer acceptance of this assertion appears to be low. The overall mediating effect of the association of hemp food with CBD oil, however, has a positive effect on the intention to consume hemp foods and can therefore be viewed as benefitting hemp food acceptance. While this may indicate that an association with CDB oil has thus far influenced the acceptance of hemp food, the long-term outcome from such an association would not be beneficial. It has been demonstrated that knowledge of hemp food may be lacking within the marketplace but as consumer education increases and the distinction between CBD oil and hemp food becomes more apparent, any positive influence the misperception has had to that point may be reversed.