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Category Archives: Alternative Medicine

Native American healing class sparks unique health textbook – ABC News

Posted: July 19, 2017 at 4:10 am

Laughter can combat trauma. Spiritual cleansings could be used to fight an opioid addiction. Cactus extract may battle diabetes and obesity.

These insights are from curanderismo traditional Native American healing from the American Southwest and Latin America.

University of New Mexico professor Eliseo "Cheo" Torres' has included these thoughts in a new, unique textbook connected to his internationally-known annual course on curanderismo.

"Curanderismo: The Art of Traditional Medicine Without Borders," released last week, coincides with Torres' annual gathering of curandero students and healers around the world at the University of New Mexico. For nearly 20 years, healers and their students have come to Albuquerque to meet and exchange ideas on traditional healing that for many years were often ignored and ridiculed.

Torres, who Is also the university's vice president for student affairs, said the popularity of the annual course and a similar online class he teaches convinced him that there needed to be a textbook on curanderismo.

"This textbook came out of the experience of this class and the ideas that have been shared through the years," Torres said during a special morning ceremony with Aztec dancers on campus. "From healers in Mexico to those in Africa, many have long traditions of healing that are being rediscovered by a new generation."

Curanderismo is the art of using traditional healing methods like herbs and plants to treat various ailments. Long practiced in Native American villages of Mexico and other parts of Latin America, curanderos also are found in New Mexico, south Texas, Arizona and California.

Anthropologists believe curanderismo remained popular among poor Latinos because they didn't have access to health care. But they say the field is gaining traction among those who seek to use alternative medicine.

"I believe people are disenchanted with our health system," Torres said. "Some people can't afford it now, and they are looking for other ways to empower themselves to heal."

The textbook gives a survey of medicinal plants used to help digestive systems and how healers draw in laugh therapy to cope with traumatic experiences.

Ricardo Carrillo, a licensed psychologist and a healer based in Oakland, California, said he's seeing younger people look to curanderismo to help with challenges like addiction and physical pain.

"Yes, you have to go through detox and do all that you are supposed to do to get yourself clean," said Carrillo, who came to the Albuquerque workshop to speak. "Curanderismo can give you the spiritual tools to keep yourself clean and look to a higher power."

Among the ailments curanderos treat are mal de ojo, or evil eye, and susto, magical fright.

Mal de ojo is the belief that an admiring look or a stare can weaken someone, mainly a child, leading to bad luck, even death.

Susto is a folk illness linked to a frightful experience, such as an automobile accident or tripping over an unseen object. Those who believe they are inflicted with susto say only a curandero can cure them.

Follow Russell Contreras on Twitter at http://twitter.com/russcontreras

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Skip the SupplementsHere are 30 Foods to Eat Instead – Men’s Health

Posted: July 18, 2017 at 4:09 am


Men's Health
Skip the SupplementsHere are 30 Foods to Eat Instead
Men's Health
The problem: While the pills used in scientific studies are carefully tested for quality and dosage accuracy, most consumer OTC supplements are largely unregulated, says Mark Moyad, M.D., director of preventive and alternative medicine at the ...

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Chuck Norris powers up role of alternative medicine – WND.com

Posted: July 15, 2017 at 11:10 pm

Dr. Keith D. Lindor is dean of the College of Health Solutions at Arizona State University. He is an international authority on liver disease, past president of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, and a former editor-in-chief of the preeminent journal Hepatology. He is also the former dean of Mayo Clinic School of Medicine. Dr. Lindor is but one of an impressive list of prominent doctors who have long shared a positive view of the benefits of alternative medicine and therapies.

Dr. Lindors views were shaped early in his career, working alongside a Native American medicine man at a reservation clinic. I had been trained to aggressively treat patients with drugs that often only made them even more ill, he told David E. Freeman in 2011. But he could often do much better with just a press of his hand.

In his new role with Arizona States College of Health Solutions, Dr. Lindor emphasizes a holistic approach to treatment in preparing the next generation of health professionals for entry into a quickly evolving health care system.

The notion that alternative medicine is a legitimate response to mainstream shortcomings is a message that has long been spreading. In recent years, integrative medical-research clinics were springing up all around the country, at least 42 of them at major academic medical institutions including Harvard, Yale, Duke, the University of California at San Francisco, as well as the Mayo Clinic. According to Newsmax, a national consortium to promote integrative health now counts more than 70 academic centers and health systems as members. There were eight in 1999.

