Oregon lawmakers tasked with implementing Measure 91 — the successful 2014 voter initiative to legalize recreational marijuana — have approved a bill granting certain local governments the right to ban marijuana sales in their counties. This is a direct violation of the initiative’s initial language, which stated that localities wishing to ban marijuana sales would have to do so via a local election.
Passed unanimously by the House-Senate marijuana committee, House Bill 3400 allows the local governments of Oregon counties where more than 55 percent of local voters opposed legalization to opt out of the medical and/or recreational cannabis industries. 15 counties demonstrated that level of opposition, all of them in the eastern half of the state.
Additionally, HB 3400 allows local governments to collect up to 3 percent in sales tax on recreational marijuana sales.
The bill also covers issues regarding the production and retailing process for legal marijuana, including a seed-to-sale tracking system and other regulations such as testing requirements and advertising restrictions.
HB 3400 now moves to the full House and Senate.
Recreational marijuana becomes legal in Oregon on July 1, though retail stores are not expected to open until sometime next year.
Delaware joined the ranks of states working to reform criminal marijuana laws this week, as Governor Jack Markell signed into law a bill that will decriminalize possession of up to an ounce of cannabis. The move is an encouraging step toward reducing the racially-skewed rate of incarceration for nonviolent marijuana offenses.
Sponsored by Rep. Helene Keeley (D.-Wilmington), the bill passed the Senate on Thursday and the House earlier this month, with lawmakers voting along party lines. No Republican voted in favor of the legislation in either chamber. Police groups also opposed the measure, claiming that it would limit their ability to initiate searches useful in bringing charges against dealers and traffickers.
The legislation, which won’t go into effect until six months from now, makes possession of up to an ounce of marijuana punishable by a $100 civil fine and possible confiscation of the drug. Neither possession nor private use will be punishable by criminal penalties, though it remains strictly illegal to sell or consume in a public space.
Evidence that the enforcement of drug possession laws disproportionately affects people of color helped garner support for the bill. According to a 2013 study by the American Civil Liberties Union, the number of marijuana-related arrests increased by 102% between 2001 and 2010, the second-highest increase in the country. Nearly 80% of these arrests were for marijuana possession only. Blacks made up 47% of those arrested, although just 22% of the population is black.
Between police, corrections facilities, and judicial and legal fees, marijuana enforcement costs Delaware $13,324,181 each year.
In a rare display of bipartisanship, the New York Senate passed a bill that would speed up access to medical marijuana for patients suffering from severe illnesses. The bill passed the Republican-controlled senate 50-12 after clearing the Democrat-controlled Assembly 130-18, reflecting an increasing recognition among politicians of all stripes that marijuana can be used to help manage a variety of illnesses.
If signed into law, the bill would give “special certification” to patients suffering from a “progressive and degenerative” disease or who are at risk of death or health problems without access to the medicine. “This will help a select group of patients that may not survive as they wait for the Compassionate Care Act [New York’s medical marijuana program] to be fully formatted and in place,” said Sen. Joseph Griffo (R.-Rome).
Much of the pressure to pass the legislation came from parents of children who suffer from intractable epilepsy, who traveled repeatedly to the Capitol to express their support for the bill.
The bill moves now to Governor Andrew Cuomo, who has yet to indicate his position on the legislation.
Canada’s highest court made a laudable legal decision last week, ruling unanimously that all forms of cannabis are legal for medical purposes. The decision brings edibles, concentrates, topical lotions and other forms under the legal medical marijuana umbrella.
The court ruled that patients should not be restricted to smoking marijuana for treatment, and wrote that “inhaling marihuana [sic] can present health risks and… is less effective for some conditions than administration of cannabis derivatives.” Forcing medical marijuana patients to smoke the plant when other forms of ingestion are possible, the court noted, “unjustifiably violates the guarantee of life, liberty and security of the person.”
The legal battle for non-smokable forms of marijuana began six years ago, when Owen Smith was caught with more than 200 weed cookies he had baked for the Victoria Cannabis Buyers Club. In an interview with CBC News, Smith said that the Canadian government, which has opposed the normalization of marijuana, “really did lose quite poorly … because they had no evidence to support their claims.”
The decision, of course, is big news for Canadian cannabis companies. “Another market the size of California just opened up for our products,” said David Posner, CEO of Nutritional High.
The Cannabis World Congress & Business Expositions (CWCBExpo) in New York is the leading event on the East Coast for the legalized and medical marijuana industry. For three days and all under one roof, CWCBExpo in NY features education, information, and products for navigating and prospering in this high growth industry.
Billed as the American “green rush,” the cannabis industry is projected to reach more than $30 Billion by 2020, and CWCBExpo in NY is the go-to source for entrepreneurs, investors, established business owners, and the medical community to learn how to succeed.
“Marijuana Isn’t Going to Legalize Itself!” Keynote Address by Ethan Nadelmann of the Drug Policy Alliance
Medical Marijuana Regulatory Summit led by New York State Senator Diane Savino and other federal and state lawmakers
Educational classes covering everything from how to Legally Invest in a Cannabis Business and Setting up a Cannabis Lab to Cannabis Products for Women and Partnering with Celebrities to Expand Your Cannabis Business
Top Cannabis Experts and trailblazers sharing their knowledge and insight including Adam Bierman, The MedMen; Avis Bulbulyan, Bulbulyan Consulting; Greg Gamet, Kush Bottles; Ata Gonzalez, Real Estate Developer; Scott Greiper, Viridian Capital Advisors; Ryan Hurley, Rose Law Group; John Nicolazzo, Marijuanadoctors.com; Cheryl Shuman, Cheryl Shuman Inc.; Josh Stanley, Marijuana Cultivator; and Lorraine Yarde, RxSafes
“Investing in the Cannabis Industry While Managing Risk,” exclusive investor briefing hosted by Viridian Capital Advisors
New products and services for the legalized and medical marijuana industry including greenhouses from GreenCo; plant feed from DutchMasters; hemp oil from HempMeds; newflavored custom-designed capsules, money kiosks,vaping systems, extraction equipment, dry leaf trimmers, hemp meds for pets, display systems,grow lights, and more.
Billions can be made in the cannabis industry in every sector of business from manufacturing and logistics to legal and financial services. Savvy entrepreneurs, service providers, and investors from across the country and around the world are registering for CWCBExpo in New York to find out how to succeed in the cannabis industry. Go to www.cwcbexpo.com for more information.
Subscribe to the Ganjapreneur podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, SoundCloud or Google Play.When the acceptance of medical cannabis goes mainstream, the pharmaceuticals landscape could face the most significant disruption of its existence. Due to the federal classification of marijuana as a Schedule 1 controlled substance, researching possible medical uses for the plant has been difficult. However, this has not stopped some companies from conducting their own research and clinical trials of cannabis medicines.
Our latest podcast interview features Dr. Ethan Russo, formerly Senior Medical Advisor to GW Pharmaceuticals, who participated in three clinical trials of the drug Sativex. Dr. Russo recently left GW Pharmaceuticals and can now speak publicly for the first time about his research: up until now, he could only be heard at expensive, exclusive conferences. He is now Medical Director at Phytecs, a company specializing in the production of cannabis-based treatments related to the endocannabinoid system. Everything that contemporary cannabis healers talk about in relation to cannabis as medicine is based on Dr. Russo’s published research, including the power of cannabis terpenes, the Entourage Effect, and Endocannabinoid Deficiency.
