‘Steinmetz says that as cannabis moves out of the black market, customers want to know more about it. “The next step in the evolution of the industry is to know where it is coming from — who grew it, where they grew it and how they grew it,” he says.’
As the cannabis industry continues to grow in California and across the US certain aspects, such as where the plant is grown will likely be key differentiators for up and coming companies. In addition to the specifics of how the plant is grown there has already been a change in addressing the plant by its formal name, cannabis, instead of weed or marijuana. More changes are expected as this industry develops and transforms.
‘Swami estimates that the annual cannabis crop in Mendocino is worth between $2.6bn and $5.4bn at wholesale prices, a lifeline for the farmers. “It is the last refuge of the family farm,” he says. “You go into the wilderness, you work hard and you come back with your crop. In some crazy way it is the American dream.’
Everyone wants to jump on board as the cannabis industry booms with the hopes to be the one that sweeps the market. So far start-ups have popped up all over California and Colorado.
“Silicon Valley lies 300km south of the farmers’ market but its presence is clearly felt. Marijuana is the latest craze to sweep through the tech world, as entrepreneurs and investors look to cannabis to be the next big thing.”
In California the cannabis industry looks a bit different than other states with legal medical marijuana. A lot of tech-based companies are partnering with dispensaries providing software, apps and big data.
“Investments in marijuana-related companies have reached $200m over the past 12 months, quadruple the levels of the previous year, according to CB Insights, a venture capital database.”
One company that has taken off is Ezae which delivers cannabis to your door, the model is similar to Uber. As more dispensaries open up across the US it will be vital to find ways to make yourself unique such as offering delivery or finding a unique niche in the market.
Holistic Primary Care, a monthly publication with a subscriber reach of 60,000+ holistic-minded physicians and other healthcare practitioners, has tapped Laura Lagano, MS, RDN, CDN as their go-to person about cannabis and therapeutic topics. Check out Laura’s inaugural article!
Parents have been desperately trying to find relief for their children suffering from neurological disorders like schizophrenia and autism. Thanks to the Obama Administration’s efforts in late June bureaucratic obstacles that were prohibiting the compounds found in cannabidiol oil from being researched were removed. This opened up legal avenues to apply marijuana medically and there is at least now hope for more research into what types of therapeutic relief can be found for children suffering from these disorders.
“Compared to the studies done for schizophrenia, which number more than 1,000, autism and marijuana has gotten almost no research attention”.
Unfortunately, autism still has little to no research being conducted to see if the symptoms can be treated using the compounds found in cannabidiol oil. Social media movements, however, may play a key role in gaining attention to drive further research.
“That hasn’t stopped a grassroots movement from growing up around using pot as an autism therapeutic, with one Facebook group, MAMMAS (Mothers Advocating Medical Marijuana for Autism), boasting almost 5,000 followers, and one writer and autism parent advocating for its use from a public pulpit.”
The concern about the long term effects of THC and the question of whether or not a short term relief is worthwhile have slowed down the efforts to begin research. This has led authors to push for the research to be in high-cannabinoid/low-THC products.
“No one brings up using willow trees for pain or blood thinners, even though they originated the active compound in aspirin, and no one says they take ’foxglove’ as a heart medication–they take digoxin instead.”
There needs to be a shift in the way we think and talk about marijuana because the plant is full of many compounds, some harmful and some beneficial. Our focus needs to be on the parts of the plant that can help us find a cure for disorders that desperately need a solution.
On July 17th, Washington state was the 11th state to add Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injuries into list of qualifying conditions for medical cannabis. Unfortunately, Colorado state has refused to do the same about a week before Washington’s decision due to lack of scientific evidence to prove its safety and effectiveness. This might be bad news for a lot of veterans.
“A dozen of the veterans who testified said cannabis has saved their lives. Many said drugs legally prescribed to them for PTSD at veterans clinics or by other doctors — antidepressants, antipsychotics, opioids and others — nearly killed them or robbed them of quality of life.”
Others, who could not acquire cannabis or receive suitable treatment, turned to suicide to escape the PTSD torture.
“Pot helped,” said Cammarata, a US Army medic who served in Iraq. He figures it probably kept him from committing suicide during his years living in the Netherlands.
But he didn’t find full relief until he combined the drug with counseling, exercise, meditation, hypnosis and other forms of therapy …
In fact, some PTSD patients usually qualify to get medical marijuana for chronic pain even though they cannot qualify through PTSD. Otherwise, many more are self-managing the condition by paying a higher tax for recreational marijuana or even purchasing it on the black market. This leads to inevitable hardship attempting to keep track of the pros and cons of medical cannabis use specific to PTSD patients. And the consequence will be going back to square 1 where we have not enough scientific evidence if the board is going to review again. The cycle can go on and on.