Whether called complementary, alternative, or integrative treatment, an estimated 42 percent of all hospitals in the U.S. now offer nonconventional medical services. The Osher Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco is on pace to get more than 10,300 patient visits this fiscal year and is expanding its clinical staff by a third. Duke Universitys integrative medicine clinic saw its total visits jump 50 percent in 2015 and the number continues to climb. Its estimated as many as 38 percent of all adult Americans are using some form of alternative therapy.

While the medical community seems grow more open to alternative medicines possibilities, the rise of alternative therapies has sparked tension. Many doctors and administrators hold fast to the view that alternative medicine is, at best, a dubious business that is undermining the credibility of medical institutions and science-based medicine.

Why all this institutional interest in alternative medicine? Money is certainly a part of it. Its a $37 billion-a-year business. Why wouldnt the medical establishment want a part of that? But what doctors really need to focus on is why patients want such care? In large part, its because mainstream medicine is failing them. This is especially true of people such as my wife, those who come into the system with a hard-to-pin-down ailment. Many doctors today dont seem to do well with things they dont understand, and how they handle being at a loss for a clear prognosis or treatment plan can make a patients situation even worse. Whats needed is to not lose focus on whats best for a patient. This is where alternative medicine, with its adherence to a healing model of patient care, can make a difference.

Why not encourage a patient to try an ancient remedy or a spiritual healing technique if its unlikely to cause them harm and may provide some relief? At this point of treatment, relieving patient stress needs to be a goal. Stress can make existing problems worse.

Once youre sick, stress can make it harder to recover and create a higher risk for a bad outcome. In this situation, whos to say that traditional Chinese medicine, which like many alternative approaches, focuses on patients feelings and attitudes, stress reduction and encouraging the patient to believe in self-healing is not of value?

In David H. Freedmans 2011 comprehensive report on alternative medicine for the Atlantic Monthly, nearly every physician he spoke with agreed the current system makes it nearly impossible for most doctors to have the sort of relationship with patients that would best promote health. Relationships where there is an actual conversation; where doctors can maybe follow the clues patients give them about what they feel might help them.

As he notes in the article, if an alternative practitioner is also a medical doctor, or works in conjunction with one, its hard to see whats being risked.

If it doesnt work, I dont know that youve lost anything. If it does, you do get to a better place, Dr. Richard Lang of the Cleveland Clinic Wellness Institute recently explained to STAT News.

While you can argue that the evidence of alternative medicines effectiveness is far from absolute, neither is the evidence for various pharmaceutical therapies that are routinely provided by doctors and hospitals. The list of much-hyped and often heavily prescribed drugs that have failed to combat complex diseases seems to grow daily, some with well-documented risks of horrific side effects. Some of the solutions, such as opioids to treat pain, have contributed to an addiction problem that has reached epidemic proportions.

The biggest problem with alternate medicine in an institutional setting is the costs. Insurance coverage has been slow to catch up with current medical practices that incorporate alternative approaches. Not all integrative medicine clinics are designed as big profit centers. Many are funded by philanthropists and some hospitals say they operate their alternative programs at a loss. The Mayo Clinic, for example, a medical center renowned for the excellence of its medical care, is known for its relatively low cost of care.

It also needs to be stressed that there is a lot of quackery out there under the guise of alternative medicine. Selecting an alternative medical provider and treatment should be done with care and trusted referrals.

Write to Chuck Norris with your questions about health and fitness. Follow Chuck Norris through his official social media sites, on Twitter @chucknorris and Facebooks Official Chuck Norris Page. He blogs at ChuckNorrisNews.blogspot.com.

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Viagra professional – Viagra professional online – The Village Reporter and the Hometown Huddle

Posted: at 11:10 pm


The Village Reporter and the Hometown Huddle
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Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop posted a defense of its jade eggs for vaginas. It’s a mess. – Vox

Posted: July 14, 2017 at 5:11 am

Gwyneth Paltrows Goop, a lifestyle company dedicated to helping people find health solutions, has become an easy target for medical bloggers and journalists who relish a good takedown.