In this interview, our host Shango Los asks Dr. Russo about Endocannabinoid Deficiency (ECD) and the potential for it to be treated by cannabis. All human beings have an endocannabinoid system, which, according to Russo, regulates nearly every aspect of physiology. The Phytecs website states:
“The endocannabinoid system (ECS) is a homeostatic regulatory system that forms the cornerstone of a vast signaling network found in all vertebrates including humans. The ECS effectively ‘regulates regulation’ for physiological processes.”
Endocannabinoid Deficiency is just coming into general awareness now as a cause behind several conditions including Migraines, Fibromyalgia, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Phantom Limb Pain, Infantile colic, Glaucoma, PTSD, Bipolar disease and others. If cannabis becomes accepted by the mainstream medical community as a treatment for ECD and its associated conditions, the implications for the pharmaceuticals market would be staggering to say the least. Listen to the podcast or read the transcript below to learn about the science behind ECD and how Dr. Russo believes cannabis can be used as a treatment!
Shango Los: Welcome to the Ganjapreneur.com podcast. My name is Shango Los and I will be your host today.
Ethan Russo, MD, is a board-certified neurologist, psychopharmacology researcher, and former Senior Medical Advisor to GW Pharmaceuticals. He served as study physician to GW Pharmaceuticals for three Phase III clinical trials of the cannabis drug Sativex.
He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Massachusetts Medical School, before residencies in Pediatrics in Phoenix, Arizona and in Child and Adult Neurology at the University of Washington in Seattle. He was a clinical neurologist in Missoula, Montana for 20 years in a practice with a strong chronic pain component. In 1995, he pursued a 3-month sabbatical performing ethnobotanical research with indigenous people in Peru. He joined GW as a full-time consultant in 2003.
He is currently past president of the International Cannabinoid Research Society and is former chairman of the International Association for Cannabinoid Medicines. He is author of the Handbook of Psychotropic Herbs, co-editor of Cannabis and Cannabinoids: Pharmacology, Toxicology and Therapeutic Potential and author of The Last Sorcerer: Echoes of the Rainforest. He was founding editor of the Journal of Cannabis Therapeutics, selections of which were published as books; Cannabis Therapeutics in HIV/AIDS, Women and Cannabis: Medicine, Science and Sociology, and Cannabis: From Pariah to Prescription and so many more.
He is presently medical director at PHYTECS, an American company developing endocannabinoid-based medicines. Everything that contemporary cannabis cures talk about in relation to cannabis as medicine is based on Ethan’s published research; cannabis terpenes, their human powers and volatility, the entourage effect and whole plant medicine and endocannabinoid deficiency. Today he is here to speak with us about endocannabinoid deficiency. Welcome, Dr. Russo.
Ethan Russo: Thank you.
Shango Los: Dr. Russo, your research supports that each human has an underlying endocannabinoid tone that reflects the state of their body’s cannabinoid receptors and that a deficient amount of endocannabinoids can lead to all sorts of physical failures in the body. Would you explain to me what you mean by endocannabinoid tone and how it offers insights to the state of the body as a whole?
Ethan Russo: Sure. The endocannabinoid system is a system in the body that is one that promotes homeostasis, a balance in other functions. It consists of 3 components. There are cannabinoid receptors in the body where THC in cannabis binds, but the endocannabinoid system is a lot older than cannabis so cannabis is not there just to get as high. This doesn’t have the system originated rather these receptors are in the brain, one called CB1.
Cannabinoid 1 is the psychoactive receptor. This is where THC works, but it has many important functions in the brain, including regulation of pain, seizure threshold whether someone will be epileptic or not, whether they become nauseated. It regulates levels of neurotransmitters, chemical messengers in the brain. Additionally, there’s a CB2, another receptor that’s mainly thought of as being out in the body where it’s involved in again regulation of pain and inflammatory responses. The receptors are 1 component of the endocannabinoid system.
There are endogenous cannabinoids. These are natural chemicals in the body, anandamide and 2HE; their names are the best characterized ones. These resemble THC in their activity. A lot of what THC does is paralleled by the effects of these natural chemicals in the body that everyone has.
The third component of the endocannabinoid system is the enzymes that make the endocannabinoids and break them down. If there are too many receptors or too much endocannabinoid or there is a deficit in enzymatic activity, any of these things can throw the balance off in the system. Someone having decreased endocannabinoid count could come about because they have too few receptors or they too few endocannabinoids, but ultimately the body tries to keep these in balance so that the systems work at their best.
Shango Los: The endocannabinoid tone itself in your papers it sounds like that maybe a quantifiable or measurable thing. What exactly would you say the endocannabinoid tone is?
Ethan Russo: It would reflect the amount of endogenous cannabinoids in the body that would be one, but it would also be affected by the number of receptors that were active and that’s something that can be influxed. It can change upwards or downwards. Let me give an example.
If someone uses a great deal of cannabis daily, it will actually down regulate the receptor. In other words the body tries to prevent excesses of activity and it will do that by inactivating the receptor if there’s too much activity, so that could happen. There are also things that can up regulate the receptor, make it more active.
It is a function of all 3 and it’s not an easy thing to measure either. I’m sure that people wonder already they might have an endocannabinoid deficiency. Right now this isn’t accessible by any simple blood test. The amount of say anandamide, one of the endocannabinoids, in the blood can be measured but with great differently. It’s a research technique.
The material actually breaks down so rapidly that if someone’s blood sample is taken to test it. It’s got to be immediately put in a liquid nitrogen and send off to a specialty lab that does this work. Certainly, it’s not available at your friendly local hospital to test.
In actuality, the best way to test won’t be in the blood. Most of these conditions would be reflected in brain activity. A better way would be to test this rigorous spinal fluid that’s what you get when a spinal tap or lumbar puncture is done. Because that’s an invasive procedure, we don’t do that in this situation except as a research technique either.
Someday hopefully soon there might be a way to do imaging of the brain to assess the endocannabinoid activity that would be the best way hopefully without requiring any needle sticks or anything else that’s invasive. Right now for most people this is going to be what we call a diagnosis of exclusion meaning that if other things are not identified as the culprit it may be that this is going on. It will be what’s called the clinical diagnosis based on the pattern of the illness.
Shango Los: In the idea of the tone it sounds like if you have too many or too little on either side of the relationship either between the receptors or the cannabinoids themselves that is where the issue is. Does it not really matter if you have a smaller relationship, less receptors and less cannabinoids or more receptors and more cannabinoids that is in as much of the difference? The question is whether or not they are equal.
Ethan Russo: I think you’ve identified the issue. You can have too many receptors but not enough endocannabinoids. Really they need to be in balance. This brings to the fore an issue I should emphasize at this point. The whole function of the endocannabinoid system is what’s called as a homeostatic regulator. Let’s break that down.
Homeostasis is a balance in bodily function. The endocannabinoid system regulates how other aspects of physiology, how our body works. Let’s give a couple of examples. One of the main things the endocannabinoid system does in the brain is regulate the amount of neurotransmitters, their activity.
Neurotransmitters are chemical messengers in the brain that allow 1 nerve to talk to another. Let’s say for example that there’s too much glutamate activity. This is one of those neurotransmitters. It’s stimulatory, in other words 1 nerve communicating with the next increases its signal. That’s all well and good. It’s a necessary function but when it’s present in excess it will do 2 things that are potentially bad.
One is it produces neuropathic pain, nerve-based pain, a very severe kind of pain that’s associated with nerve problems out in the body or nerve damage in the brain, that’s one. Additionally, glutamate activity is excessive after head injury or strokes so much so that actually can kill brain cells. See, understand then that if there’s too much glutamate that the endocannabinoid system if it’s able to bring those levels down is a helpful thing in promoting health. If we look at systems beyond the brain, the digestion, hormonal systems, the skin, regulation of pain, whether or not somebody have a seizure, all of these are regulated by the endocannabinoid system.
