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Dr. Greg Gerdeman: Human Endocannabinoid System Awareness

4/28/2016

Dr. Greg Gerdeman is an assistant professor of biology at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida, whose research has focused on neurobiology and the human endocannabinoid system. He recently joined our podcast host Shango Los for a conversation about what the human endocannabinoid system is, why current medical students are not being taught about it, and how he thinks that medical cannabis may serve as a preventative measure against ailments brought on by endocannabinoid deficiency. Listen to the episode below, or scroll down for the full transcript!

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Shango Los: Hi there and welcome to the Ganjapreneur.com podcast. I am your host, Shango Los. The Ganjapreneur.com podcast gives us an opportunity to speak directly to entrepreneurs, cannabis growers, product developers and cannabis medicine researchers, all focused on making the most of cannabis normalization. As your host, I do my best to bring you original cannabis industry ideas that will ignite your own entrepreneurial spark and give you actionable information to improve your business strategy and improve your health and the health of cannabis patients everywhere.

Today, our guest is Dr. Greg Gerdeman. Dr. Greg Gerdeman is an assistant professor of biology at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida. He has actively researched the neurobiological targets of cannabis since entering graduate school at Vanderbilt University in 1995. There, his doctoral dissertation in pharmacology included seminal discoveries about the functioning of endocannabinoids in the brain, especially within neural circuits involved in motor control and pathologies of movement and compulsive disorders. His work at Vanderbilt and subsequently the University of Arizona was funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and earned multiple awards for excellence from the International Cannabinoid Research Society.

More recently, Dr. Gerdeman co-directed a study supported by the National Science Foundation investing the release of natural endocannabinoids during endurance exercise. His papers have appeared in top-tier scientific journals including, “Nature and Neuroscience,” and, “Trends in Neuroscience,” and have been cited over 1,500 times in the scientific literature. His research has been highlighted in press pieces ranging from Science to National Geographic to Men’s Health. He coauthored a chapter in, “The Pot Book: A Complete Guide to Cannabis,” and has written as a guest commentator on medical marijuana for the Tampa Bay Times. At Eckerd College, he teaches courses in physiology, neuroscience, and pharmacology. Presently, Greg is Chief Science Officer at 3 Boys Farm in Ruskin, Florida.

Welcome to the show, Greg.

Greg Gerdeman: Thank you. Thank you for having me very much.

Shango Los: One of the reasons I was so interested in having you on this show is because not only do you have a deep understanding of the endocannabinoid system but also you are interested in the cultural aspects of humans coming to realize that we even have an endocannabinoid system and how that is changing culture itself.

The first half of the show, we are going to talk about the endocannabinoids science behind it. Then, the second half, we are going to talk about humans waking up to this realization.

Let’s get people started with an explanation of what the endocannabinoid system is and what role does it play in our bodies.

Greg Gerdeman: That sounds great. I am happy to do that. What are the endocannabinoids? Here, here I go into the narrative of discovery already. They come about because science, ever since the discovery of the plant cannabinoids, THC and cannabidiol (CBD), there was a big scientific endeavor to figure out what they’re doing in the brain. Admittedly, there was great institutional negative bias about it. The research was directed to figure out how things go wrong, whether we get addicted or go mad with cannabis.

What we came to discover out of that research climate, that funding context, is that the body contains intrinsic molecules, signaling molecules that act much like THC and likely other cannabinoids do.

One way to look at that when I talk to people is to say, “What is the signaling molecule?” All cells in the body communicate by releasing various kinds of signaling molecules, like a hormone is a signaling molecule that travels through the blood and the pancreas can communicate with cells in the body by releasing insulin and telling them to get ready for the cells to be ready for sugar.

We came to find in the ’90s that nearly every brain cell, the neurons of the brain release these molecules that we call endocannabinoids that act in many ways like THC does to turn down excitability, excessive activity that can be toxic in the brain, and to mediate processes like perception and learning and memory. They’re kind of like the body’s own cannabis molecules in a sense. They’ve been called the body’s internal marijuana. There’s a good reason to say it that way.

Shango Los: If I am following you correctly, the cannabinoid receptors are receiving the signals from our own endocannabinoids that are made within our body and those signals tell the endocannabinoid system how to modulate any one of these systems. Am I following you?

Greg Gerdeman: Yeah, I think so. It is how cells communicate with one another. The cannabinoid receptors on nerve cells, immune cells, and a whole variety of other cells, the cannabinoid receptors are there to receive the signal but so many different tissues and cell types release these endocannabinoids in order to tell their neighbors what is going on and especially to calm down in excited states, like with seizure activity, excessive activity in neural cells, or with immune cells when they’re getting super inflamed and active. Endocannabinoids get released and cells communicate with their neighborhood by releasing these endocannabinoids and dampening down in general the activity.

Shango Los: All right. That makes sense. If we produce endocannabinoids in our system, what is the benefit for us in adding more cannabinoids to our system by ingesting the cannabis plant?

Greg Gerdeman: There’s lots of way to approach that. One of the direct ways is we more and more and more believe that in certain cases of pathology, there is a deficit, a physiologically relevant, clinically relevant deficiency in endocannabinoids that may be to blame for the depressed mood or the state of say, seizure activity, or chronic pain. Situations like fibromyalgia and migraine. These are where there is a good solid body of evidence that some people suffering from these pain states have for whatever genetic reasons lower levels of activity in this endocannabinoid system. Treating with plant cannabinoids is quite legitimate to say like supplementing this endocannabinoid system.

There is a huge growing body of research, as mainstream as science research gets, that this endocannabinoid system is an intrinsic mechanism for cellular protection, neural protection. Mainstream science has referred to the endocannabinoid system as the brain’s intrinsic neuro-protective system. It is a system by which we maintain balance, what physiologists call homeostasis. Endocannabinoid signaling is part of keeping that balance set point. It is so complex because it is distributed throughout all of the systems of our body. On a case to case basis, different individuals or different syndromes, you may be needing to boost that endocannabinoid system or it may be therapeutic to do so.

Shango Los: Right on. This next question is based entirely on rumor. I do understand the science from having Dr. Ethan Russo on this show that when we fall into endocannabinoid deficiency that it can lead to all sorts of our systems becoming out of whack and can lead to fibromyalgia or worsening of PTSD, irritable bowel syndrome, all sorts of stuff. The rumor part of it is that just in friendly conversation at cannabis conventions, some folks will suggest that the reason that we are seeing an increasing in these disease nowadays is because historically the human had access to cannabis because we continually grew it as we evolved.

However, in the last 70 years, cannabis has been out of the hands of Americans and so because of that, our body, which was used to including cannabinoids, suddenly that supplementation is gone and so we are only left with our endocannabinoids, leading to an increase in these related diseases. Is there any scientific basis for that or is that just people talking around the water cooler?

Greg Gerdeman: It seems pretty speculative. I like the thinking but certainly there is a lot of great modern scholarship about how the cannabis plant has spread across the world. In my roles, when I am talking, for example, debating people around public policy and whether cannabis should be used as medicine in the very close-minded place of the Southeast, I run into doctors who say, “It has been used a long time but so what? So was Strychnine.”

Cannabis has been used for such a long time but it is not just that it is an old medicine that makes it good. It is a medicine that has been used since before recorded history. Our earliest medical documents show that it is there and it has been preserved for thousands of years and across dozens of migrations and cultural transitions, grown, cultivated, selected for traits. We, as humans, have certainly shaped the evolution of cannabis.

The flip side of that question where I read what you are talking about is whether our cultivation of cannabis has helped to shift and shape our evolution as human beings. That would be a theory of co-evolution, which is certainly a scholarly thing to speculate.

As a biologist, I am much more comfortable saying that we have a mutualistic relationship. Cannabis helps human health and we have cultivated cannabis and advanced it for that reason.

When it comes to things like fibromyalgia and chronic pain states being exacerbated, I am more comfortable saying that is because of the chronic stresses that we have in our life that are characteristic of industrialized, 9 to 5, traffic jam reality. We know from really good scientific research that the endocannabinoid system gets assaulted by chronic stress. The endocannabinoid system is part of the body’s stress buffering system. No doubt about it. I could talk about that in very fine detail that might make your listeners kind of glaze over because we know brain networks and molecules and animal situations where that happens. Your system of endocannabinoids in your brain, your endocrine system is part of your body’s stress buffering system and chronic stress wears it out.

Supplementing with plant-based cannabinoid medicines may just have been there all along, granted we have been in this overlong experiment of suppressing it. It has kind of been there almost like an old friend coming to the rescue kind of thing.

Shango Los: If our stressful lives are calling for us to supplement our endocannabinoid system with cannabinoids that we have grown in the cannabis plant, does it matter in what way we ingest those cannabinoids? Whether it is combustion through smoking a joint or a tincture, eating something edible. Does the form that the plant takes when we put it into our body play a role in the quality of those cannabinoids?

Greg Gerdeman: My take from what people are doing and the experience of my more clinical colleagues is really that it depends a lot on what condition you are talking about. We have come to find out that cannabis can be therapeutically helpful in so many ways, not just stress. Many ways that were not anticipated, even 10 years ago.

Going with the flow I was on, let me say that I am a big believer that for your primary care and taking care of yourself, the first step should not be getting the right balance of cannabis cannabinoids, it should be de-stressing and focusing on what makes your life better. Getting to the root of the problem and where you are out of homeostatic balance in your life. I will leave it at that very broad brushstroke there.

If someone has chronic, some sort of anxiety condition that gets triggered, for example PTSD, for certain symptom control, inhalation, like vaporizing or smoking is unsurpassed because you can administer a low dose and achieve an effect, even a sub-psychoactive effect, and sort of what we call titrate to dose very quickly. Take a puff. Get what you need and go about your day.

Then, other symptoms, since I started with PTSD, I will continue there, a major problem is sleep and being scared of sleep, being woken up with nightmares and there, some sort of edible product, a little pill, a little gummy, what have you, a little oil at night, as I understand from patient report and what is largely hearsay for me because I don’t work with patients is that that kind of thing is very helpful for a significant number of patients. They may have different modalities. That is where having an integrative cannabinoid medicine approach that takes what the person is dealing with, combined with a respectable understanding of the cannabis medicine and the different products, it just becomes part of a health program. That is really what is so lacking in medicine today is having a program about your health as opposed to just getting a script and popping pills.