The pile-on keeps happening because Goop keeps making claims that beg for debunking: from bogus energy healing stickers purported to be made from the same material as spacesuits (theyre not) to the claim that negative emotions can spoil your drinking water (nope) to the never-ending obsession with detoxing the body (which if youre not a heroin addict you dont need). (At Vox, weve written about many of these.)

On Thursday, the team at Goop posted what it says is the first of many articles confronting its critics. It mostly focuses on Dr. Jen Gunter, an OB-GYN and blogger whos become one of the most prominent voices in the Goop wars. (Gunters personal website has a dozen-plus posts just from this year making the case against Goop claims.)

Rather than offering a clear and coherent defense of alternative medicine, Goops statement is filled with ad hominem attacks and baldfaced hypocrisy. But its Goops central defense of its editorial decision-making that reeks most of Goopshit.

Goop mockery crystallized into a fervor early this year when the site posted this whopper of a headline: Better Sex: Jade Eggs for Your Yoni.

The post featured a Q&A with Shiva Rose, a beauty guru/healer, who claimed that inserting egg-shaped jade rocks into the vagina can help cultivate sexual energy, increase orgasm, balance the cycle, stimulate key reflexology around vaginal walls ... [it goes on for a while] ... and invigorate our life force. And Goop, of course, would be happy to sell you said eggs for just $66.

The backlash to this absurdity was swift and furious. Among the first to respond was Gunter, who pointed out that the eggs are probably ineffective and potentially dangerous. Jade is porous and can trap bacteria, increasing the risk of bacterial vaginosis or deadly toxic shock syndrome, as Voxs Belluz explained it.

Its not clear that any of this coverage has hurt Goops business. It 2016, the company raised $15 million to $20 million in venture capital. In May, it inked a magazine deal with Cond Nast. Hundreds of people recently spent between $500 and $1,500 to attend a Goop summit in Culver City, California.

Still, its clear that Paltrow and her business partners are deeply irked, particularly with Gunter, whos the primary target of the attack.

Goop singles out Gunter in the third paragraph of the statement and then invites two of its affiliated doctors to add their two cents. But they dont have much in the way of ammo. One of the doctors, Steven Gundry, grounds most of his critique in the fact that Gunter dared to use the word fuck in a blog post criticizing Goop.

I have been in academic medicine for forty years and up until your posting, have never seen a medical discussion start or end with the F-bomb, Gundry wrote.

It appears that neither Goop nor Gundry appreciates that Gunter, an OB-GYN, is actually concerned with womens health. (They implied Gunter was not on the side of women taking ownership of female sexual pleasure. Gunters rebuke of the jade eggs in fact had to do with the risk of bacterial infections.)

Theres a lot more thats passive-aggressive in the Goop post. For one, Goop complains that Gunters concern about bacterial infections from the jade eggs was strangely confident. Was it more strangely confident than saying jade eggs can help cultivate sexual energy?

You can find plenty more examples of hypocrisy, but whats really concerning is when Goop rationalizes its editorial decision-making.

We simply want information; we want autonomy over our health, Goop writes. Thats why we do unfiltered Q&As, so you can hear directly from doctors; we see no reason to interpret or influence what theyre saying, to tell you what to think.

The argument here is that the information in the Q&A (and around the site) is meant to empower women to make choices about their health. Our primary place is in addressing people, women in particular, who are tired of feeling less-than-great, who are looking for solutions these women are not hypochondriacs, and they should not be dismissed or marginalized, Goop writes.

This defense, though, is unjustifiable.

For one, as others have pointed out, marketing bogus products to women isnt dealing empowerment; its dealing false hope. Or worse: Its exploitative.

Yes, many women do not feel great. They are looking for solutions. But as a media property devoted to wellness, Goop should have a responsibility to tell them the whole story.

Where have we heard this style of defense before? From another famous broadcaster of dubious health advice: Dr. Oz.

In 2014, Oz testified before a Senate subcommittee about his role promoting green coffee extract, which he claimed aided in weight loss. My job, I feel on the show, is to be a cheerleader for the audience, he said. And when they don't think they have hope, when they don't think they can make it happen, I want to look ... for any evidence that might be supportive to them.

Hope is great. But any evidence to support it wont do. Peoples money is on the line. And so is their health. The evidence doesnt have to be 100 percent clear-cut, but it should exist.