Now the really surprising thing is this system has only been described for about 20 years, a little bit more. We wouldn’t know about it yet maybe if we didn’t know about cannabis, because it was through the study of THC and cannabis and other cannabinoids that this system was discovered. It likely would have taken another 1 or 2 decades to recognize it and its importance have it not been for this relationship.
Shango Los: If the cannabinoid receptors being out of balance causes impacts, it begs the question for patients at home who are self medicating with cannabis. Is it possible that they could intake too much of cannabinoid precursors or through like RSO or something and end up over flushing their brain with endocannabinoids and throwing themselves out of whack?
Ethan Russo: That’s certainly a risk. Most cannabis-based therapeutic requires very low doses, particularly of THC. The tincture in excessive intake is what’s called tolerance or down regulation. We mentioned a little while ago that if there’s too much activity the cannabinoid receptors will become less active. This is what happens when somebody uses so much THC that they become tolerant to it. What the consumer would notice is the amount of cannabis that previously would give them the effect they want saying feeling high no longer work that they needed a lot more in contrast.
When people are treating symptoms particularly those associated with what we call clinical endocannabinoid deficiency and that would be migraine, fibromyalgia and idiopathic bowel syndrome or spastic colon those 3 examples. What they seem to respond to in contrast are very low doses of a cannabis-based medicine and that could be low doses of THC or perhaps higher doses of cannabidiol, which tends to itself promote the function of anandamide, one of the endocannabinoids and help bring the systems into balance better.
Shango Los: 2 of the ailments they talked about in your research are both the bowel syndrome and migraine. As a migraine sufferer, I was very interested in r6eading the specific mechanics of how the endocannabinoid tone being out of balance creates an opportunity for migraines. Whichever you think is the better example? Would you choose one of those and get into specifics about the mechanics of it so folks can picture for themselves the role that endocannabinoid system plays in the ailment?
Ethan Russo: Sure. Let’s choose migraine. Now this is one of those situations where there’s a real danger of oversimplification because this is really complicated. For something that so many people get migraine is incredibly complex and to these days still poorly understood.
What we know is this. There’s no blood test for it. There’s nothing … No test specifically that tells you that someone has it but it’s totally based on the clinical pattern and that is the type of headache that’s often primarily one-sided. It tends to have a beating quality. It can be associated with nausea that can be very severe and it’s also associated with what are called photophobia and phonophobia. Respectively, those mean a sensitivity of the eyes to light and ears to sound.
Things that are normally not painful become painful to the patient having a migraine. Now this has a lot because it indicates that everything is geared up too high. It’s like the filters are off when somebody has this. They have this terrible pounding pain, nausea, sensitivity of eyes to light and ears to sound and it’s really a miserable condition.
What we know and this has been proven now. Given that I wrote my initial big paper on the clinical endocannabinoid deficiency in 2004, we have 11 years of subsequent research that actually shows that anandamide, one of the endogenous cannabinoids, is lower in people with migraine. This was done in the cerebrospinal fluid with spinal taps.
This is a study I had suggested way back when, but I didn’t think that it could be performed ethically in the United States. I guessed they were able to do it I’m Italy, because that’s exactly what they showed was that there was a significant lowering of anandamide in the spinal fluid of people with migraine as compared to those who didn’t have it. In essence that was the first I think real objective proof of clinical endocannabinoid deficiency.
It’s interesting because every symptom that I mentioned on relation to migraine seems to be alleviated pretty well by treatment with cannabis or to lesser extent THC on its own. When I was in neurology practice among my patients in practice and patients who reported to me about 80 percent of people who use cannabis to treat migraine seem to find it helpful both at the time taking it when they have a headache and especially as a preventive.
Now people may think that that’s new. It’s actually not. The first mention of this in the literature may have been 4,000 years ago if we read the science right from the ancient Acadian and Sumerian writings, but certainly we know this. Between by the 1840 and 1940, cannabis was a mainstream medicine both in Europe and the US. Actually, migraine was one of the most frequently reported uses for cannabis and great success was noted with those preparations. Now they had a lot of problems with quality control that won’t be evident now if medicine is made properly, so I think that this has great promise for the future.
Shango Los: For a patient who is self medicating and until the day comes that potentially there is an FDA-tested medicine out, what would you say would be the appropriate way for a patient to medicate? Do you think that an RSO preparation is appropriate? Do you think that actually smoking it so it takes effect more quickly? What is the method of delivery that you think is most likely to be effective?
Ethan Russo: It’s a complex topic. I mentioned earlier I think that the solution here is very low doses and so starting with the concentrate would be risky. What tends to happen there particularly for a medical patient especially in this context is it’s very easy to overshoot. A patient should be treating to the point of symptom control, not psycho-activity. Chances are with the concentrate the first inhalation is going to make them quite high and it might reduce their symptoms but maybe more than they need.
The ideal treatment to me in this situation is one that allows the patient to reduce their symptoms or eliminate them but still function. In other words people are not necessarily looking to have mental changes from their medicine. They’re looking for a relief and particularly for people who need to be working or studying it would be great to be able to get rid of the pain, nausea, et cetera and still be able to work, not feel high and certainly this can be done.
The approach would ideally be I think to have a medicine that was primarily cannabidiol perhaps a very small amount of THC and again use in a very sequential way, in other words very small amount to the point of benefit on symptoms and hopefully without psycho-activity.
Shango Los: What would you say the appropriate ratio would be something as simple as a 2 to 1 or as high of a CBD to THC ratio as you can manage?
Ethan Russo: Really the latter. Unfortunately, not all consumers who even have legal access in the states where they live are going to have reliable lab test on which to base their attempts of treatment. It really is what we call a therapeutic experiment. My best advice in all instances is to start low and go slow, particularly for the person who might have chronic frequent migraines.
Treating this preventively certainly should start with the lowest possible doses working up very slowly to the point that there’s benefit on the frequency and severity of the migraine attacks. Given that it’s a chronic condition ideally is to get better but get better slowly without creating side effects.
The problem with many cannabis-based medicines is particularly in naïve patients who hasn’t used cannabis before if their first experience is a bad one, which can happen particularly with concentrates, they may not return to it. They may have lost a good opportunity to successfully treat their condition. That would be a shame but that’s just one among many reasons that I think the slow what we call titration, slow increase in dose, is the best approach to this kind of clinical problem.
Shango Los: Now that we know that this kind of lack of balance has such an effect, what direction is the research going in? Now that we know that it exists, is the research moving towards how can we test for this without a spinal tap or is there some other area that’s hot right now?
Ethan Russo: That’s been slow and I’d like to help change that. I am hoping that n the next few years we can work with colleagues on doing brain imaging like I mentioned that would give us an idea of the state of someone’s endocannabinoid system. We can look with a special testing at levels in the blood of the endogenous cannabinoids and other conditions and see if we can produce correlations that would support that these are really important and how that disease works like I suspect is the case.
Because again this isn’t limited to migraine at all but certainly fibromyalgia, idiopathic bowel syndrome and possibly many others, including such common current problems as posttraumatic stress disorder. There’s very good evidence that there is an endocannabinoid deficiency operative in that disorder.
Shango Los: You said it earlier that the endocannabinoid system we’ve been aware of it for about 20 years and your cornerstone research on it that was published in 2004 and here we are now in 2015 and it’s just now finding its way out of academia and into citizen healer’s and patient’s knowledge. Why do you think that it’s taken so long for it to reach the patients?