Shango Los: Yeah. The big difference between preventative medicine versus acute care.

Greg Gerdeman: Exactly.

Shango Los: Greg, we need to take a short break. We will be right back. You are listening to the Ganjapreneur.com podcast.

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Welcome back. You are listening to the Ganjapreneur.com podcast. I am your host, Shango Los. Our guest this week is endocannabinoid researcher and author, Dr. Greg Gerdeman.

Before the break, Greg, we were talking about the endocannabinoid system and kind of giving people a superficial understanding of what their endocannabinoid system is and the proper care and feeding of it. One of the things that I am interested in how your papers come across is that you like to also talk about the idea of humans realizing that we even have an endocannabinoid system and how it is starting to shape and shift care.

How much has the knowledge of endocannabinoid deficiency and the existence of the system grown in the last 10 years? It seems new.

Greg Gerdeman: It is new. It is not as new as it seems sometimes but it is new, really. It is really new since the early ’90s. It has been growing by leaps and bounds. It is like a floodgate, really.

When I think back, when I started getting into this, just to ask a room what cannabis is, that wasn’t much in the vernacular, at least in Tennessee, where I was at. Endocannabinoids, nobody knew anything about. I sometimes get spoiled or fooled into thinking more people know about it than they do. Maybe because I look at my Facebook feed and it is just all about it.

Shango Los: Yeah, we live in a bubble, Greg.

Greg Gerdeman: It’s true. People are learning more and more about it. It is only going to continue because in my view, it is one of the epic scientific discoveries of the second half of the 20th Century, maybe the whole 20th Century. It is a gigantic paradigm-shifting discovery about cellular communication.

Shango Los: At a systemic and doctor-patient relationship level, how is the discovery and I guess more popularization of the endocannabinoid system changing the way that we look at our body’s systems and healing and preventative care?

Greg Gerdeman: I think at the basic science level, and this is largely researchers that are in labs, it is really changing models of how health and disease work in a lot of systems. Even various cancers, a cannabinoid sort of system problem may be part of the ideology of the tumor disease growing. It is more at the level of the basic research though.

By and large, outside the pockets of cannabis normalization, as you talk about, which I love that term, outside of those pockets, there’s tremendous naivete about what it is. I was meeting doctors at a conference just this past weekend who knew nothing about the endocannabinoid system and their eyes are looking like mine did when I was a 20-year-old graduate student. There’s much to learn about it.

Shango Los: Sometimes I will engage with Western doctors who do not have the cannabis knowledge but they’ll come to me to talk to about some aspect of patient care because since I am in the industry, I sometimes know more than the doctors do. They ask me about it and then I mention the endocannabinoid system and so often, I get this kind of blank look on their face that they actually don’t even know that we’ve got one.

People joke that they don’t teach the endocannabinoid system in med schools and that they have only just recently started teaching it. Is there any truth to that? Do they teach it in med school?

Greg Gerdeman: The thing is largely no, but more and more. I have talked about it all along for a long time. It is also sometimes said within the cannabis culture, we learn about the skeletal muscular system and the cardiovascular system, why not the endocannabinoid system? They’re not quite the same. It is not a perfectly fair comparison because the endocannabinoids are molecules. You don’t see those with your naked eye. It is not an anatomically distinct system, anatomical system per se.

The endocannabinoid system is mechanism that is shared throughout the tissues in the body. It is a key mechanism by which I daresay every tissue system in the body regulates itself. It has been most pronounced in our understanding of the brain and the immune system. Then, I think that is where the greatest action is, so-to-speak.

Awareness is growing. What can I say? The neuroscience textbook that I teach my undergraduate neuroscience course with and is the most popular undergraduate neuroscience textbook by Mark Bear and colleagues, it has three pages on endocannabinoids. It cites my work and others and it calls it, “The most exciting discovery in cell signaling in the past several years.” My undergraduates are learning about it.

Whether physicians are going to have entire courses in medical school or not, it certainly needs to be integrated into much of their curriculum and experience beyond just the little module they have about why drugs make you high and addicted, which is sort of traditionally where it gets pigeonholed.

Shango Los: Right on. Right on. That makes sense. On a practical level, is it true that always adding more cannabinoids is good or can the endocannabinoid system become overwhelmed because I am over-supplementing with cannabinoids?

Greg Gerdeman: I would lean towards the latter. I am definitely not going to say it is always going to be better. I think I have learned a lot from some of my colleagues, like Dustin Sulak and Bonnie Goldstein and doctors that really work with this that sometimes going too much and developing tolerance to the cannabis, it puts patients back into a negative experience. What they need for therapeutic dosing is really low. Regular micro dosing of cannabis.

I am very interesting in the preventative health mindset of low, frequent, or relatively often dosing with cannabis or sort of the acid raw cannabinoids that aren’t psychoactive possibly being a healthy approach to staving off neurodegenerative disease, like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s that we know are related to chronic inflammation.

On the other side and this also is buried in the more rigorous science, there are conditions that may be exacerbated by CB1 activation. There is concern that activation of CB1 receptors in the vasculature of the blood vessels may help to promote atherosclerosis or consequent increased stroke risk, for example. I think there should be more research into that. There certainly may be cases and sort of particular individuals or genetic predispositions, where it is not a good idea at all to engage in cannabis as medicine.

Shango Los: Wow. I have never heard that before. That is brand new information for me. Now, this begs this question and I am going to ask you for a number. I know that I am asking you to do something that is challenging. I want you to rise to the occasion.

Let’s say that someone, like me, who doesn’t necessarily have one of the typical health issues that CBD is recommended for. However, I appreciate the neurogenesis and neuro-protectant qualities of cannabinoids. I just want to take a supplement daily that will help me not have Alzheimer’s, not develop into Parkinson’s. Just something to help me as I get older. I actually do that. I have grown my own ACDC at 20 to 1 and made my own tincture and had it lab-tested. Every day, I have a squirt of it and it is 5 milligrams of organic CBD and a little bit of water and boom. I don’t know that 5 milligrams is the right amount to actually help me long term.

Based on your research, can you just give us ballpark figure of what somebody who is wanting to stay healthy but not necessarily targeting it for a particular issue that they are trying to fix, how many milligrams of cannabinoids should we be trying to put into our bodies a day just as a simple supplement? Micro dosing, that doesn’t tell me much numerically and I would really love to have that number.

Greg Gerdeman: Right. When you are talking about CBD, it is a shot in the dark. Sure, 5 milligrams, 10 milligrams, that makes sense to me. That makes sense to me and I totally resonate with what you are saying about why not try that? With the group I am working with in Florida, 3 Boys Farm, who wants to get into growing, that is the kind of product that we think would be very good for health, wellness, and prevention.

The thing is there is so much of a skilled research structure, research and institutionalized environment in the U.S. that has been shackled to study this stuff. I think that people should get together in groups, whether its crowdsourcing or through medical center initiatives or something. It would just be great for all of us to accumulate that data and track it. People are doing it anyway, and why shouldn’t they? It is just absurd that it should be prohibited like it is. Utterly absurd and it just seems to me like everybody knows that but I know they don’t. It should be tracked if we really want to be able to get a handle on that dose.

In animal studies and those then can be very hard to extrapolate because mice metabolize things much faster than humans do, for example. That would suggest that low doses. I just mentioned a possible risk factor like atherosclerosis, hardening of the arteries but in a highly published prestigious published mouse paper, super low doses of THC, like microgram doses in mice, which metabolize it better than we do, had lower incidence of atherosclerosis, hardened arteries, which is a risk factor for all kinds of cardiovascular disease and number one killer in the U.S.

Work by people like Gary Wenk and others at Ohio State looking at Alzheimer’s disease models in mice show really low doses, regular frequent doses. He started calling it his “Puff-a-day” model, like taking a puff a day of cannabis could stave off these chronic neurodegenerative diseases. Oftentimes, we know if it runs in our family or we have a good sense of it, why not? There is no good reason to think that we shouldn’t let people self-experiment with that and have the liberty to do it. Let’s unshackle the research engine to follow that and make our future generations all the more informed about it.

Shango Los: That’s great. That tells me both that my 5 to 10 milligrams a day is a good place for me to go and all of our support for continued research is a good call.

Greg Gerdeman: I think so.

Shango Los: With that we are going to take another short break and be right back. You are listening to the Ganjapreneur.com podcast.

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Now, back to the Ganjapreneur.com podcast.

Welcome back. You are listening to the Ganjapreneur.com podcast. I am your host, Shango Los. Our guest this week is endocannabinoid researcher and author, Dr. Greg Gerdeman.

In the first segment, we talked about the nature of the endocannabinoid system and what it is and how to feed and water it. Then, in the second part, we talked about the importance of endocannabinoid research and how it is coming into the public consciousness. A great deal of the people who are listening to this show are entrepreneurs who want to make the most of cannabis normalization by both bringing a good product to market that also helps patients.

Greg, can you give us an of how best entrepreneurs, who want to be able to deliver a product that is rich with CBD to help feed the endocannabinoid system, can do that?

Greg Gerdeman: Yeah. Thanks. I think that is a great question. Personally, I am excited to see how much companies and entrepreneurs are taking to trying to educate patients and the public. I see so much talk about the endocannabinoid system within the context of cannabis businesses that as an educator, I am excited about it. They’re talking science. That needs to keep up. Building inroads to help educate physicians about that and normalize their concepts of CBD and endocannabinoid-based medicines is key.

Speaking of products, one of the things I am really excited about is the progress moving forward with non-psychoactive topicals, whether it is CBD or the acids like THCA, CBDA. There is so much potential there. As a great personal case in point, I have been invited to give a keynote continuing medical education accredited lecture at a Congress of Clinical Rheumatology at a conference in Destin, Florida next month. It is one of the largest conferences of clinical rheumatologists, mainstream docs that don’t study cannabis and I am giving a talk on cannabis and cannabinoid biology. I am thrilled to be asked. The point is these are doctors who I am going to try to focus on immune system modulating effects, the notion of topicals that are not psychoactive at all, and it does help to break down these barriers to understanding the cannabinoid system as a therapeutic system. Personally, I think as that sort of health care normalization goes on, more physicians will understand that we really know a lot about its effects in the brain and its psychoactivity as well and it will be less scary.