Goop says its just asking questions about possible wellness solutions. And, as the site writes, what we dont welcome is the idea that questions are not okay. The problem is not that the Goop team isnt asking questions. Its that theyre not asking enough questions. Their curiosity should lead them to wonder, How can a piece of jade actually affect my energy levels? Whats the biological mechanism? Are there any studies on safety or efficacy at all? And if there arent, shouldnt we let readers know?

Even if the jade eggs dont pose any infection hazards, the truth still remains: Theres no evidence in support of their benefits.

Where would we be if we all still believed in female hysteria instead of orgasm equality? Goop writes. That smoking didnt cause lung cancer? If every nutritionist today saw the original food pyramid as gospel?

Yes, health myths need to be busted. But theyre not busted in softball interviews with self-styled gurus. Theyre busted in the lab.

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One FDA About-Face Doesn’t Mean an Orphan-Drug Bonanza – Bloomberg

Posted: July 12, 2017 at 12:26 pm

Sometimes it pays to look a gift horse in the mouth.

For example, take the FDA's rare course reversal on Tuesday: It let AmicusTherapeutics Inc. seek accelerated approval for rare-disease drug Galafold, after last year saying the biopharma firm would need more data before seeking approval.

Amicus shares jumped nearly 26percent on the news, which could be a positive sign for other drugmakers dealing with tricky FDA issues. They may have reason to hope the agency will be more flexible, as new commissioner Scott Gottlieb has vowed. But it's hard to tell how far that flexibility will extend -- and whether it really is the boon it seems.

About Face

The FDA changed its mind about one of Amicus Therapeutics' drugs, and the firm saw its biggest share price jump in more than 20 years

Source: Bloomberg

The FDA's decision is clearly big news for Amicus. Galafold, which treats Fabry disease, is already approved in Europe. But it faced a potentially multi-year path to the much more lucrative U.S. market. The medicine could now U.S. see approval in2018, which should substantially boost sales expectations that took a hit after the previously announced delay.

Down on the Upside

Galafold sales estimates plunged after the FDA demanded more data on the drug before considering it for approval; they should rebound after the agency changed its stance

Markets took this hint of a friendlier FDA as great news for other firms worried about getting drugs approved. For example, shares of GW Pharmaceuticals PLC, which wants the agency's OK on a marijuana-derived medicine in a rare seizure disorder, rosemore than 6 percent on Tuesday. Meanwhile, PTC Therapeutics Inc. -- whose application for a muscle-wasting disease drug has gotten rocky FDA treatment so far -- rose more than 5 percent.

It Was a Good Day

A number of firms with complex dealings with the FDA saw their shares jump on Tuesday alongside Amicus

Source: Bloomberg

Anyshift in the FDA's approach is most relevant to firms making drugs for rare diseases, also known as orphan drugs. The agency is already somewhat more flexible in these cases anyway, because alternative medicines aren't available, because Congress has mandated more leeway, and because patient populations are so small that it's hard to run gold-standard clinical trials.

Firms with such treatments also get longer exclusivity periods, speedier FDA reviews, and unparalleled pricing power. According to an analysis by life-sciences data company Evaluate LLC, the average annual per-patient cost of an orphan drug last year was $140,443, compared to $27,756 for a non-orphan medicine.

Investors may think the FDA will now be even more flexible with these drugs, leading to a flood of lucrative new approvals. That jump in PTC Therapeutics' share price suggests expectations may have gotten ahead of reality, though. PTC is isforcing an FDA review of its drug over the agency's objections after its medicine failed a Phase 3 trial.

Even a more-flexible FDA doesn't necessarily mean drugs with little evidence of effectiveness or dangerous safety issues will get approved. The FDA may now review some drugs it might previously have rejected out of hand. A few medicines that might previously have been rejected may get to market. Butit's unlikely the FDA's standards will be drastically lowered.

And an FDA approval is far from aguarantee of success anyway. Someone has to pay for these costly medicines, and it's usually not patients -- it's insurers, which are increasingly throwing up roadblocks to obtaining such drugs. There have already been reported reimbursement barriers for Sarepta Therapeutics Inc.'s treatment for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, which was approved last year despite the strenuous objection of some FDA scientists due to limited evidence of its usefulness. A looser FDA won't make insurers any more willing to pay for high-priced drugs that may have safety or efficacy issues.