Ethan Russo: It’s like anything else. Not everything gets noticed when it’s first mentioned. At the time I wrote the paper in 2004, there was not a lot of objective evidence. In the paper I try to assemble what was known about how these diseases worked and how they were affected by the endogenous cannabinoid system and by cannabis. Since then things have really changed and that as I mentioned there’s been the objective proof of an endocannabinoid deficiency in migraine. There’s been a lot of other evidence, too.
If I could talk about fibromyalgia for a minute this has a lot in common with migraine and they tend to happen in the same people. Fibromyalgia is a painful muscle spasm and pain condition. Now what it has in common with migraine is you can’t see anything. If you look at the tissues, it looks okay. If you scan it, it looks okay. Again, like migraine, there is pain on the proportion to what seems to be necessary. The pain can wander around the body. It can be quite disabling. It’s associated with a sleep disorder. Unfortunately, although it’s very common it’s treated very poorly by available medicines.
In 2014, the National Pain Report came out with a survey of 1,300 fibromyalgia patients and asking them how they responded to several agents. There are actually 3 drugs approved in the US to treat it. These are called duloxetine, milnacipran, and pregabalin. The first 2 are antidepressants that work on serotonin and norepinephrine, increasing the amounts of both. The third is an anticonvulsant, a seizure medicine that’s actually used to treat nerve-based pain.
However, these 1,300 patients who responded to the survey they found that these 3 drugs; duloxetine was very effective in only 8 percent, milnacipran in only 10 percent, and pregabalin in only 10 percent. They found that they got a little bit of help with duloxetine 32 percent, milnacipran 22 percent, and pregabalin 29 percent. However, people felt that they got no help at all from these drugs; duloxetine 60 percent, milnacipran 68 percent, and pregabalin 61 percent. This is pretty bad.
Now let’s compare with those people who used cannabis. 62 percent reported cannabis is very effective for this condition, so that’s 6 times better than any of the drugs that were approved for it. In the cannabis patients 33 percent additionally found that it helped a little and only 5 percent got no benefit at all.
Shango Los: Probably with a lot of side effects too.
Ethan Russo: Hopefully but one looks at the graph as I do in front of me it’s pretty readily apparent that there’s a big qualitative difference and that cannabis clearly is the best medicine as compared to the 3 FDA-approved drugs for this condition. Obviously, we need to do better and hopefully soon there will be legal access for cannabis-based medicine whether prescription or otherwise for other people that have condition, which is actually the most common diagnosis amongst dermatologists in the US, so it’s a very common condition.
Shango Los: Chances are we’re opening a lot of folks’ eyes to endocannabinoid deficiency just with our interview. For folks who are now interested in the topic and may want to find out more, it’s a pretty obscure topic. Where would you recommend that people go to find out more?
Ethan Russo: Hopefully, we can provide a URL to my study. There are lots of other studies. Additionally, we’ll be talking about this at Patients Out of Time conference coming up later in May in West Palm Beach, Florida. Eventually, a recording of the topic there which would be similar content to our discussion today will be online later that will also be available for continuing medical education credit so that patients could suggest that their doctors see this and they can get credit for it from watching it online. Additionally, because there’s been 11 years of additional research in this area I hope to write another article about this.
Shango Los: Fantastic. Dr. Russo, thank you for joining me today and thanks for sharing with us about endocannabinoid deficiency.
Ethan Russo: Thank you.
Shango Los: Dr. Ethan Russo is a world-renowned neurologist and cannabis researcher. I am Shango Los, founder of the Vashon Island Marijuana Entrepreneurs Alliance. Thank you for listening to Ganjapreneur.com.
North Shore-LIJ Health System, a major New York City hospital network, has partnered with Colorado’s Silverpeak Apothecary in hopes to be approved as one of the state’s few licensed medical marijuana providers.
North Shore-LIJ runs 19 hospitals with an additional 400 outpatient physicians in New York City, Long Island and Westchester County. Silverpeak has operated dispensaries in Colorado since 2009.
The team, working in New York as Silverpeak NY LLC, has enlisted the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research – a research arm for North Shore-LIJ – to develop a program to research marijuana in order to “[advance] the science” behind the drug, according to a press release. The Feinstein Institute has existing research in the field focused on schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, substance abuse, chronic pain, epilepsy and neurologic conditions.
“We are extraordinarily proud to be part of such a groundbreaking partnership,” Jordan Lewis, CEO of Silverpeak Apothecary, said in a press release. “North Shore-LIJ’s commitment to patient care, as well as their ongoing efforts to explore new frontiers in medicine is remarkable. The extraordinary vision of their leadership and world-class clinical and research talent will provide a framework in which data driven cannabis therapeutics can thrive. Silverpeak NY is a partnership that will benefit the patients of New York profoundly.”
James Romagnoli, North Shore-LIJ vice president of corporate security and emergency management, describes their proposal as a “vertically integrated system” which will include growing and processing the byproducts of the plants, noting that New York’s law does not allow patients to smoke the drug.
The state will allow five organizations to set up four dispensaries in the state and while Silverpeak NY is hoping to secure their license, another 43 businesses have applied for a license, according to New York Health Department documents. Those documents do not indicate the geographic location of the proposals – further raising the issue of patient access. Just a handful of the companies vying for the New York license are headquartered outside of New York City.
One of the potential upstate licensees, North Country Roots, headquartered in Plattsburgh New York, met with Clifton Park town officials and citizens last April and pitched them the idea of having a dispensary in the small central New York town.
Dahn Bull, director of communications for the Town of Clifton Park, said since that initial meeting they have not heard any other proposals from other potential companies.
“[North Country Roots] were very open about the process about what they were looking into,” Bull said. “They answered questions, they took questions and comments from the public – it was a very cordial discussion.”
Despite their metro location, Stephanie Iannello, public relations specialist for North Shore-LIJ, said that although the hospital operates primarily in the downstate market the organization would be able to make the drug available for a large number of New York patients. Iannello warned that they are still in the early approval stages so it was “too early to tell” whether or not the group would set up dispensaries out of their coverage zones.
“We know our patients and we know their symptoms and, upon state approval, we would eliminate the [access] barrier,” she said.
According to the state Health Department, the drug would be available in January for an approved list of 10 conditions.
The Colorado Supreme Court unanimously upheld decisions by lower courts that allow employers to fire employees for off-the-clock medical marijuana use. According to the state’s lawful off-duty activities statute, an activity must be legal under both state and federal law in order for an employee to be protected.
The case involved Brandon Coats, who brought a suit against his former employer, Dish Network, after being fired for testing positive for THC. Coats is a quadriplegic who uses medical marijuana to treat spasms and debilitating seizures that resulted from a car accident. He worked as a service representative for three years at Dish before being fired.
The case highlights the lack of protections that are extended to individuals who use marijuana in states where the drug has been legalized.
“It’s now painfully clear that something akin to a medical marijuana bill of rights is needed for patients in Colorado,” said Art Way, director of the Drug Policy Alliance in Colorado. “Patients, advocates and legislators must find a way to extend the rights of patients and legal adult marijuana users when it comes to employment, housing and parental rights.”
Currently only three states — Arizona, Delaware and Minnesota — prohibit employers from disciplining employees who test positive for THC if they are medical marijuana cardholders.
Lawmakers in the Delaware House and Senate have unanimously approved a bill that would permit children to take part in the state’s medical marijuana program. The bill now heads to Governor Jack Markell.
The same bill, known as Rylie’s Law, would also allow patients suffering from intractable epilepsy access to the program.
Under the bill, minors under 18 years of age who qualify for the program would be issued special medical marijuana cards. They would only be allowed access to marijuana oils that contain at least 15% CBD and up to 7% THC.
Robert Capecchi, Deputy Director of State Policies for the Marijuana Policy Project, stated that the bill “recognizes the sad truth that kids face serious illnesses too, and it gives doctors one more legal option to help them find relief.”