Shango Los: Putting myself in the shoes of a product developer, I would think that I would be excited about pretty much taking any edible product I am making, whether it be a tincture or a capsule or an actual tasty snack edible, and just put 5 to 10 milligrams per serving, just add it to it as a supplement and that way, whether it is a patient and they need the CBD or if they are a recreational user and are using cannabis for its stress-relief and life quality enhancements, either one is going to be benefiting from having 5 milligrams of cannabinoids added to whatever they are ingesting. Would you agree with that?

Greg Gerdeman: Yeah, I think so. Of course, if you are talking about THC proper, 5 milligrams can be high for people. That is not really what you are talking about.

Shango Los: No. No. No. I am talking about the non-psychoactive family.

Greg Gerdeman: Right.

Shango Los: Like cannabidiol.

Greg Gerdeman: It makes sense. I am not going to be an expert to talk about the balancing act that has to be worked with the FDA vis-a-vis dietary supplements or treating some sort of condition but speaking commonsensically, absolutely. I agree with you 100%.

Shango Los: Right on. Right on. The last question before we wrap up here is as a product developer and let’s say that I am growing a high CBD strain, for example ACDC or Remedy, and so I am not growing it for its THC content. I am growing it for its cannabidiol and other cannabinoids. Are there certain processes of extraction that degrade the cannabinoids that they are trying to deliver to their customers? Are there specific extraction methods that just walk all over cannabinoids that we would want to avoid?

Greg Gerdeman: Gosh. I am learning more and more about the actual hands on extraction methods. I think mostly it is avoiding heat and that those methods that will start to generate high heat certainly will enhance the rate of oxidizing and breaking down the cannabinoids into something that you may not want and not hitting your desired target because I think it is certainly important to know what is in there, at least from a medical perspective and if we want to track of time, like I said, research what works and what doesn’t. It is really important to know what’s in there.

Extraction methods, there are lots of really great experiments going on with extraction methods. Certainly, myself intuitively am opposed to the butane and other hydrocarbons as extraction methods. That doesn’t make sense to me as a health-promoting thing. Otherwise, there are lots of different things that can be done with cold alcohols and super critical fluid extraction and just sort of slow-pressing it into oils of choice or the solventless sort of hash methods. I think that is why these vertically integrated systems, although we hope to get into that in Florida, it is not really what Florida should do. There should be a rich entrepreneurial market to try these different artisanal sort of products and let the entrepreneurs help figure all of that out by open dialogue.

Shango Los: It also sounds like almost a commercial for Rosin Tech and just trying to squish flowers into oils since it’s mostly friction and weight and very little heat at all.

Greg Gerdeman: Yeah. They’ve got an angle. Sure.

Shango Los: That’s all the time we have for today, unfortunately. I have really enjoyed having you on the show there, Dr. Greg Gerdeman. You have such an elegant way of explaining the endocannabinoid system. I think it makes it really accessible. Thank you so much for being on the show.

Greg Gerdeman: It is my pleasure. Thank you. I hope to be speaking more. I am working on a book. I hope to be out there more and more. I really appreciate being on this show.

Shango Los: To find out more about Dr. Greg Gerdeman, you can simply do a Google search, which will bring you several articles, interviews, and a few videos. You can also connect with him directly via email if you want at glgerdeman@gmail.com. You can find out more about his work with 3 Boys Farm at their website, 3boysfarm.com. That is with the number 3. If you want to learn more about the endocannabinoid system, you can go all the way back to episode number three of the Ganjapreneur podcast with Dr. Ethan Russo, where we discussed the science behind endocannabinoid deficiency and its impacts on health.

You can find more episodes of the Ganjapreneur podcast in the podcast section at Ganjapreneur.com and in the Apple iTunes Store. On the Ganjapreneur.com website, you will find the latest cannabis news, product reviews, and cannabis jobs, updated daily, along with transcriptions of this podcast. You can also download the Ganjapreneur.com app in iTunes and Google Play. Do you have a company that wants to reach our national audience of cannabis enthusiasts? Email grow@ganjapreneur.com to find our how. Today’s show was produced by Pat Packett. I am your host, Shango Los.

End

Maine Cannabis Legalization Initiative Will Appear on Nov. Ballot

4/28/2016

Cannabis legalization advocates in Maine have successfully cleared the hurdles of getting a recreational marijuana initiative approved for this November’s ballot, according to an Associated Press report. The referendum initiative now goes to lawmakers, who can either approve the proposal straight out or wait and let voters decide come November.

The Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, which is backed by the Marijuana Policy Project, submitted nearly 100,000 signatures last month after a lengthy petition.

While the initiative only required 61,123 valid signatures to be approved for the ballot, a legal challenge made by Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap nearly brought the whole campaign crashing to the ground. Dunlap originally rejected the initiative, saying that a faulty notary signature had led to more than 17,000 invalid signatures. Per Dunlap’s count, after the systematic disqualification of thousands of signatures, the campaign was still about 10,000 short.

Advocates challenged the rejection, filing a lawsuit against the petition’s disqualification. A Superior Court judge then ruled that it was unfair to disqualify signatures over slight differences in a notary’s handwriting, and sent the petition back to the secretary of state for reconsideration. Dunlap announced Wednesday that an additional 11,305 signatures had been approved, meaning the MPP-backed proposal was approved for November’s ballot.

David Boyer, Maine’s political director for the MPP, said, “We think that regulation and controlling marijuana and putting it behind the counter is a far better approach than giving drug dealers a monopoly.”

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LCB Work Group to Tackle Pesticide Regulations, Lab Proficiency Standards

4/27/2016

The Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (LCB) has organized the formation of a lab proficiency standards and pesticides focused work group comprised of regulators, industry leaders and cannabis lab specialists.

The group, whose first meeting takes place this Thursday in Olympia, will work to determine lab proficiency standards for Washington’s cannabis testing labs, as well as how to proceed with the regulatory control of pesticide use on legal cannabis crops.

Jeremy Moberg, owner of CannaSol Farms in Okanogan County, said in a phone interview this is likely the first time the LCB has organized a collaborative effort between enforcement agencies, industry representatives and the testing labs themselves. Moberg was invited by the LCB to Thursday’s work group.

“I think it’s great,” he said. “The working group is meant to collaborate varying opinions from parts of the industry.”

The pesticides issue has vexed regulators for some time, and with marijuana product recalls now an alarming reality in both the Washington and Colorado markets, Thursday’s work group will seek to safeguard Washington consumers from dangerous pesticides while fostering growth in the industry.

Currently, all regulations for pesticide use on agricultural products fall under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). Because cannabis remains federally prohibited, however, this has led to particularly restrictive limitations for commercial marijuana growers. The Washington State Department of Agriculture has announced a list of approved pesticides for commercial cannabis growers — on an agricultural scale, however, the options are minimal.

According to a document issued by the LCB last September:

Use of a pesticide on marijuana is allowed if:

The active ingredient is exempt from the requirements of a tolerance on all food crops (e.g., auxins, biopesticides [most active ingredients], copper, cytokinins, gibberellins, petroleum oil, phosphorous acid, pyrethrins, soap, sulfur), and

The label has directions for use on unspecified food crops, home gardens or herbs (outdoor or enclosed), including unspecified food crops or herbs grown as bedding plants. (Marijuana will not be specifically listed as a crop on the pesticide label.)

Thursday’s meeting will be the first of several sessions aimed at taking control of cannabis pesticides on a local level. The group also will likely discuss whether or not further pesticides should be approved for commercial growers. The absence of federal legalization, however, complicates things.

“The biggest issue in front of the federal government is consumer safety,” Moberg told Ganjapreneur. “And the biggest problem we have is that states are not able to regulate pesticides to ensure public safety is met in this industry. It’s actually illegal for states to regulate pesticides.”

“[Cannabis] is a crop that’s both consumed orally and inhaled, and there’s a lot to be studied there,” he said. “My fear is the federal government goes through all of this and comes up with a laundry list of toxic pesticides that are someday going to be allowed on cannabis.”

Moberg hopes the work group will reach an agreement to guarantee safety for Washington consumers from potentially toxic pesticides.

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Nebraska and Oklahoma Seek to Join Court Challenge Against Colorado Cannabis Laws

4/27/2016

The attorneys general in Nebraska and Oklahoma have filed a motion to be added to two existing lawsuits attempting to shutter Colorado’s legal marijuana program, following the U.S. Supreme Court decision to dismiss a lawsuit by the states last month.

If the motion is approved, Nebraska and Oklahoma would be added to the suit brought by sheriffs in Colorado, Nebraska and Kansas, and owners of a horse ranch in Pueblo County, Colorado. Those cases were both independently dismissed by a lower court but the plaintiffs have asked for an appeal, which will be heard by the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver, according to The Denver Post. Both appeals requests were merged into a single suit.

The Colorado suits share a common plaintiff – D.C.-based Safe Streets Alliance – and argue that federal drug law should supersede state law. The border states’ lawsuit alleges that Colorado’s legalization of cannabis violates their sovereignty and has forced them to spend more money on law enforcement due to the increased number of people caught bringing marijuana into their states.

The suit by the horse ranchers focuses on their rights under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). The statute aims to eliminate “the infiltration of organized crime and racketeering into legitimate organizations operating in interstate commerce.” Additionally, the ranchers say a neighboring marijuana cultivation facility – which they refer to as “an illegal drug conspiracy” – impedes their views and interferes with construction plans on their 105-acre property.

The Appeals Court will decide if it will add the states to the suit, but no timeline on that decision is available.

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Hawaii Resolution to Study Drug Decriminalization Passes Senate

4/27/2016

Hawaii’s House and Senate have approved a resolution requesting that the Legislative Reference Bureau examine the potential impact of decriminalizing some drugs, including marijuana and marijuana concentrates, according to a Marijuana.com report.

In addition to marijuana, the scope of the study would include Schedule III, IV and V drugs. Drugs such as heroin and ecstasy are Schedule I, along with cannabis, but will not be included in the research. Schedule II drugs, such as methamphetamine and cocaine, are also excluded.

