There's a lot of winning going on with Michigan marijuana lately. First of all, there are the winners of the recent High Times Michigan Cannabis Cup, which was held June 8 and 9 at the Auto City Speedway in Clio. There were 16 categories with first, second, and third place awarded in each one; you can go here to check out the winners or read them below:

Best Indica Flower

1st Place: Mrs. Berry Kush – Triple OG
2nd Place: Exotic Genetix – falcon 9
3rd Place: Mrs. Berry Kush – Critical Kush

Best Sativa Flower

1st Place: COCO Extracts – Tropicana Cookies
2nd Place: Kalamazoovines – White Lavender
3rd Place: Norse Pharms – Terpee Slurpee

Best Hybrid Flower

1st Place: Exotic Genetix – Rainbow Chip
2nd Place: Pure Diem x Firehouse Farms – Sunset Sherbert
3rd Place: Special Blend Gardens – Melonade No.7

Best Preroll

1st Place: Ript Genetics x Swish Dipz- Stank Breath pre roll
2nd Place: T.otally H.erbal C.are x MiterpfarmZ – Orange Zkittlez Hippie CigaretteZ
3rd Place: Special Blend Gardens Rolled Up – OG Purple

Best Infused Product

1st Place: Grateful Meds – 5 Layer Caviar Moonrock
2nd Place: Northern Connections – Liquid Loud Blue Razz
3rd Place: RR Luxury In A Puff – Luxury Pre-Rolled Cone

Best Edible

1st Place: Zilla’s Performance Products – Strawberry Shorties
2nd Place: PB Cup Cheesecake – Afternoon Delite
3rd Place: Mitten Moms – Moms Banana Pudding

Best Vape Pen

1st Place: Church Cannabis CO – Gods GIft Key Fob
2nd Place: Lemon Berry – Afternoon Delight
3rd Place: Shattered Thoughts – Purple Punch V Slim Pod

Best Indica Concentrate

1st Place: CoCO Extracts – Green Fire OG
2nd Place: Grateful Meds – Forbidden Fruit htfse/hcfse live sauce
3rd Place: Jedi Kush by Michigan Extracts

Best Sativa Concentrate

1st Place: Ghostbudsters Farm – Super Lemon Haze Live Resin
2nd Place: COCO Extracts – Tropic Berry OG Cake Batter
3rd Place: Pure Clouds- Bahama Mama THCA

Best Hybrid Concentrate

1st Place: Legendary Gardenz x CoCo Extracts – Orange Cookie Badder
2nd Place: High Level Heath Michigan – Blue Skunk Live Butter
3rd Place: ArborSide Compassion x Fregrowli – Cherry Lime Haze

Best CBD Concentrate

1st Place: Rogues Island Genetics X Something Bitter Concentrates Apple Pharm Live Resin
2nd Place: Lightsky Farm – cosmic jumper cables
3rd Place: Lightsky farms – Scandinavian Moose Lodge

Best Nonsolvent Concentrate

1st Place: Ghostbudsters Farm x Covert Extracts – Mother’s Milk Live Rosin THCA with Terp Sauce
2nd Place: Wojo Wax – Cream D’mint Live rosin
3rd Place: Special Blend Gardens x StankyRoc – Melonade No.7

Best CBD Vape Pen

1st Place: Lightsky Farms – Moose Cookie
2nd Place: Lightsky Farms – Cosmic jumper Cables
3rd Place: Mary’s Medicinals – Distillate 3:1 Cbd: THc Pax Era Pod

Best CBD Edible

1st Place: Great Lakes Extracts – Milk Chocolate Bar
2nd Place: Captain Kirk’s X Grumpy Beaar Farms X Pure West – Solar Soup
3rd Place: Smoking Lamp Extracts x Smoking Lamp Meds – CBD Strawberry Jam

Best Topical

1st Place: Zilla’s Performance Products – Highly Effective Extra Strength Organic Healing Skin Treatment
2nd Place: Ella Essentials – Ella Essentials Cannabis Body Butter
3rd Place: Urban Roots X CoCo Extracts – Freeze Cannabis Lotion

Best CBD Flower

1st Place: Kyle Gardner x First Class Gardens – Cannatonic #4
2nd Place: Rogue’s Island Genetics – Apple Pharm
3rd Place: Lightsky Farms Cosmic Jumper cables
The Cannabis Cup itself was a big winner, with High Times folks claiming 50,000 visitors in one day — the most ever at a Michigan event.

Beyond the Cannabis Cup, there are plenty more marijuana winners. For instance, the Marijuana Regulatory Agency announced that in May, its first full month of operation after taking over for the former Bureau of Medical Marihuana Regulation it had either approved, gave preliminary approval, or denied 213 license applications. That's a whirlwind of activity compared to the old licensing board. The MRA has found some efficiencies in considering applications on an ongoing basis rather than just at monthly meetings.

There are now 202 licensed marijuana businesses in Michigan. That's good for everybody to have this stuff moving along and settled. At last week's public meeting, MRA staff announced that the application process will be made easier in the future.

And then marijuana users in general just got some good news, too: Apparently, we are not cursed by the munchies. An observational study by the National Epidemiologic Survey of Alcohol and Related Conditions analyzed the body weight index for 33,000 participants over three years. Although almost everybody gains weight over time as they age, marijuana users' weight gain was at a slower pace than non-users. In fact, when various factors were accounted for, marijuana users on average weigh two pounds less than non-users.

Researchers aren't sure of the reason for this difference, but warn that marijuana use is not a weight-control program.

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