Meanwhile, Delaware’s first medical marijuana dispensary is set to open in Wilmington on June 26th.
New Jersey governor Chris Christie was once considered to be a viable contender for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. Then Bridgegate happened. And allegations of using public funds to buy snacks at Metlife Stadium. And his pension reform. Now, his recent comments about how he would handle legalized marijuana in Colorado and Washington if he were to become president have pushed his White House dreams even further into the distance.
“If I’m President, I’ll Crack Down on Colorado Marijuana Laws”
Governor Christie discussed his views about legalized marijuana at the state level during a recent interview with John Dickerson on CBS’ Face the Nation. When asked if he would return the federal prosecution of marijuana sale and possession in states where it has been legalized, Christie replied with a curt “yes.” Following this question, Dickerson asked if Christie would attempt to end the legal sale of marijuana in these states during his presidency, to which Christie replied, “correct.”
Governor Christie is known to state his views openly and directly, no matter how others may perceive them. Later in this interview, he went on to say that he would not sugarcoat his views while campaigning in Colorado – Christie is against legalized marijuana and he’s not afraid to say it.
“You go out and tell people the truth and you lay out your ideas and you either win or you lose,” he said. Remember, when New Jersey’s coastline was being ravaged by Superstorm Sandy in 2012, this is the guy whose instructions were “get the hell off the beach.”
Christie’s Record in New Jersey
Governor Christie has a long record of opposing legalized recreational marijuana in New Jersey. In 2014, he made the following comments during a radio interview on NJ 101.5:
“I don’t care about the tax money that may come from it and I don’t care if people think it’s inevitable. It’s not inevitable here. I’m not going to permit. Never — as long as I’m governor.”
Ouch. In a state as expensive as New Jersey, the potential tax revenue from legalized marijuana is something that a lot of its residents, (48%, according to a recent Monmouth University poll) care quite a bit about. He went on to compare New Jersey to Colorado, where the sale of recreational marijuana has resulted in $53 million in tax revenue.
“Go to Colorado and see if you wanna live there. Head shops popping up on every corner and people flying in just to get high.”
America’s View of Christie
A national poll conducted in 2014 showed that approximately half of Americans recognize Chris Christie and roughly one quarter of those polled “liked him somewhat” or “liked him a lot.”
Although he has not officially declared that he plans to run for president, Christie has not officially denied that he’ll run. If he does, he faces considerable opposition from voters throughout the United States. Recent web polls that asked for users’ opinions about various public figures, juxtaposing images of fictional villains against actual presidential hopefuls, found that Chris Christie was consistently one of the lowest-rated public figures. America likes Darth Vader and Voldemort better than it likes Chris Christie, but at least he scored higher than Donald Trump. That’s gotta be worth something, right?
Legislators in Oregon have reached a tentative agreement on a deal that would result in a 20% sales tax on recreational marijuana. 17% of the tax revenues would go to the state, while the other 3% would go to localities.
The deal was made with the hopes that it will end the disagreement between cities and counties regarding how much power each has to limit sales of recreational and medical marijuana. The hope is that the issue of local control will be able to be set aside by legislators and instead be decided in the courts or by a legislative work group in the future.
Currently, a legal case in Cave Junction is deciding whether local governments can ban medical marijuana dispensaries in their jurisdiction.
The Senate has passed a measure allowing localities to prohibit dispensaries while at the same time allowing voters to overturn such bans.
Sen. Ginny Burdick (D.-Portland), co-chair of the Legislature’s marijuana panel, expressed a positive view of the tax deal: “We are reaching conclusions on this and I’m very encouraged by the progress we have made.”
Scott Winkels, the chief lobbyist for the League of Oregon Cities, was not as enthusiastic, noting that a mere 3% tax revenue for localities was not ideal, but went on to say that “getting the tax on the books, we view that as a victory.”
The 3% tax would be levied in addition to a state sales tax that has been moving forward in the legislature, and would replace the marijuana harvest tax included in the November Measure 91 initiative.
After legalizing medical marijuana, lawmakers in Puerto Rico have banned smoking the plant. Speaking with the Associated Press this week, Justice Secretary Cesar Miranda stated that “smoking marijuana is not being contemplated as part of a medical treatment.”
Opponents to the ban claim that it is an onerous and shortsighted policy. Amanda Reiman, of the Drug Policy Alliance, stated that “a lot of patients prefer to inhale the cannabis than take it orally. If they have to take it only through a pill, it can be very difficult to tell what the right dose is.”
Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, noted that while patients who have trouble sleeping may prefer a digestible form of marijuana, those dealing with spasms, seizures or nausea likely prefer an intake method that provides a more immediate effect.
“Smoking brings on the pain relief in less than a minute… You want them to take the medication in the form that works best for them.”
Puerto Rico Health Secretary Ana Rius noted that the University of Puerto Rico will be working with two U.S. firms, Chicago-based Quantum 9 and Las Vegas-based GrowBlox Sciences, to research the use and production of medical marijuana.
Our most recent interview features Robert Calkin, founder of Cannabis Career Institute, an innovator among marijuana schools. Robert is also president of the nation’s first and arguably most successful branded MMJ delivery service, Green Dot Delivery.
“One of my life lessons has been underestimating people’s ability to make something happen through sheer will.”
In this interview, Robert explains his gradual transition from cannabis entrepreneur to eventually serving as a business consultant across many avenues of the industry. He tells us about the founding of CCI and discusses the many qualities that set his school apart from the competition, one of which emphasizes the development and maintaining of good business relationships with CCI students and the companies they go on to found.
Read the full interview below:
Ganjapreneur: What about the cannabis industry initially drew you to it?
Robert Calkin: I have been using cannabis since I was 11, so I think the immediate attraction was seeing how much influence and gravitas marijuana had. I saw that people had such a strong connection to it that it literally created a secret society where the members instantly recognized each other and only did business within that secret realm. This was a powerful attraction in that it was also insanely lucrative. I have had a delivery service all my life and started America’s first branded delivery service, Green Dot Delivery in California in 1988. Being financially independent all my life via cannabis was what inspired me to become a consultant and help others to do the same thing. I was also the first marijuana delivery consultant.
When was the idea for Cannabis Career Institute born?
I created the idea for CCI in 2008 at the height of the great recession, while working at Oaksterdam University. I had just created the curriculum for their Delivery 102 class, which was based on my book (Starting Your Own Medical Marijuana Delivery Service—The Mobile Caregiver’s Handbook) which I actually wrote while in class at Oaksterdam after I discovered they had no delivery class! I realized that people were hungry for more information on corporate structure, how to fill out the forms necessary to create a cannabis business and to just generally get support outside of class while working on their individual projects and business concepts. I wanted to provide a platform for them to be able to gauge the progress of their success, come back to get updates on the law and have an immediate almost unlimited pool of resources via our network.
How easy was it to find an interested student body for CCI during those early years?
When we first began no one wanted to advertise themselves as being “in the cannabis industry” so we had to advertise the classes without promoting the instructors. I always felt that Oaksterdam and CCI legitimized the cannabis industry by paying professionals to come in and teach standards to people who want to follow the law. Constitutionally we are also allowed to gather and share information, especially information geared toward following the law not getting around it. So as time progressed, people felt more comfortable coming out of the closet and admitting what they were doing for a living. We see this transformation in every state we go to where, initially people are frightened to even answer the phone and discuss it rationally, then months later they are “cannabis experts” who have been specializing in this “for years”. Then, everyone is fighting to be the first “marijuana attorney” or “marijuana accountant” in town. Then they are trying to “out-green” everyone!