The original version of the resolution introduced in the House included Schedule I and II drugs, however the version approved by the Senate limited the program to include only offenses pertaining “to the illegal possession of a harmful drug, detrimental drug, marijuana or marijuana concentrate.”

The amended resolution will head back to the House, who passed the measure 37-7 last month, where it will need to be voted on again before it is official.

“We shall see what the House has to say about this, they wanted ALL drugs to be part of the study and it was their resolution,” Carl Bergquist of the Drug Policy Forum of Hawai’i, told Marijuana.com.

In testimony to the House Committee of Judiciary, DPFHI wrote that decriminalizing drug possession for personal use would decrease the state’s prison population, treat drug addicts instead of incarceration, and free up law enforcement to deal with more “pressing issues.”

The study would be due later this year in order to be ready for the legislature’s 2017 session.

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King County, WA Passes Moratorium on New Marijuana Businesses

4/26/2016

Seattle’s Metropolitan King County Council has approved a four-month moratorium on applications for cannabis producers, processors, and retailers in unincorporated areas of King County.

The emergency bill, drafted by Council Vice Chair Reagan Dunn, was written to address concerns about a recent increase in the number of applicants seeking approval to operate in rural parts of unincorporated King County. Council members are concerned that allowing production in these areas could violate King County’s rural zoning laws.

“For unincorporated communities in King County, the Council acts as the local government,” said Dunn. “It is therefore our job to make sure we are adequately serving and protecting the areas we represent. This moratorium will give us more time to study this issue in more depth and potentially make changes to better preserve rural communities.”

Rural zoning laws in King County were written with the intent to “preserve the rural character” of unincorporated areas. Rural residents have voiced concerns about the potential impact of cannabis production facilities in their communities, such as neighborhood crime, smells, noise, and environmental dangers.

The King County Council will study the potential for these during the moratorium, which began April 25th. The moratorium does not affect areas within city limits.

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Montana Supreme Court Delays MMJ Program Restrictions

4/26/2016

Montana’s Supreme Court will delay enforcing the severe medical marijuana restrictions it upheld in a February ruling until Aug. 31.

In that case, the court ruled in favor of a Senate Bill 423 – a 2011 state law that limited dispensaries to supplying cannabis to just three patients.

State Health officials argued for the delay on the grounds that it would take them at least four months to update the registry and notify patients, according to the Associated Press report. Chief Justice Mike McGrath, who was in the majority for the February decision, wrote that “immediate implementation of the court’s opinion will cause serious disruption” of the medical marijuana program, and allowed the delay.

The Montana Cannabis Industry Association had challenged the February decision, saying it would leave patients without legal access to their medicine and force dispensaries to close.

“This is devastating for cancer patients, seizure victims, people in hospice, and other Montanans and their families across the state,” Kate Cholewa, an association spokesperson, said.

Advocates are hoping to rebuild the system decimated by the ruling through a signature drive for a new initiative, I-82, which would appear on November’s ballot.

The initiative would undo the three-person limit and add post-traumatic stress disorder to the list of approved conditions for cannabis therapy. I-82 also aims to establish licensing fees to pay for the program, require licensing for providers and calls for yearly dispensary inspections.

Medical marijuana infrastructure was permitted in Montana following a 2004 initiative. The legislature all but gutted the program by passing SB 423 in 2011, but key provisions, such as the three patient limit, went unenforced as it underwent legal challenges.

End

Dope Cup 2016 in Seattle; Winners and Photos

4/26/2016

The annual Dope Magazine Dope Cup happened in Seattle, WA last week and was yet again a fabulous party. Of all the things that Dope Magazine does well, putting on stellar events is at the top of the list. There is always enough room to dance but not too much room, the performers they bring in really get the crowd moving and the award winners seem deserving.

There was a bit of intrigue this year when headline performer Waka Flocka Flame posted to his Instagram that he required paramedic help after getting too stoned. We are not all that surprised because Waka was saying after every song how totally baked he was — yet kept taking monster hits off a giant blunt he was passing around with the crowd.

A good night was had by all due to the “open consumption” agreement Dope Magazine secured from the City of Seattle, which allowed attendees to puff. It was pretty cool to be at an all-cannabis event with no beer vendors.

We look forward to this event again next year. Dope Cup winners and photos of the event below.

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Florida Anti-MMJ Effort Seeks $10 Million

4/26/2016

Anti-marijuana political mogul Mel Sembler has announced plans to raise $10 million in order to block this year’s voter initiative to legalize medical cannabis in the Sunshine State.

Sembler said in an interview with The Tampa Bay Times that the business boom from legal cannabis is only another hurdle. “It’s always a challenge, particularly when there’s a major profit on the other side and there’s no profit on our side.”

Sembler is, along with his wife, a founding member of the Drug Free America Foundation. In 2014, the pair helped raise the $7.5 million used to defeat that year’s medical marijuana ballot initiative.

“We’re trying to save lives and people’s brains,” Sembler said. “It’s not a medicine.”

Because there is a presidential election this year, however, experts predict a larger turnout of younger and Democrat voters, both of which will play to the advantage of marijuana reform. Recent polls have indicated that more than 60 percent of Florida voters are in favor; 60 percent is the threshold for success in a Florida ballot initiative.

United for Care campaign manager Ben Pollara said in a statement:

“Mel Sembler can spend whatever he wants to try and deny sick and suffering Floridians relief in the form of medical marijuana, but the will of the people is stronger than his money. United for Care will wage a statewide campaign to counter Sembler’s dishonest attacks and medical marijuana will pass in November.”

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Washington’s Douglas County Proposes Banning Outdoor Cannabis Production

4/25/2016

A proposal in Douglas County, Washington seeks to limit the state-licensed marijuana production in the county to only indoor locations.

The proposal also targets odors originating from cannabis companies of all types. “No marijuana producer, processor or retailer shall emit excessive odors detectable at any lot line of the property of the marijuana production, processing or retail sales,” reads one section of the drafted county code amendments.

The legislation shines light on an unfortunate and ongoing bias against legal cannabis that has been propagated by elected officials, some of whom would rather see the industry pushed underground and out-of-sight than have it flourish in plain view.

Jedidiah Haney, Board Secretary of The Cannabis Alliance, said in a phone interview that such a move would only perpetuate some of the industry’s most alarming environmental impacts, specifically in regards to energy consumption. “If you put this in the agricultural spectrum, this is pretty crazy — it’s pretty extreme,” he said.

According to Haney, the growing costs of indoor cannabis already amount to one percent of the national energy infrastructure. “You can’t sustain indoor agriculture on those rates,” he said.

Farmer Tom Lauerman of Farmer Tom Organics believes the outdoor ban would be “missing out on a lot of job opportunities.”

Lauerman, who is known for his advocacy work on behalf of heritage cannabis growers and the smaller marijuana farms that have struggled to persevere through Washington’s flooded retail market, said that “With the amount of cannabis that’s being sold out there on the recreational market, any county that turns down [outdooor growing] is really taking a step backwards.”

There will be an informational open house on the subject that will lead into a more formal public review process — these events have not yet been scheduled, however.

The full draft of the proposed Douglas County Code amendments is available online.

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Making Cannabis Plants Thrive with Phosphorus

4/25/2016

Phosphorus (P) is an essential macro element, required for the success of all known life forms, including cannabis plants. P is especially important for early stage root development, stem strength, resistance to disease, nutrient uptake, flower formation and yield. All aspects of cannabis growth and development are explicitly dependent on P availability.

Phosphorus acts as a catalyst to support important biochemical reactions required for new cannabis growth, such as: photosynthesis, cannabis metabolism and nutrient uptake. For example, the most important chemical reaction in nature, photosynthesis, utilizes light energy to generate chemical structures called adenosine diphosphate (ADP) and adenosine triphosphate (ATP). These high-energy phosphate containing molecules drive all the necessary biochemical reactions (using a process called phosphorylation) to support internal energy transfers – facilitating cellular division (i.e. cannabis growth) throughout the entire life cycle of the cannabis plant from seedling to bloom.

Nutrient uptake is another critical function that is facilitated by ATP (energy), because this process requires the active transport of nutrients to oppose osmotic forces within and outside the plant cell membrane. ATP is also the energy source that allows for the synthesis of many key cellular components, including phosphoproteins, phospholipids, and sugar phosphates.

Phosphorus is vital in order to maintain the cannabis plant’s genetic integrity from one generation to the next. For example, P is a primary component of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), which is a molecule that stores the genetic instructions used for cannabis development and reproduction. Phosphorus is also a component of ribonucleic acid (RNA), the compound that reads DNA (i.e. the genetic code) to build structural, functional and reproductive compounds used across the cannabis plant life cycle – from early stage cellular development to later stage bloom production. Both DNA and RNA are linked together by phosphorus bonds. Healthy cannabis development is explicitly linked to its genetic make-up – which is unconditionally dependent on P availability.

Phosphorus deficiency can impair the plant’s ability to take up other essential nutrients, and can significantly reduce cannabis health, immunity to disease, crop quality and harvestable yield. Cannabis plants that are deficient in P often exhibit stunted growth and may display symptoms such as leaf discoloration. This happens because, when P is deficient, sugars accumulate and cause anthocyanin pigments to develop, sometimes producing a reddish-purple color.

Real world phosphorus challenges in production

Phosphorus is one of the most globally limiting nutrients for crop productivity. The largest natural deposits of rock phosphate mined for commercial agriculture are limited to a few countries, including: China, Russia, Morocco, and USA. This is a challenge, because inorganic P fertilizer is used in most commercial – agriculture fertilizer programs across the world. Due to increasing agriculture demand for P- along with the finite global supply of rock phosphate- finding sustainable technologies to deliver P to plants is a major challenge that scientists across the world are actively focused on solving.

Although P is widely distributed in natural systems, it mostly exists in mineral forms or as organic matter that cannot be directly taken up by plants. Rock phosphate is used as the primary source of inorganic P fertilizer for traditional commercial agriculture; and manure is the primary source of P used in organic agriculture management practices. However, these forms of P need to be broken down into dissolved orthophosphate (P043-) to be utilized by the plant. A challenge that limits cannabis P uptake is the inherent chemical binding characteristics of most growth media such as soil, peat, and coco. For example, up to 70% of P applied to these types of growth media can become almost immediately unavailable for plant uptake due to natural chemical binding and chemical transformations. In practice, most growers apply excessive P fertilizer to soils and growth media in order to deliver ample P for plant growth. Optimizing cannabis plant nutrient use efficiency (defined as yield per unit P input) is a challenge that most indoor and outdoor cannabis producers commonly face.