One of the state-funded medical marijuana investigators, Sue Sisley, who is looking at effects on veterans’ PTSD said, “federal policy on marijuana is a prime reason research is scant.”To change this situation, the federal government should be more open to scientific research on cannabis and its cannabinoids. It seems irrational to restrict cannabis when its potential benefits outweigh its minor psychoactive effects compared to the long list of side effects in the commercials of current drugs on the market.
“But what has generated the renewed interest and excitement are the anecdotal reports that some children with otherwise untreatable severe epilepsies respond well to CBD extracts and oils (please see Porter & Jacobson 2013; Hussain et al. 2015).”
CBD is one of the main therapeutic agents that help treat one of the many symptoms/ diseases, like epilepsy, that are traditionally harder to treat with any current medicines. The other symptoms/ diseases also includes rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, PTSD, schizophrenia, neuropathic pain, seizures, convulsions and the list goes on.
In previous blogs we talked about some benefits of cannabis (find previous blogs cannabis green juice, cannabis-brain, cannabis-sleep), we briefly mentioned about chemicals in cannabis such as cannabidiol or CBD and tetrahydrocannabinol or THC. In truth, most of the medicinal value we find in cannabis is greatly related to CBD.
CBD is non-addictive and has great neuro-regulating properties. It can bind to our receptors (such as some G-protein receptors in the central and peripheral nervous systems (CNS/ PNS), 5-HT serotonin receptors and adenosine receptors) on cells of our body to instruct it to carry out different tasks. Anti-inflammatory, spasticity and epilepsy reduction, neuropathic pain-relieving, anti-depressant and neuro-regulatory functions can all contribute to the CBD medical value. It works also as an antagonist to THC’s exhibitory or anxiety effects on your CNS that helps regulates a lot of unwanted side effects from THC. Although CBD still have some psychoactive effects but it is more a relief type which mainly acts in the body unlike THC.
“Several drug companies have recently developed CBD-based medications, and one of these, called Epidiolex, is now being tested in clinical trials. Epidiolex was developed by GW Pharmaceuticals and has been given to more than 400 children under the FDA’s expanded access (“compassionate use”) program.”
More studies are on the way, including US department National Institute of Health or NIH such as National Cancer Institute, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and National Institute on Drug Abuse are conducting studies to relate possible use and treatment for different disorders because CBD has a great medicinal value.Unfortunately, CBD rich strains are rare. The reason is because of the cross-breeding for the recreational cannabis which has high THC level and low CBD level. Also, with the reason that cannabis use is still prohibited in some of the states (currently only 23 states legalized medical cannabis). It is very hard for people to obtain quality medicinal CBD. Legalizing medical cannabis would help to open up more funding opportunities for cannabis research. And hopefully in the very near future, we will be able to see more people getting medical relief or even a cure by CBD and medical cannabis.
Roll roll roll, flip flip flip, and an hour later, you are still on your bed with your eyes wide open? Want a good night’s sleep? Cannabis may be able to help.
A study published in June 2015 tried to find out the mechanism of how cannabis improves sleep disorders. Researchers did a correlation study between the type and concentrations of cannabinoids (tetrahydrocannabinol or THC and cannabidiol or CBD) in different strains of cannabis that human subjects consumed and their sleep quality in a dispensary in California.
Subjects who self-reported using cannabis to treat sleep problems have a choice of what strains of cannabis to use such as sativa/sativa varieties, indica/ indica varieties or hybrid of both varieties. These participants from dispensaries are better subjects as they use cannabis straight from the plant. A cannabis plant contains different kinds of cannabinoids with varying effects. Though cannabinoids such as CBD and ∆9-THC have both psychoactive effects, ∆9-THC provides the primary psychoactive effects.
“Studies have examined sleep effects following laboratory administration of cannabinoids, but laboratory-based studies do not necessarily translate to “real world” behaviors as cannabis choice is not afforded within the laboratory context.”
Out of the 163 subjects, 50% of them used cannabis to treat insomnia symptoms and 9% used cannabis for nightmares. Most of the subjects preferred sativa and primary sativa varieties for nightmares while there was not as much preference for insomnia and sleep quality.
What kind of cannabis should you use? According to the study, there seems to be no definite answer. Subjects who had a harder time sleeping (i.e., subjects who have insomnia or longer self-report latency) used cannabis with a higher concentration of CBD. While subjects who often resorted to sleep aids used lower THC cannabis compared to those who were less dependent on sleep aids. There was no association between cannabis use and sleep problems.
It is also worth noting that indica has higher THC than sativa and therefore more likely to develop cannabis dependence or cannabis use disorder (CUD). Therefore, for those who does not want to have major psychoactive effects, THC concentration might be something that you want to pay attention to.Although this is a very primitive study of its kind, it certainly sets a ground for future cannabis use studies because in one cannabis plant there are hundreds other cannabinoids besides THC and CBD. The real value of cannabis would not be discovered unless more extended research can be done.