What sort of educational services, information, and opportunities does Cannabis Career Institute offer its students?
We see ourselves as a mentoring program for people considering the cannabis industry as a career, or those who already have a concept or business plan that needs developing. We have classes across the country and once you have paid for one class you get to return to any of our classes for free. Not only that but we are available to our students outside of class for consulting and networking. We actually want to do business with our students and actively find them jobs. We provide an immediate group of talented individuals to anyone who enrolls who will help them to create an action team of their own. These are the people who will help you to do the things that you can’t or shouldn’t do like your accountant and your attorney.
CCI was founded in 2009 — were you expecting then that legalization efforts would ramp up in the ways we’ve seen since?
Yes I have been anticipating pretty much everything in this sector rolling out the way it has. That’s why I got trademarks on quite a few cannabis related businesses in 2010. CCI and Cannajobs are both federal trademarks, as are Cannabis State University and CannaMeeting. I have also trademarked Green Dot Delivery so I can license that model too.
Do you think we will someday see full legalization in the United States, including medical and recreational cannabis?
I believe we will see this happen at a lightning speed and an exponential rate. As we gain momentum, and this becomes more of a lifestyle issue and an attack on a subculture which of course has rights and needs that must be respected. Just as the AIDS movement and gay marriage got representation, with public education, all of a sudden they had a voice and a serious issue that had to be considered. The same thing is happening in this case. The people are creating an agenda that can’t be ignored: the need for alternative heath treatment and safe access, especially for children and the terminally ill.
How have states with recreational legalization influenced your plan for the future?
I am actually focusing more on states with no medical marijuana program just as much if not more than ones who have one already because we specialize in helping people who are just starting out in this industry and in developing brands. Many times this means local markets with specific marketing and branding needs. This is something we of course concentrate on and specialize in at CCI.
What has been the biggest obstacle you’ve faced while building your institution?
Actually I have not had many obstacles. As we started to grow we have experienced the usual pains of a corporation expanding, maybe not anticipating problems that pop up inevitably. Problems with credit card companies and bank accounts have been issues for us. Also, employees and partners who steal our business plans and business models has also been a problem but mostly turns out to be just an amusing anecdote in the end.
What do you think is the greatest contributing factor to your institution’s success?
The fact that we are open and available to our students 24-7 even outside of class for mentoring or consulting them on whatever it is they are working on has been a huge factor in our success. This leads to a lot of successful job placement, deal funding, networking opportunities that are priceless. I can’t tell you how many times people have said to me, “I can’t believe you answer your phone!” It’s because we enjoy what we do! We hear from people everyday who tell us their lives have completely changed since attending one of our seminars or utilizing our instructors. Our slogan has served us well which is “Your success is our success”. With a dash of self-reliance, you too can do anything you want in the cannabis industry!
What is one piece of advice you have for hopeful ganjapreneurs trying to get in on the industry?
Don’t let anyone discourage you from pursuing your business model. One of my life lessons has been underestimating people’s ability to make something happen through sheer will. Don’t discount the power of positive thought when it comes to entrepreneurialism as it helps you to create a tunnel vision that will serve you well. As long as it is the right business model—you will succeed.
Thank you Robert for your insights on this exciting industry, and for creating such a great opportunity for ganjapreneurs to learn the ways of the cannabusiness world! We’re looking forward to watching CCI grow as the legalization trend continues.
For more information on the Cannabis Career Institute, visit their website or contact the school directly here.
The Connecticut State Senate has approved a bill that would allow the launch of hemp pilot programs and research plots in the state. The Senate’s unanimous approval of the bill follows the House’s 142-2 approval of the same legislation.
The bill, HB 5780, would strike hemp from Connecticut’s list of controlled substances, and would allow farmers to begin experimenting with industrial hemp as per the rules laid out in the 2014 federal Farm Bill.
The proposal classifies hemp as cannabis that contains less than 0.3% THC by dry weight.
The bill will now be sent to Governor Dannel Malloy, who has several options: he can sign it into law, do nothing and allow the bill to become law automatically, or veto it, although this is unlikely given the overwhelming support in both chambers.
Currently, the majority of hemp used in the United States is imported from Canada and China, the crop’s major exporters.
Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper approved a bill on Thursday that cuts the tax on recreational cannabis from 10% to 8%. The break will not go into effect until 2017.
Supporters of the legislation argue that the tax break will help to bring down the price of legal marijuana, thereby allowing the state’s legal market to more effectively compete with its black market.
Furthermore, due to the wording of the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR), Colorado will have what is called a tax holiday on September 16th: marijuana sales will be tax-free that day. Although the legalization bill had originally been written so that it would repeal state taxes in 2017, TABOR requires that voters approve any new state taxes based on what the state estimates it will collect and spend from the tax. If either of these is greater than the estimates, citizens are allowed a refund.
Colorado hasn’t made more revenue from marijuana taxes than expected, but total spending is greater than initial estimates because of an uptick in the economy.
Another provision of TABOR is that it requires that the tax rate in question be cut to 0% in such a case. Hence the tax holiday: state lawmakers agreed to cut the rate to 0% for just one day in order to meet the constitutional obligation. The state expects to lose about $100,000 from recreational sales on the holiday.
A Rocky Mountain Poll published Wednesday finds that more than half of Arizona voters are in favor of legalizing recreational marijuana use.
83 percent of voters also favor allowing the state’s public universities to conduct research on marijuana’s effects on individuals suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
JP Holyoak, of the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, stated that the drug’s continued prohibition reflects a failure of the political process: “It’s recognition of the failure of prohibition. We don’t arrest people for having a glass of wine with dinner. Why would we arrest people for consuming a substance that’s safer than alcohol?”
Local doctor Sue Sisley was fired from her position at the University of Arizona in 2014 after state lawmakers came out against her research on medical marijuana treatments for veterans. In reference to the poll, Sisley said that “it’s great to see we have that kind of support from the general public.”
Dr. Sisley had formerly been opposed to legalizing marijuana for medical use, but says that statistics on veteran suicides changed her mind. 22 veterans commit suicide each day in the U.S., and Sisley says that those veterans who use medical marijuana tend to hold jobs and live happier lives.
The Arizona Republic Party published a statement Wednesday making clear its opposition to marijuana legalization.
Legislators in Wisconsin’s House and Senate have filed two bills to legalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana and the cultivation of two plants.
The companion bills were filed by Representative Mandela Barnes (D.-Milwaukee) and Senator Chris Larson (D.-Milwaukee). Under the proposed legislation, individuals possessing less than 25 grams of marijuana would not be subject to criminal penalties. The personal cultivation of up to two plants would also be legal, although distribution would remain illegal, thus foregoing the possibility of a retail cannabis industry.
Currently, the possession of up to an ounce of marijuana in Wisconsin can bring with it a misdemeanor and up to six months in jail. Repeat offenses carry with them a felony and up to three and a half years in prison. Those found guilty of cultivating two marijuana plants would be subject to a felony and up to six years in prison.
The bill would also modify the procedures for weighing cannabis infused products. Currently, the entire weight of the product is considered during sentencing; under the new law, only the weight of the cannabis would be considered.
The U.S. House of Representatives reauthorized an amendment that prohibits the Justice Department from interfering with medical marijuana programs in states where such programs are legal.
Reps. Dana Rohrabacher (R.-CA) and Sam Farr (D.-CA) attached the amendment to the 2016 Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies appropriations bill. It passed 242-186.
Rohrabacher defended the amendment in a strongly worded address Wednesday morning:
“This is absolutely absurd that the federal government is going to mandate all these things even though the people of the states and many doctors would like to have the right to prescribe to their patients what they think will alleviate their suffering. This is states’ rights issue. Our founding fathers didn’t want a police force that can bust down people’s doors. They wanted individual freedom.”