Many studies have cited that harnessing the natural power of soil microbes can help maximize nutrient use efficiency and plant P uptake. Soil microbes can be utilized to naturally unlock bound nutrients, transforming nutrients back into plant available forms, maximizing P availability to significantly increase plant P uptake and in turn maximize the phenotypic potential of the cannabis plant for optimal growth, quality and yield.

While most growth media contain some microbes capable of cycling P, there are now commercially available organic microbial formulations with superior P-mobilization functionality. The future success of cannabis productivity depends on these new biological solutions to sustainably deliver P to cannabis plants. The adoption of microbial biostimulants (i.e. beneficial bacteria) in cannabis production can greatly increase plant P uptake, leading to increased cannabis health, quality and yield. The development and adoption of innovative biological technologies in cannabis management practices such as superior P-mobilizing beneficial bacteria will likely drive improvements in cannabis quality and productivity over the next 100 years. Functionally targeted microbial inoculants also represent the next-generation of green revolution technologies which will support agriculture management across many crops to help farmers increase production to meet global food demands.

Editor’s Note: This article was written by Colin Bell, PhD. — co-founder of Growcentia, co-inventor of Mammoth Microbes and a former research scientist at Colorado State University. If you’d like to hear more from Colin, check out the recent Ganjapreneur podcast episode in which he discusses taking the leap from academia to entrepreneurship and how to foster teamwork in a start-up environment.

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DEA, FDA Approve Trial Testing Cannabis as PTSD Treatment

4/25/2016

The California-based non-profit Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies has been awarded a $2.156 million grant to test the effectiveness of marijuana as a post-traumatic stress disorder treatment. The study has been approved by the Drug Enforcement Agency and the Food and Drug Administration, marking the first time federal agencies have approved a trial involving smoking “botanical” marijuana, according to a MAPS press release.

The study, funded by the Colorado Department of Public Health, will test the efficiency and safety of flower cannabis as an option to help veterans manage treatment-resistant PTSD. Seventy-six U.S. military veterans will participate in the randomized, triple-blind, placebo-controlled study.

“We have been working towards approval since we opened the Investigational New Drug Application with the FDA in 2010,” Amy Emerson, executive director and director of clinical Research for the MAPS Public Benefit Corporation, said. “We are thrilled to see this study overcome the hurdles of approval so we can begin gathering the data. This study is a critical step in moving our botanical drug development program forward at the federal level to gather information on the dosing, risks, and benefits of smoked marijuana for PTSD symptoms.”

The trial will gather data on four potencies of smoked marijuana with different ratios of THC and CBD. Researchers expect to gain information on dosing, composition, and side effects.

According to MAPS’ final protocol study, it is estimated that 18 percent of Operation Iraqi Freedom veterans suffer from PTSD and another 75,000 to 225,000 service members will return from duty with symptoms.

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Proposal in Mexico Would Decriminalize an Ounce, Free Some Drug Offenders

4/22/2016

Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto is pushing for lawmakers in his country to raise the limit on decriminalized marijuana for personal use from five to 28 grams, according to an Associated Press report.

His proposal also asks Mexico’s Congress to free people on trial or incarcerated for possessing up to one ounce and would allow the use and importation of cannabis-based medicine. Possessing larger amounts would remain punishable under the country’s drug trafficking laws.

Last November, Mexico’s Supreme Court approved an appeal by members of anti-crime group Mexico United Against Crime, and marijuana activists Mexican Society for Responsible and Tolerant Consumption. The groups argued that they have the right to grow and distribute cannabis for personal use. The court’s criminal chamber ruled in their favor – recognizing an individual’s freedom to take part in recreational activities harmless to others is a principle of human rights – but the ruling only applies to the groups’ petitions, according to a New York Times report.

“We Mexicans know all too well the range and the defects of prohibitionist and punitive policies, and of the so-called war on drugs that has prevailed for 40 years,” Pena Nieto said. “Our country has suffered, as few have, the ill effects of organized crime tied to drug trafficking.”

According to Peña Nieto, if enacted, the move would effectively decriminalize consumption in the country, and keep pace with a “gradually emerging” worldwide consensus to reform drug policies.

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Prominent Rabbi Rules Cannabis Kosher for Passover

4/22/2016

A major Ashkenazi rabbi has ruled that using cannabis for medical purposes is kosher for Passover.

In the past, cannabis has been included in the group of legumes, or kitniyos, which, until last December, were banned during Passover (grains remain forbidden).

The Times of Israel, though, has reported that Belarusian rabbi Chaim Kanievsky said that Jews of any lineage may use the drug for medical purposes this Passover.

In a video uploaded to YouTube by the pro-legalization group Cannabis Israel, Rabbi Kanievsky, an 88-year resident of Bnei Brak, a city east of Tel Aviv, blesses a group of cannabis leaves. In the video, two Jewish men, among them another prominent rabbi, inform Kanievsky that the plant and its odor are medicinal before blessing the leaves.

There is precedent for the ruling: Orthodox rabbi Efraim Zalmanovich ruled in 2013 that cannabis was kosher if used medicinally. He said that taking drugs to escape the world is “certainly forbidden,” but that those who use the drug for medical purposes are not breaking Jewish law.

Cannabis use remains illegal for recreational use in Israel, but doctors prescribe it for patients undergoing chemotherapy or experiencing chronic pain.

End

D.C. Marijuana Activists to Meet With White House Officials on Monday

4/21/2016

Adam Eidinger, the activist behind the Washington D.C smoke-in, will meet with White House officials for a “Bud Summit” on Monday, where they will likely discuss changing marijuana’s Schedule 1 status.

The White House confirmed the meeting after Eidinger’s group, DCMJ, announced it via press release, The Washington Post reports.

It appears the smoke-in — during which activists carried a 51-foot replica joint adorned with the phrase “Obama, Deschedule Cannabis Now!” and lit up publicly — caught the attention of officials. Eidinger had previously written letters asking for a meeting but had not received any response.

It is not clear if Eidinger, along with a small group of advocates, will meet with Obama’s Office of National Drug Control Policy, and he declined to comment on who exactly had invited him. Obama’s drug policy advisors have met with other national pro-cannabis groups.

“As a former cannabis (and current?) user, you know firsthand that cannabis does not belong in the Controlled Substances Act,” Eidinger wrote in a letter addressed to the president last month.

Marijuana remains federally prohibited despite its legalized status in Colorado, Washington, Alaska and Washington, D.C. It shares the Schedule 1 distinction with heroin and ecstasy. While it is legal for medicinal use in 24 states, it remains hard to research due to its federal status.

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More Than Half of Americans Have Tried Cannabis, Poll Shows

4/21/2016

A new CBS poll indicates that more than half of Americans have experimented with cannabis.

This is a significant eight percentage point increase from last year’s poll, in which 43 percent of Americans admitted to having tried marijuana. Cannabis use appears to remain most popular among men and citizens under the age of 65.

The poll also found that 56 percent of Americans believe that marijuana should be made legal, a rise of three points from the last time CBS posed the question. Support for cannabis reform continues to be most popular among male voters and voters under the age of 65. The legalization issue also remains split along party lines, with the majority of Democrats in support of legalization and the majority of Republicans opposed.

Legal access to medical marijuana continues to enjoy wide support: nearly nine out of ten Americans believe doctors should be allowed to prescribe small amounts of cannabis if they believe it would be beneficial.

Most Americans believe that legalization should be a states rights issue, and that the federal government shouldn’t play a role regarding the legality of cannabis.

The general poll results list a four point margin of error, and the poll was conducted April 8-12 using a random sample of 1,020 adults from around the country.

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Illinois Senate Passes Bill to Decriminalize Cannabis

4/21/2016

The Illinois Senate has approved a bill removing criminal penalties for the possession of a personal cannabis stash, reports the Marijuana Policy Project.

Senate Bill 2228 was passed with a 40-14 vote on Tuesday, and now goes to the House for consideration.

The law would make possession of up to 10 grams of cannabis punishable by a civil fine of $100-$200. Jail sentences would no longer be applicable for such an infraction. Also, the civil offense would be automatically expunged from the violator’s record, meaning that small-time cannabis possession will no longer risk staining someone’s permanent record.

“We need to replace Illinois’s current patchwork of marijuana possession laws with a consistent standard that will be applied fairly across the state,” said Sen. Heather Steans (D-Chicago), who introduced the bill. “People should not be sent to jail for an offense that would have been punishable by a small fine if it had occurred a few miles down the road. It’s irrational, it’s unpredictable, and it’s unjust.”

More than 100 communities across Illinois have already reformed the criminal penalties for marijuana possession.

Current state law carries a penalty of up to 30 days in jail for the possession of 2.5 grams of cannabis or less. Between 10 and 30 grams could land a person in jail for a year, in addition to the fines. And no matter the amount carried, the state can currently issue up to $1,500 in fines for possession.

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Jeff Church: Adding Terpenes to Cannabis Products

4/21/2016

by Shango Los

Jeff Church is the Vice President of Research and Process Development at Thinc Pure, a leading extract manufacturer in Washington State. He is a renowned hash expert and helped break the story of Rosin Tech when we reported on the now-ubiquitous extraction method last year. Jeff recently joined our host Shango Los for a conversation about a new cannabis trend: the idea of extracting pure terpenes to add flavors to cannabis products. In the interview, Jeff talks about the finer points of operating an extraction machine to isolate terpenes, why this process is becoming popular, and how people go about adding terps to their cannabis products.

Listen to the episode via the media player below, or scroll down for the full transcript!

Subscribe to the Ganjapreneur podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, SoundCloud or Google Play.

Listen to the podcast

Read the transcript

Shango Los: Hello and welcome to the Ganjapreneur.com podcast. I am your host Shango Los. The Ganjapreneur.com podcast gives us an opportunity to speak directly to entrepreneurs, cannabis growers, product developers, and cannabis medicine researchers all focused on making the most of cannabis normalization. As your host I do my best to bring you original cannabis industry ideas that will ignite your own entrepreneurial spark and give you actual information, to improve you business strategy and improve your health and the health of cannabis patients everywhere.