So the FDA's Amicus decision either represents a new approach to approvals, in which case payers and patients may balk. Or it is just a one-off or marginal shift, meaning its impact is limited. Either way, investors hoping for a flurry of new orphan-drug approvals should prepare to be disappointed.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg LP and its owners.

To contact the author of this story: Max Nisen in New York at mnisen@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Gongloff at mgongloff1@bloomberg.net

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Valtrex after expiration – Alternative medicine for herpes simplex 2 – Van Wert independent

Posted: July 10, 2017 at 8:17 pm

VW independent/submitted information

DELPHOS A Delphos couple were injured in a home invasion assault that occurred Saturday morning.

David and Dianna Allemeier of 209 S. Pierce St. in Delphos were both taken to St. Ritas Medical Center in Lima for treatment of injuries received when a man gained entry to their home and reportedly assaulted them.

Delphos Police were first called out at 6:05 a.m. Saturday on a report of a suspicious person in the 300 block of Jackson Street who was knocking on doors and then walking away. However, while en route to that call, officers were informed that a man had been injured and was bleeding in the 200 block of Pierce Street.

When officers arrived on the scene, they found Allemeier bleeding from an injury to his neck. The Delphos resident said he received the injury from a man who had gained entry into his home.

Officers approached the residence and found the back door unlocked and a lot of blood at the scene. The home was secured and a K-9 and Crime Scene Unit sought from the Allen County Sheriffs Office.

Allemeier then said his wife was still in the house and officers then entered and found Mrs. Allemeier, who was also injured, in the bedroom area of the residence.

After the Allemeiers were transported to the hospital, a K-9 search was made of the area, and the house was processed by an Allen County sheriffs deputy.

No information was released on whether items were taken from the Allemeier house.

Police are currently seeking a young, skinny white male with black hair, possibly wearing cutoff shorts. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Delphos Police Department or Allen County Sheriffs Office.

The investigation is continuing, with no further information forthcoming at this time.

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Sacred Space, University of Miami partner to educate community on wellness – Miami Herald

Posted: at 8:17 pm


Miami Herald
Sacred Space, University of Miami partner to educate community on wellness
Miami Herald
She will work with Osher Center Director Dr. Robert Schwartz, who shares her passion for alternative medicine. Schwartz was named director of the new Osher Center in May as a result of a $5 million endowment from the Bernard Osher Foundation. Schwartz ...

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A Memoir of Chronic Fatigue Illustrates the Failures of Medical Research – The New Yorker

Posted: July 9, 2017 at 12:11 pm

Fifteen years ago, Julie Rehmeyer was a science journalist leading an active, outdoorsy life in New Mexico. She ran marathons, biked regularly, and taught mathematics and classics at St. Johns College. Just outside Santa Fe, on a parcel of streamside land, she had even built her own housea straw-bale construction shaded by ponderosas, meant for the family she hoped to have one day. Then, over a period of a few years, Rehmeyer lost most of her strength, endurance, and confidence, along with the ability to live a normal life. A bike ride left her bedridden. A trip to the grocery store found her using the shopping cart as a walker. At home, she could make it to her bedroom only by climbing the stairs backwards, scooting herself up a step at a time. By 2006, she was no longer able to exercise, and needed to rest whenever she wasnt working.

Through the Shadowlands , Rehmeyers new book, chronicles her struggles since then. She attempted years of conventional and alternative medicine, moved to a different state, broke up with her partner, and, finally, cobbled together a functional life. Her condition, which affects an estimated million other Americans, goes by various nameschronic fatigue syndrome, myalgic encephalomyelitis, and systemic exertion intolerance disease (S.E.I.D.), among others. (S.E.I.D. seems to me the most descriptive term, so Ill use it here.) The Mayo Clinic defines it as a complicated disorder characterized by extreme fatigue that cant be explained by any underlying medical condition.

Rehmeyers writing is full of verve and curiosity, and shes warmly attuned to how her plight is, in fact, familiar: all of us become weaker as we age, at times gradually and at times suddenly, and along the way we adapt ourselves to fit our diminished capabilities. Still, her story is a biting indictment of how we approach diseases that cant be reduced to tidy pathologies or a uniform set of symptoms. In a way, science failed Rehmeyer. Years of clinical studies supplied little insight into her affliction, and prescribed therapies had minimal effect. Part of the issue is that S.E.I.D. is a slippery condition with no known cure, but the deeper problem lies in the methodology of clinical trials, and in the premises of evidence-based medicine.