Before it can go into effect, the House amendment would have to pass a joint Conference with the Senate, which is likely to propose its own DEA appropriations bill.
Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) proposed a second amendment that protects states that have authorized the medicinal use of marijuana oil extracts. It passed 297-130.
Lastly, the House approved a third amendment, proposed by Reps. Thomas Massie (R.-KY) and Suzanne Bonamici (D.-OR), that prevents the DEA from interfering with state-approved hemp programs.
Media Personality & Cannabis Experts will Recruit Top Industry Participation & Expand Leading Cannabis Business Events Major Media & Social Media Reach
(Paramus, NJ, June 2, 2015)–The International Cannabis Association (ICA) is pleased to announce that media personality and cannabis expert Cheryl Shuman has formed a dynamic alliance with its Cannabis World Congress & Business Expositions (CWCBExpo). In this coast –to-coast venture, ICA and Cheryl Shuman have teamed up to recruit the participation of the biggest names in the legalized and medical marijuana market at the Cannabis World Congress & Business Exposition taking place in the New York, NY and Los Angeles, CA. The CWCBExpos are the country’s leading business expositions for this fast growing industry.
Cheryl Shuman is also hosting visionary Seneca Entrepreneur Ross John at the New York event and introducing their new joint venture designed to use Native sovereign status as a unique development asset that can help streamline and nurture cannabis related projects and programs.
Known as the Martha Stewart of Cannabis, Cheryl Shuman will be speaking at the CWCBExpo in New York on “Partnering with Celebrities to Expand Your Cannabis Business.” Ms. Shuman will share her experiences working with hundreds of celebrities as brand ambassadors for successful cannabis businesses. This high level session, on June 18th, will cover the ups, downs and everything in-between of working with some of the top names in Hollywood.
Cheryl Shuman brings her 25 years skills of public relations, media, product branding, and business development to this new alliance with the CWCBExpo events in New York, NY and Los Angeles, CA. Ms. Shuman was recently featured on the cover of Adweek as Pot’s First Marketer, in Elle Magazine as The Most Powerful Women in the Pot Industry, named The Cannabis Queen of Beverly Hills by The New York Times Sunday Magazine as well as gracing The Cannabis Queen of Beverly Hills in The London Times Magazine.
“We are excited to be working with one of the most recognizable faces in the cannabis industry and creating even more awareness for the CWCBExpos as the premier events for this fast growing industry,” said Dan Humiston, President of International Cannabis Association, sponsors of the CWCBExpo.
“As a woman owned business, the partnership with International Cannabis Association and the CWCBExpo with my firm creates a wonderful opportunity for women around the world to follow in the footsteps of Pauline Sabin from the 1930’s who led a group of dedicated women to overturn alcohol prohibition; today, we are making history working towards the end of cannabis prohibition,” states Ms. Shuman.
“Celebrities and women are the secret to legalization. We are the family decision makers and influencers in society; after all, women buy 85% of all household and consumer products, according to Adweek. Now we can use that influence to change laws, save lives, families and introduce parents to new possible careers in the green rush. As an entrepreneur, it’s exciting to be on the ground floor of the cutting edge of making news and witnessing the convergence of women, celebrity and cannabis culture,” exclaimed Ms. Shuman.
Taking place June 17-19 at the Javits Center, CWCBExpo in New York features a dedicated day of workshops (June 17) including a course on cannabis careers and a certification class for opening a cannabis business. The trade show and conference (June 18-19) also features a Keynote address by the Drug Policy Alliance, a Regulatory Medical Marijuana Summit with NY State Senator Diane Savino and more than 40 expert-led sessions covering all aspects of the cannabis business.
The Add-On Workshops, 2-day education program, and exhibits at CWCBExpo in New York makes it the largest event on the East Coast for providing learning and networking opportunities for healthcare professionals, lawyers, investors, entrepreneurs as well as established cannabis business owners and suppliers of products and services to the industry.
In the Fall, the CWCBExpo will take place September 16-18 at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, CA. For more information on the CWCBExpos visit www.cwcbexpo.com.
About Cheryl Shuman Inc.
Established in 1984, Cheryl Shuman Inc. is a public relations, media, product branding, event production and business development firm focusing on merging mainstream with the cannabis industry. In 2006, Shuman was diagnosed with cancer. After years of following failed allopathic medicine treatments, she opted for medical cannabis in the form of raw juice and oils as an alternative. Her success using medical cannabis led her to found the Beverly Hills Cannabis Club (www.BHCClub.com). Today, Cheryl is the most visible and recognizable entrepreneurs in the marijuana reform movement, recently receiving the 2013 Activist of the Year Award at Seattle Hempfest. Cheryl has reached over 100 million viewers worldwide while appearing on such mainstream shows as CNN’s Piers Morgan Live, The Katie Couric Show, The View, ABC’s 20/20, Good Morning America, Fox Business News and many other media outlets. She was recently featured on the cover of Adweek as Pot’s First Marketer as the first company to establish a luxury “Starbucks of Pot” Brand, in Elle Magazine as The Most Potent Women in the Pot Industry, named The Cannabis Queen of Beverly Hills by The New York Times Sunday Magazine as well as gracing the cover of The London Times Magazine as The Cannabis Queen of Beverly Hills. Shuman has also teamed up to launch a luxury cannabis conference series with OSL Holdings, a publicly traded marijuana services company (OSLH), to focus on the affluent cannabis market and high-dollar investment vehicles for the rapidly growing space. Cheryl Shuman is represented for TV, film, book and lecturing deals by the prestigious William Morris Endeavor Agency in Beverly Hills. For more information, please visit CherylShuman.com.
About International Cannabis Association
The International Cannabis Association (ICA) provides the resources necessary for professionals to succeed in the cannabis industry. Whether considering starting a cannabis business, taking an existing cannabis business to the next level or expanding service to support the cannabis industry, the ICA is here to help. By offering educational conferences and networking events, the International Cannabis Association brings together experts from across the cannabis industry as well as individuals simply interested in getting started. As the cannabis industry’s business-to-business association, the ICA is the professional’s source for timely, entrepreneurial and high-quality information. For more information visit www.internationalcannabisassociation.com
About Cannabis World Congress & Business Expositions (CWCBExpo)
The Cannabis World Congress & Business Expositions (CWCBExpo) are produced by Leading Edge Expositions in partnership with the International Cannabis Association (ICA). The events are the leading professional forums for dispensary owners, growers, suppliers, investors, medical professionals, government regulators, legal counsel, and entrepreneurs looking to achieve business success and identify new areas of growth in this dynamic industry. In 2015, CWCBExpo will take place June 17-19, at the Javits Convention Center in New York, and the CWCBExpo Fall will be held September 16-18, at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, CA. To learn more about the CWCBExpos go to www.cwcbexpo.com. Connect on Twitter/CWCBExpo and Facebook/CWCBExpo.
Cannabis World Congress & Business Exposition, June 17-19, Offers Dedicated Courses on How to Open a Cannabis Business & Career Opportunities
(Paramus, NJ, May 2015)—A six-hour certification program on “How to Open a Cannabis Business,” is being presented at the Cannabis World Congress & Business Exposition (CWCBExpo) at the Javits Center in New York, NY. Taking place on Wednesday, June 17th this workshop is part of a dedicated day of education at the leading event on the East Coast for the legalized and medical marijuana industry.