Today my guest is Jeff Church. Jeff Church is Vice President of Research and Process Development at Thinc Pure. Over the last 20 years Jeff has worked with every modern extraction method and enjoys researching ancient hash making techniques. Jeff Church is also know online as Reverend Cannabis and today he is here to talk with me about fortifying cannabis products with extra terpenes. Welcome back to the show Jeff.

Jeff Church: Thanks for having me Shango.

Shango Los: Jeff let’s start at the very beginning by establishing for folks new to the topic why terpenes are so beneficial. Why does your extraction team work so hard to preserve terpenes in the final product that is delivered to your customer or patient?

Jeff Church: Terpenes are really the embodiment of what the different effects are that you’re going to get from different cannabis extracts. The flavor is all in the terpenes. The cannabinoids THC, CBD have their own effects but without the terpenes to modulate that effect you really have kind of a flat effect that is nothing really special.

Shango Los: In the early days I really didn’t get what terpenes were until the first time I came across citrine. I’m like “Oh like citrus.” Just like when I cut into a piece of citrus suddenly I’m feeling stimulated and happy and the world is great. Then I realized that really at the heart of cannabis is aromatherapy.

Jeff Church: Exactly. That’s precisely it. There’s many different terpenes. There’s limonene which is going to give you a really up kind of an effect. There’s myrcene which, I mean limonene — it’s from citrus as well. Myrcene which is from mangos is going to give you a relaxed effect. There’s many, many, many more terpenes: 150 of them that have been tested in cannabis.

Shango Los: Efforts to preserve terpenes began by extractors studying how best to use the technology. If you had an Eden CO2 Extractor, you were twiddling the knobs and working with your time and everything so that you could preserve enough terpenes in the end process. A lot of incredible oil is now being made because of all those efforts and shared intelligence by extractors. Now though some producers want to fortify their products with additional terpenes. It’s moved more towards adding some extra punch to your product so it either tastes better or it has more medicinal qualities. What are some of the sources of these terpenes that are being added to the final product?

Jeff Church: That’s definitely a great question. There’s 2 main categories that I see. Well, 3 really. There’s plant-based terpenes which are extracted from any plant. Limonene can be extracted from citrus. Linalool can be extracted from lavender. Humulene from hops. Myrcene from mangos but there’s also synthetic versions of those that can be created in the lab just to basically be that molecule. Those are the one direction, the one class is the natural and the synthetic.

Then there’s something called cannabis derived terpenes. Those are exactly what they say they are. They’re terpenes derived from different strains of cannabis. All these different cultivars have a unique fingerprint in them so deriving these terpenes from them really carry that effect over into your extract.

Shango Los: Is myrcene from a mango chemically the same as the myrcene that’s in cannabis?

Jeff Church: Yes it definitely is. The effect that you get from the myrcene in cannabis is the effect that you’re going to get from myrcene in mango. One caveat though is you don’t have all of the other terpenes present if you’re just extracting it from mango and you may have some terpenes that would never be present in cannabis at all that are extracted from that mango. When you have this pure myrcene it’s going to be 99.something percent pure. There’s always going to be something else in there that is from its original source.

When you’re smoking these things it’s like you’re smoking a derivative of that plant rather than smoking cannabis.

Shango Los: All right well then I must admit I’m kind of surprised because when I normally think of eating mangos I don’t think about the myrcene effect which is one of the things that I really love about indicas. A little bit of couch lock, a little bit of munchies, a little bit of body relaxation. It actually puts me second guessing my original opinion that I came into this show with that adding terpenes was totally uncool from food sources.

I’ve seen some folks that are doing pet products: CBD from hemp pet products. They’re adding terpenes from food products like mango and other things and they’re calling it “whole plant medicine,” which that’s just patently untrue, but the idea of getting a terpene from a food and then adding it to a cannabis product: I was really against it just because it felt like bringing in something alien. What are your thoughts about that?

Jeff Church: It’s definitely not something that I want to consume myself. I think that there’s a big market out there for nicotine vape pens with all these different fruit flavors and things like that. I think that there’s a market for it. Is the effect going to be there as great as it would be from cannabis? I don’t know. Just as there’s myrcene in mangos there’s going to be other things in there that are going to modulate the uptake of cannabinoids or lessen the effect of the myrcene.

Where eating a mango is not going to knock you out but having a really really myrcene high cultivar of cannabis will bring you down. It’s more of a flavoring thing I feel like when you’re extracting fruit flavors and things like that. You can get the pure terpenes and they definitely have their modulating effects but I don’t know that you’re really going to much further than getting a small amount of modulation with the flavor where cannabis it’s able to modulate the effect quite strongly.

Shango Los: Right on. That’s going to naturally fit into talking about extracting terpenes from “whole plant” cannabis but before we do that let’s hit the intentional flavoring of cartridges for a second. We’ve all smelled or some people are using nicotine pens and they’ve got Wild Cherry or Honey and Milk or whatever it is. Mostly I smell them when I’m walking down the street and somebody exhales. I’ve had 2 different companies who have intentionally added flavor to their oil cartridges. The first one was mango and I won’t say the name of the company because I didn’t care for it at all.

It tasted really cheap like if there was a mango breakfast cereal. It tasted inauthentic but then I had one last week that I got from the rep of Kurvana down in California and my god the banana. It tasted so good. It also had a terp base of actual cannabis flower so it was everything I know and I love and am familiar with with a regular cannabis terpene but then it had this little “umph” of banana and it tasted really authentic.

I was getting this information second hand and so from what I understand they actually extract their own bananas to create their own terpenes so that it tastes really good. I was like “Man while I probably wouldn’t be using a banana cartridge all the time” … it was treat. When I passed it around to people who were with me they were like “Wow. That’s really good.”

I guess while it may not be my personal preference I definitely can see the attraction to it.

Jeff Church: Exactly. It’s not like you’re going to find … actually nowadays there’s a strawberry banana flavored cultivars of cannabis. There’s many different flavors of cannabis for sure so banana is not completely foreign to the whole equation but you really hit it on the head. It has all of those other terpenes that are in the cannabis plant. If they extracted it really well, tried to preserve those terpenes the best they could, and then added in this banana flavor that they extracted in a really nice method so that you’re really getting the full embodiment of the banana then it’s going to be a pleasurable experience.

Now is the banana going to add to the modulation of the effect that you get? That’s questionable. The modulation can happen just by your enjoyment, right? If you’re really enjoying something a lot then that’s going to be pleasurable for you. It’s going to make the whole experience feel a lot better.

Shango Los: I think that’s probably the same thing that people do with banana daiquiris right?

Jeff Church: Exactly.

Shango Los: Because even though the banana is not adding anything to the modulation it’s like “Hey my drink makes me feel like I’m on a tropical vacation so I’m feeling even more festive even though I’m just at my local Mexican restaurant or whatever.”

Jeff Church: Exactly. It’s not medicinal. It’s more recreational I feel like but all recreation is medicine in my mind as well but it’s kind of weird. We have these 2 different classifications. We have the medical and we have recreational. I also believe in spiritual. I think that that would be in that recreational class of extracts.

Shango Los: Yeah I agree with you. I’m one of those people who believe that we’re all patients because even if we’re buying at a recreational store and even if really our goal is just to get high, well we’re getting high as an anti-anxiety because the rest of our life is so stressful and we want a little bit of respite and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. We’re going to take a short break and be right back. You are listening to the Ganjapreneur.Com podcast.

The Ganjapreneur.Com podcast is going to sound a little bit different going forward. We are now producing our podcast in-house so we can have more control over how they sound. We want to make them an even better listening experience for you. That means the show is going to sound a little bit less produced and whiz bang and a bit more down to earth and pleasant on the ears. We didn’t used to control the commercial content and we and many of you thought it sounded out of sync with the rest of the vibe of the show. Going forward during the commercial breaks we’re going to bring you companies that we believe in. We’re going to tell you about them. We’re going to tell you how to get in contact with them and then we’ll get right back to the show. Pretty simple really.

This change also means we are booking our own commercials now. If you want to reach out and connect with our audience in the most personal way we can offer, drop us an email at grow@ganjapreneuer.com and we can talk about you becoming a commercial sponsor of the podcast. It is our hope and intention that these changes will make the podcast an even more pleasant listening experience. Thanks for listening and be a part of the Ganjapreneur family. Now back to the show.

Welcome back you are listening to the Ganjapreneur.Com podcast. I’m your host Shango Los and our guest this week is Jeff Church of Thinc Pure. Before the break we were talking about the nature of terpenes, why we extract them and use them, how they can influence us like aromatherapy. We talked about bringing in terpenes from food sources and different sources. I want to talk specifically now about extracting terpenes from whole plant cannabis because that is absolutely the rage right now.

People are talking about it in forums everywhere and the idea is that you are going to remove the entire flavor profile of a particular strain say for example Gorilla Glue and you’re going to take that whole terpene profile so that the liquid terpenes that you end with smell and taste just like Gorilla Glue. Jeff why don’t you tell us a little bit about how that found its way into extraction coolness now so people have got a little historical frame for this discussion?

Jeff Church: I think it really all started when people started to try and preserve their terpenes in their extracts. Every extraction method that there is whether it’s alcohol, CO2, Butane, Propane — you’re extracting terpenes but you’re also extracting the cannabinoids. This movement to really have just pure terpenes is the new phase of evolution in extraction. There’s many many many different ways to extract cannabinoids and terpenes together and there’s probably just as many ways to extract just terpenes.

You can do steam distillations. You can do vacuum distillations. There’s cold trapping that you can do. You can do your distillations with heat. You can do them in a cryo distillation. There’s many many many different ways to slice it but essentially what you’re doing is extracting the essential oils of the plant. Just like you would have lavender essential oils you’re extracting the essential oils of cannabis.

That smell, that taste really carries over. It’s completely potentized into something where if you have one drop of it and you smoke that on a nail it tastes like you just smoked a whole gram or so of extract.