The most prominent study of S.E.I.D. is the PACE trial, an experiment conducted on six hundred and forty-one patients in the United Kingdom. The study was published in 2011, in the English medical journal The Lancet , and reported improvements in fatigue and physical function under two treatments: cognitive behavioral therapy and graded exercise therapy. These findings were used to reinforce recommendations by Britains National Health Service. But, in the years since, the PACE trial has been sharply criticized by both scientists and patients. One of their chief objections is that the PACE research team, while collecting its data, changed the main metric of recovery from objective measures, such as fitness and employment status, to subjective ones, such as the patients self-evaluations over time. As Rehmeyer points out, this meant that the study could claim recovery even when a patients walking ability was considerably worse than that of a healthy elderly adult. (The PACE pool had an average age of forty.)

The studys conclusions were also easy to misinterpret. In a given trial, theres always variation: some people get better, some get worse, and others improve on some measures and decline on others. With S.E.I.D., where the treatments are speculative and the condition itself is not clearly defined, it makes sense that cognitive behavioral therapy and graded exercise therapy would help at least some subset of people. But we should be careful when using averages to make inferences about causes and effects on individuals. S.E.I.D. is a diverse conditionindeed, it could very well be a set of conditions, amenable to various treatments but lumped under a common diagnosis. The success of some strategies for some percentage of people does not at all contradict the idea that many others need a lot more. As Simon Wessely, a contributor to the PACE study and a pillar of the English medical establishment, noted, there were a significant number of patients who did not improve with these treatments . . . PACE or no PACE , we need more research.

The controversy over the PACE study reflects a larger crisis in public health. Traditionally, the controlled trial has been considered the gold standard of medical evidence: you gather a bunch of patients and randomly assign some to a control group, which receives no treatment, and some to an experimental group, which does. You then compare the outcomes, and if the difference is large enough, exceeding the bounds of chance or natural variation, the result is said to be statistically significant. In designing the experiment, you want enough people in your study that you are likely to find a statistically significant difference; this is called high power.

There are two key problems with this approach. First, what happens when a treatment helps some patients and not others? Average improvements are, and should be, relevant to organizations such as the N.H.S., but only individual or subgroup analyses can reveal the full range of effective therapies. This, however, leads us to the second problem: if you limit your investigation to a smaller group, then it will have less statistical power. The conclusions drawn from studying subgroups are inherently noisier and likelier to misleada fact that doesnt pair well with researchers desire for snappy conclusions and clear-cut results. Though the controlled trial nicely demonstrates the efficacy of strong treatments on well-defined conditions, it falls apart, from a statistical perspective, when applied to a phenomenon that, in Rehmeyers words, science doesnt understand.

For conditions like S.E.I.D., then, the better approach may be to gather data from people suffering in the wild, combining the careful methodology of a study like PACE with the lived experience of thousands of people. Though most may be less eloquent than Rehmeyer, each may have his or her own potential path to recovery.

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Friday Night looking to expand production capability as Las Vegas customer go potty – Proactive Investors UK

Posted: July 8, 2017 at 4:11 am

Friday Night Inc () is looking for larger premises in Las Vegas so it can keep up with demand for cannabis.

The companys subsidiary, Alternative Medicine Association (AMA), had a record month in June as Las Vegas retailers stocked up on product ahead of the legalization of the sale of recreational marijuana in Nevada.

AMA earned $902,000 in gross revenues for the month of June, 2017, up from $291,000 the previous month.

Going legal has been a good move for Nevada in terms of tax revenues, with sales of US$3mln in the first four days of the new era bringing in US$500,000 of tax revenue.

Friday Night said it expects demand for dried cannabis and derivative products to continue to grow and consequently is looking around for bigger facilities for AMA.

"Timing is everything and we feel that every day counts in this sector as it evolves so quickly, said Brayden Sutton, chief executive officer of Friday Night.

American roots, but global growth; we have a first-mover advantage in Las Vegas that will only last so long. While we are elated with the increasing performance of AMA, we are also in a constant state of evaluating additional accretive opportunities to further our brand around the world," he added.

Shares in Friday Night were up 19% at C$0.25 in lunchtime trading.

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