Shango Los: I first got a good understanding of the power of it when … oh actually I was with you. It was at Emerald Cup this past year down in Sonoma County at the fairgrounds and you said “Oh man you’ve got to see this” and we went over to the United Cannabis booth and Tony Verzura was doing his demo and the place was packed.

There were all these heads all around and he was kind of explaining to people and showing how he did it and then he was painting people’s slabs. If you’ve never seen this this is something pretty cool. He was taking this really small amount of raw terpenes that he had extracted with this tiny little paint brush and then people were going up to him with slabs of oil that they said “Oh. This oil is mediocre.” Shatter or wax or something. He was painting along the slab and you could tell that there was something going on there because it was changing the coloration of it.

The person who’s slab it was was getting all super excited. Then they’d pass it back and we’d smell it and I’m like “Oh my gosh. This suddenly went from smelling like mediocre oil to the best Gorilla Glue oil everywhere.” People were really jazzed about it.

Jeff Church: Yeah I think it’s a really cool concept. You can take pretty much any extract that you have whether you’ve got a vape pen or you’ve got a slab of BHO or Rosin or Dry Sift or Bubble Hash it really doesn’t matter what it is. You can add the terpenes to that and the really cool thing about it is if you’re smoking this one extract that you have all the time you’ll hit this level where you’re not feeling the effects as much as you had been before. It’s effective. It definitely does what it’s supposed to do but you don’t really have as great of an effect.

If you just add a little bit of terpenes to it that effect is amplified quite a bit and you really get the effect of the cultivar that it was extracted from. Where you’re really used to this one kind of hash per se, adding the terpenes to it will make it a whole new world where it’s just like smoking another strain that you haven’t been smoking.

Then adding a different strain of terpenes to it will affect you in a whole different way. Whatever the effect of that original cannabis was it’s going to be mirrored in this. I think that’s really what has got a lot of people caught up in this and really turned out a lot of terpene fan boys out there.

Shango Los: Yeah. I actually saw that first person at Emerald Cup. I was hanging out in the chill room behind the Forever Flowering tent there with Eric Branstad and he had a whole bunch of really hardcore Humboldt heads there and they were passing around one of the small terpene vials that Tony was selling. I don’t remember what the strain was but they painted some onto some oil and one by one they were doing dabs and you could just see this look on their face of like salvation like the sky was going to open up. They’re like “Ah! This is a perfect terpene experience.”

It was really astonishing to see people with a really exceptional taste in cannabis to be so overjoyed by having such a flavorful dab. People were being converted right there instantly into fan boys.

Jeff Church: It is definitely the holy grail of modulation of cannabinoids. Like I said you get stuck on one variety because you’ve got a whole bunch of it and adding one drop of this just makes it a whole other world. People really look for flavor in their cannabis. They want that to carry over into the smoke. It’s really part of that enjoyment that you get from smoking cannabis. It’s the flavor. Without that it’s just a high that’s kind of flat and really not as enjoyable.

Shango Los: Right on so let’s kind of shift gears. Let’s talk a little bit about how to use these terpenes as a product developer. We’ve talked about people have been extracting terpenes in all these different ways and there’s a lot of ways that you can go about it but once you have the terpenes in your possession I’m sure that there’s more to do with it than just simply painting onto a slab at home. What are some of the applications that you have seen product developers in licensed cannabis using the terpenes for?

Jeff Church: I actually haven’t seen much in the licensed arena like 502 recreational. I haven’t really seen much at all except for terpenes that are extracted from other plants. If we’re talking cannabis derived terpenes it’s mostly been done in the medical states. I would say that Tony Verzura has been the pioneer in all of this. He’s created what he calls terp melt which is full melt bubble that he adds a drop or two to every gram and he mixes that all together. I just changes the flavor completely.

There’s terp rosin as well. People add it to their vaporizer cartridges. Some friends of mine down in California have a product that they make that’s a distillate of cannabinoids so basically the most refined cannabinoid experience that you can have out there that’s pretty much free of terpenes and then they derived from cannabis terpenes and add that back into it and put that into their vape pens. They have these cannabis derived distillate vape pens that are extremely popular because it tastes better than any dab that you’ve had before honestly.

Vaporizing it at that lower temperature is really nice. That’s another thing just as a little side note. People tend to dab in the 600 to 800 degree range, 800 being way way too hot for my taste when you’re talking about regular cannabinoids and terpenes but if you are going to dab just straight terpenes which is kind of the thing that people are doing a lot of nowadays you want to be down in the 400 degree, 4 to 450 to really get that full flavor.

There’s many different products out there. There’s people that are even putting these terpenes into edibles, not like a brownie but like a capsule. You’re adding them in there so that the modulating effects are present when you’re eating that capsule. Where before I feel like a decarbed cannabis oil where you’ve decarbed it completely. You’ve boiled most of the terpenes out of there so the effect is going to be pretty flat. It’s going to be just the THC effect with a little bit of modulation of whatever terpenes were able to make it through that whole decarb process but if you add just a little bit of these terpenes to that product you get all of the modulating effects that you would be getting from smoking the different strains.

It’s really a game changer. I think that the future of extracts at least is purification and addition of these cannabis derived terpenes.

Shango Los: That just begs the question to me about where does that fall on the line with whole plant medicine? We’d been saying that you need to use the whole cannabis plant because all of the small and discrete and not really researched parts are all essential for the entourage effect so that you get the best medical impact possible from the cannabis.

What we’re talking about is doing a whole plant terpene extraction and then adding it hopefully to a whole plant product. How do you see it? Do you see it as no longer being whole plant or are we now like super whole plant, we’re beyond whole plant?

Jeff Church: I see it as a whole plant extract but at the same time it’s not like FECO. It’s not like the Rick Simpson Oil type thing. That’s really a whole nother classification and honestly Rick Simpson Oil people are really into it being a full plant extract. It’s devoid of a lot of the terpenes because you have to boil out the ethanol that you’ve used to extract it and anything that’s volatile at less than the boiling point of ethanol, is going to be lost in the equation.

It is really super whole plant but at the same time I think that it’s more getting to a point where you’re trying to take these different classes of chemicals from within the plant and refine them into their most pure forms, leaving all of the things that you don’t want in your smoke: waxes, chlorophylls, and things like that that are harsh to smoke. Leaving all of those behind and then recombining these things together to make something that’s the most enjoyable extracts that I’ve every smoked.

Shango Los: Wow. Well there you go. We’re going to take another short break and be right back. You are listening to the Ganjapreneur.com Podcast.

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Welcome back. You are listening to the Ganjapreneur.com podcast. I am your host Shango Los and our guest this week is Jeff Church of Thinc Pure. Before the break we were talking about all the different applications for extracted terpenes that you can add back into a cannabis product to fortify it to make it both a stronger modulation experience as medicine and also just a damn good dab for recreation and just fun.

In your last bit before we went to a commercial you said something that totally jumped up for me. You said that some people are dabbing terps. Do you mean that they’re dabbing just straight terps and so they’re not dabbing THC?

Jeff Church: That’s exactly what I mean. It’s a really interesting concept. If you’re all about the tastiest flower, the tastiest extract, this is really the pinnacle of cannabis is dabbing its terpenes. Tony Ferzura from United Cannabis really popularized this. He has a terpene dab bar that he sets up at the different cannabis festivals. You know the Emerald Cup. He was doing it as well down at High Times in San Bernardino. People just line up for low temperature dabs.

What’s really really interesting about it is you could have a dab of terpenes as your first dab of the day and you’re going to feel high. There’s certain qualities to the terpenes where they kind of act as solvents on the cannabinoids that are sitting on the receptors and your cannabinoid receptors can be somewhat blocked to where they’re packed with cannabinoids on the surface. When you add this terpene in there it really loosens that up a bit and allows for the cannabinoids to pass through the membrane and hit those receptors in a more efficient way where you’re feeling more effect from the cannabinoids that you had in your system from smoking last night.

You’ll really feel high one way or the other and it’s very strain specific but it’s all about the flavor. People are all about the terps nowadays so doing this is something really exciting. I would caution that smoking pure terpenes may not be the healthiest thing for you.

Shango Los:I was thinking about that too man. We were already talking about dabbing a concentration of terpenes, people potentially getting terpene toxicity and being part of the “Oh he dabbed too hard and then he fell over,” right?

Jeff Church: Yeah I don’t know it’s going to be “dabbed too hard and fell over” but really damaging your lungs is something that can happen by smoking too much terpenes. You really want to be careful. There’s a threshold where you don’t want to pass that too much or else it’s going to be a harsh smoke. It’s going to not be enjoyable. It’s enjoyable the moment you’re smoking it but down the road when your lung capacity is being diminished by smoking these pure terpenes it could become an issue.

Shango Los: It’s not really the kind of a thing that somebody’s really going to abuse though is it or do to much of? I can understand how dabbing some terpenes. It’s your first one of the day or kind of mix it in with your dab session or something like that. That might be enjoyable but it’s not really the kind of thing that somebody’s going to be dabbing terps all the time just straight is it?

Jeff Church: That’s definitely what a lot of people are getting into. I think that the most popular thing is really taking a dab and dipping it into the terpenes.

Shango Los: Right on. That I get.

Jeff Church: Then you’re talking maybe 10, 15% of your dab is going to be terpenes and the rest is just going to be cannabinoids and other constituents that are in the smoke so it’s kind of deluded. Just like you wouldn’t take a lot of essential oils and apply them directly to your skin it’s the same sort of thing. Essential oils a lot them you really want to cut them in another oil, a carrier oil, before you put it onto the skin so that there’s not too high of a concentration in any one spot on your skin. Same can be true for your lungs as well.

Shango Los: You also mentioned the other product was RSO because of course the terps are very volatile and they are burnt off from heating, making RSO and FECO. It makes me curious about doing a distillation at the beginning of the plant material you’re going to use to remove the terpenes at that point and then go ahead and make your RSO. Then stir back in the terpenes at the end and somehow maybe kind of Frankensteining back together a whole plant FECO extract. Have you seen anybody do that yet?

Jeff Church: It sounds like you need a patent. I have not seen anybody do that with FECO, with a full plant extract. I have seen people doing that and I’ve done it myself with the distillate where you have the cannabinoids and then you have the distillate or you have the terpenes that they’re extracted then you have the distillate of the cannabinoids that you extract from the same type of material.

There’s a company down in California that’s doing it. There’s actually a whole bunch of different companies down there in California doing it right now.

Shango Los: I think that’s one of the problems with trying to patent any of this is that there’s so many different people working on it at the same time in parallel and people are sharing the science with each other that it makes it really hard to secure originality on paper.

Jeff Church: Right. I was mostly joking.

Shango Los: It is happening even though we joke about it. Right on. One more thing I want to hit on too: where do you see the direction this is heading in? I know this is already bleeding edge stuff but where do you see this idea of extracting the terps and fortifying cannabis products heading here in the next couple years?

Jeff Church: I really see a lot more extraction of terpenes and the re addition of those into other lines of already existing extracts that are out there just like Tony’s been doing with the terp rosin and the terp melts and other companies been doing with the distillate added with the terps. I think that that’s really what it is is us finding out what we like in cannabis and what we don’t like in cannabis.

I don’t like to smoke an oil that has a whole bunch of chlorophyll in it like an RSO. I would much rather smoke something that has a higher purity of cannabinoids in it. The same is true with terpenes. I think adding these purified elements back together and creating the ideal extract that is devoid of all of the parts that we don’t want it really the future.

Shango Los: Right on so that’s all the time we have for you today. Thanks for being on the show again Jeff.

Jeff Church: Definitely. It’s a pleasure to be here. Thank you.

Shango Los: You can follow Jeff Church on Instagram @CannabisReverend. You can find out more about his company at their website ThincPure.Com and that’s “think” with a C, no K. Finally if you want to hear more from Jeff you’ll find an earlier Ganjapreneur podcast episode with him about rosin oil in the podcast archives and a presentation he made on rosin at CannaCon Seattle this year in the video section of the Ganjapreneur.Com website.

You can find more episodes of the Ganjapreneur podcast in the podcast section at Ganjapreneur.Com and in the Apple iTunes store. On the Ganjapreneur.Com website you will find the latest cannabis news, product reviews, and cannabis jobs updated daily along with transcriptions of this podcast. You can also download the Ganjapreneur.Com app in iTunes and GooglePlay. Do you have a company that wants to reach our national audience of cannabis enthusiasts? Email grow@ganjapreneur.com to find out how. Today’s show was produced by Pat Packett. I am your host Shango Los.

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President of Mexico Supports Medical Cannabis Legalization

4/20/2016

In an about face from his previously vocalized opinions, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto said on Tuesday that he is open to the idea of medical cannabis legalization in Mexico, and that government officials would be announcing new measures that reflect this change of heart in the coming days.

Peña Nieto’s announcement was made in a speech given at the United Nations General Assembly on international drug policy, which is taking place this week in New York. “I am giving voice to those who have … expressed the necessity of changing the regulatory framework to authorize the use of marijuana for medical and scientific purposes,” he said. Drug use should be addressed as a “public health problem,” he said — not as a criminal offense.

“We should be flexible to change that which has not yielded results, the paradigm based essentially in prohibitionism, the so-called ‘War on Drugs’ … [which] has not been able to limit production, trafficking nor the global consumption of drugs,” said Peña Nieto.

Peña Nieto had been previously outspoken against any reform of Mexico’s marijuana laws, though mounting pressure from the public, as well as a Supreme Court ruling from late last year that established a legal right to the cultivation and personal consumption of medical cannabis, have apparently eroded his opposition.

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Canada Announces Plan to Decriminalize Cannabis by Spring 2017

4/20/2016

The Canadian Liberal Party will introduce legislation to decriminalize and regulate recreational cannabis nationwide by the spring of 2017, Health Minister Jane Philpott announced on Wednesday at the U.N. General Assembly on international drug policy in New York.

According to a Reuters report, Philpott said Canada’s new marijuana laws would keep cannabis out of the hands of children and keep marijuana profits out of the hands of criminals. “We will work with law enforcement partners to encourage appropriate and proportionate criminal justice measures,” she said. “We know it is impossible to arrest our way out of this problem.”

Earlier this month, Canada’s Minister of Public Safety Ralph Goodale said in an interview that the federal government was working to establish a task force that will figure out the best way to end cannabis prohibition. The task force would include representatives from the federal, provincial, and municipal governments.

Nationwide legalization was a major running platform for current Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during last year’s election, though international drug laws made it unclear how and when Canada would be able to carry through on that promise. Mr. Trudeau warned earlier this year that undoing cannabis prohibition could be a long and complicated process, but it’s heartening to see the Liberal Party’s continued commitment to its promise of legalization.

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Maine Could Be First State to Add Addiction as MMJ Qualifying Condition

4/20/2016

Maine could become the first U.S. state to approve medical cannabis as a treatment for opioid addiction.

A group of medical marijuana patients and caregivers gathered on Tuesday at a public hearing to lobby for the change, CBS News reports. The hearing was ripe with personal stories of how cannabis has been a safe and effective method of kicking more dangerous drug habits, such as pharmaceutical painkillers or heroin.

One 23-year-old student said marijuana helped her kick a heroin habit that she developed while studying in Morocco. “Marijuana saved my life for sure,” she said.

Supporters argued that medical cannabis is already prescribed to help with addiction in states with more relaxed marijuana laws, such as California and Massachusetts — but this would be the first time that state laws would be updated to specifically allow for such treatment.

The hearing was called by the Maine Department of Health and Human Services after a successful petition from one of Maine’s medical cannabis caregivers.

The medical establishment in Maine does not support changing the law, however, and argues that there’s insufficient scientific evidence supporting the claims that cannabis can treat addiction. Leah Bauer, psychiatrist and medical director for the Addiction Resource Center at Mid Coast Hospital in Brunswick, argued that such a change could lead addicts to another “toxic and habit-forming substance.”

“In fact, [addicts] using marijuana may be like pouring gasoline on the fire,” she said.

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Waka Flocka Flame Has Bad Edibles Experience at Dope Cup

4/19/2016

On Sunday Ganjapreneur attended the Dope Cup, hosted by Dope Magazine at Dockside Cannabis in Seattle. It was an open-consumption event complete with a retail cannabis store, food trucks, and a reggae and hip-hop concert featuring Waka Flocka Flame as the headliner. The weather was perfect for a night of fun with friends and fellow cannabis enthusiasts, and the vibe was excellent because Dope Magazine always puts on a great party. According to a post on his Instagram account, however, Waka Flocka Flame had a bit of a rough night after his set, as he apparently wound up calling the paramedics after having a bad experience with some edibles.

Aw man. #seattle was too much last night. #nonGMO edibles and 20 or more blunts later. ???????????????????? @djwhookid @stuntmanphotography

A photo posted by WAKA FLOCKA (@wakaflocka) on Apr 18, 2016 at 6:54am PDT

When Waka first came out for his set, both he and his DJ repeatedly mentioned how high they were from the very beginning. First, Waka thanked an anonymous person who offered him a blunt when he walked in to the event. Then, mid-way through the opening song, he was passed an enormous joint from someone in the front of the audience, which he proceeded to take 5 or 6 hits off of before passing it back into the crowd.

Waka went on to finish his set and gave an amazing, energetic performance, and the crowd was jumping the whole time (despite everyone being super stoned). Apparently, though, after the performance Waka accepted some medicated edibles and wound up calling the paramedics as a result.

In his post, Waka suggested that the paramedics were called because the edibles contained GMOs, which he avoids (he is also a vegan). This claim may sound a bit dubious to anyone who has ever had a bad edibles experience, however. We think it is more likely that Waka simply over-medicated and had to sit through the discomfort and dizziness that so many of us have gone through at some point.

For us, this is a great example of how even seasoned cannabis consumers need to know their limits, and to be aware of the potency of the products they are consuming.

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Cannabis branches hanging out to cure after harvest season.

Colorado Law to Further Restrict Cannabis Advertising

4/19/2016

The Colorado House gave tentative approval on Friday to a law expanding restrictions on medical cannabis advertisements, according to an Associated Press report.

The restrictions introduced in House Bill 1363, which prevent retailers from directing medical marijuana advertisements at patients under 21, have been described as a commonsense safeguard. Similar restrictions already exist for recreational cannabis, and the bill was drafted at the request of Colorado’s Department of Revenue.

The Colorado cannabis industry doesn’t appear to oppose the tightening of the rules. “It really just harmonizes the medical law with what is in the recreational law,” said Kevin Fisher, co-owner of the Rocky Mountain Remedies cannabis retailer in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. “The last thing we want to do is market to kids.”

The Colorado Press Association, however, have announced their opposition to the legislation. They argue there is no evidence that marijuana advertisers have ever targeted their efforts on minors, and also argue that defining what is and what isn’t considered appealing to children can be overly complicated.

“It’s the basic concept of it’s a violation of commercial speech under the First Amendment,” said Greg Romberg, a lobbyist who works for the CPA.

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Oregon Rec. Licenses Coming Soon

4/19/2016

by Graham Abbott

Oregon entrepreneurs have submitted nearly 900 applications for the state’s recreational cannabis business licenses.

As of April 19, data from the Oregon Liquor Control Commission listed the following totals:

610 recreational producer licenses
155 recreational retailer licenses
70 recreational processor licenses
43 recreational wholesaler licenses
Five laboratory licenses
One research certificate

That adds to 884 total completed applications. There are an additional 409 applications in “draft” form.

Oregon has been operating a recreational marijuana market since October, after lawmakers passed emergency legislation to allow medical dispensaries to sell flower and clone products to adults. Many dispensaries that opted in to the temporary recreational market are likely to pursue a recreational license, according to a Marijuana Business Daily report.

Oregon marijuana laws don’t limit the number of business licenses that the state can award, so every legitimate and completed application should be successful.

The Oregon legislature recently opened up the cannabis market to out-of-state investors. With licenses expected to be awarded within the next few weeks, out-of-state cannabis companies have been eyeing the Oregon market for potential expansion opportunities. Colorado companies Sweet Leaf, Mary’s Medicinals and Dixie Elixirs have all announced interest in the Oregon market, according to The Oregonian‘s Noelle Crombie.

The Oregon market is not without its pitfalls, however, evidenced by Harborside Health Center’s — one of California’s flagship medical cannabis companies — pulling out of the state entirely this month to refocus its efforts on the California market.

End

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