Led by Clover Leaf University, the first cannabis university to be approved, regulated and licensed by the Department of Higher Education, “How to Open a Cannabis Business” is an essential primer for anyone looking to get started in the cannabis industry. Attendees will learn about state laws, trade secrets, dispensary management and compliance, and mass warehouse cultivation. Insider information on the various methods of extraction and the approved systems and procedures one must follow to produce extractions will also be covered.
“With an industry still growing, this workshop is the most thorough program being offered to educate anyone interested in entering the cannabis industry, “ said Dan Humiston, President of International Cannabis Association, sponsors of the CWCBExpo in New York.
“We are honored to be part of the ICA sponsored program at CWCBExpo. New York lawmakers have opened their minds and hearts to medical marijuana. To have Clover Leaf offer the first Higher Education endorsed certification program in New York to so many people looking to start their own business is not only exciting, but the right step toward fostering a responsible business environment,” said Chloe Villano, President & Founder of Clover Leaf University.
Prior to “How to Open a Cannabis Business,” an introductory workshop on the different jobs and careers available in the cannabis industry will be presented by the Cannabis Career Institute. Taking place on June 17th from 9:00 -10:30 a.m., the “Career Cannabis Workshop,” will provide an overview of all the different jobs and careers available in the cannabis industry. Attendees will learn what skills and training are necessary to become a Budtender, Grow Master, Extraction Specialists, Infused Product Specialist and other “in” industry jobs. Ancillary and support service careers in healthcare, plumbing, security and marketing to name a few will also be reviewed.
The Add-On Workshops at CWCBExpo in New York, including a “Doctor & Health Care Providers Conference on Medical Marijuana for New York” complement the comprehensive two-day educational program June 18-19. More than 40 sessions, featuring top industry experts and though leaders, provides the latest insight and strategies for the legal, regulatory, financial, operational, retail, marketing and healthcare sectors of the industry.
CWCBExpo in New York presents a Keynote Address by Ethan Nadelmann, President & Founder of the Drug Policy Alliance and a “Medical Marijuana Regulatory Summit,” led by New York State Senator Diane Savino. “Investing in the Cannabis Industry While Managing Risk,” for qualified investors rounds out the educational agenda at CWCBExpo in New York.
CWCBExpo in New York also features an exhibit floor (June 18-19) with suppliers in the industry showcasing cutting-edge products and services to those in the business, entrepreneurs looking to enter the market, medical professionals and dispensary owners, investors, and providers of professional services.
The Add-On Workshops, 2-day education program, and exhibits at CWCBExpo in New York makes it the largest event on the East Coast providing learning and networking opportunities for healthcare professionals, lawyers, investors, entrepreneurs as well as established cannabis business owners and suppliers of products and services to the industry.
To register online for CWCBExpo in New York at discounted rates go to
The International Cannabis Association (ICA) provides the resources necessary for professionals to succeed in the cannabis industry. Whether considering starting a cannabis business, taking an existing cannabis business to the next level or expanding service to support the cannabis industry, the ICA is here to help. By offering educational conferences and networking events, the International Cannabis Association brings together experts from across the cannabis industry as well as individuals simply interested in getting started. As the cannabis industry’s business-to-business association, the ICA is the professional’s source for timely, entrepreneurial and high-quality information. For more information visit www.internationalcannabisassociation.com
About Cannabis World Congress & Business Expositions (CWCBExpo)
The Cannabis World Congress & Business Expositions (CWCBExpo) are produced by Leading Edge Expositions in partnership with the International Cannabis Association (ICA). The events are the leading professional forums for dispensary owners, growers, suppliers, investors, medical professionals, government regulators, legal counsel, and entrepreneurs looking to achieve business success and identify new areas of growth in this dynamic industry. In 2015, CWCBExpo will take place June 17-19, at the Javits Convention Center in New York, and the CWCBExpo Fall will be held September 16-18, at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, CA. To learn more about the CWCBExpos go to www.cwcbexpo.com. Connect on Twitter/CWCBExpo and Facebook/CWCBExpo.
The U.S. Open takes place at Chambers Bay in Washington this year, and local marijuana businesses are set to take advantage of increased tourism to boost sales.
Tacoma City Council member Marty Campbell stated that “Pot store owners are expecting a week’s of marijuana sales each day of the tournament.” Stores like World of Weed have pushed to open their doors in time for the tournament.
Retail store owners, while certainly looking forward to the increased demand, are taking pains to make sure their security is up to snuff, and that out-of-towners will receive necessary education about local laws pertaining to the drug.
Adan Yescas, a security consultant with Apache 6, which provides retail marijuana security, said that “our guys are going to need to be more alert… and having [sic] a closer eye to the Liquor Control Board regulations.”
Under Washington law, it’s illegal to smoke in public or to use in hotels. Pierce County sheriff’s detective Ed Troyer warned would-be greenside tokers that, “if you think you’re going to come from out of state because marijuana is legal here and you’re going to the golf course, that’s not going to happen.”
Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed into law a bill legalizing the use of marijuana oil extracts in the treatment of severe epilepsy.
Patients suffering from intractable epilepsy and who have found at least two other medications to be ineffective will now have access to low-THC, high-CBD oil extracts. The state will oversee the distribution of the oils.
Medical marijuana advocates have attacked the bill for being too narrow in scope and ‘unworkable’ because of a provision that requires doctors to prescribe patients marijuana, which is a violation of federal law.
Despite the criticism, Heather Fazio, the Texas political director for Marijuana Policy Project, viewed the bill’s passage as a cause for celebration.
“While this program leaves most patients behind and we’re concerned about its functionality, today is one for the history books,” she said. “The Texas Legislature is sending a resounding message: Marijuana is medicine. We commend our Texas lawmakers and look forward to continuing this conversation when the 85th Legislature convenes in 2017.”
The bill requires the Texas Department of Public Safety to approve at least three oil dispensaries by September 1st, 2017.
“Rosin Tech” (or RosinTech, depending on who you ask) is a new form of home hash production which has taken Instagram by storm due to its simplicity and the quality of product it produces. Essentially, Rosin Tech involves using a hair straightener to combine heat and pressure as an extraction method — a process popularized by Instagram user Soilgrown. In our latest Ganjapreneur podcast, Shango Los sits down with Jeff Church (a.k.a. Reverend Cannabis) to discuss how the technique was born, how it has spread, and how it compares to other traditional hash manufacturing processes.
Jeff also discusses how Rosin has spread internationally while recalling his recent trip to Spain for Spannabis, where he encountered people who had heard of it but not yet perfected the technique due to the language barrier (the most popular Instagram videos demonstrating the Rosin Tech method are in English).
Jeff is the owner of ThincPure, and he also consults for legal cannabis processors and pharmaceutical companies. He worked to develop and implement the Medical Marijuana Hashish rating system for consumers and patients, he was formerly Dean of the Cannabis College, and he has worked extensively on cannabis reform with the Coalition for Cannabis Standards and Ethics, The Cannabis Defense Coalition, and the Patient Arrest Protection Group.
Below are some photos of RosinTech pressed hash that Jeff has posted to Instagram:
https://instagram.com/p/2VDWE8tN6T
https://instagram.com/p/1piMmDtN41
https://instagram.com/p/3ZX0r0tN49
https://instagram.com/p/3ZMKS1tNyZ
Full Transcript
Shango Los: Welcome to the Ganjapreneur.com Podcast. My name is Shango Los and I will be your host today. Jeff Church, also known as Reverend Cannabis has been extracting medicine from cannabis for over 15 years. He has worked with every modern solvent and solvent-less extraction process, including dry extraction, ethanol, and ISO alcohol, water extraction, butane, and CO2. His business Conscious Extracts produces exceptional extracts sold in dispensaries throughout Washington. He also consults for legal cannabis processors and pharmaceutical companies. He worked to develop and implement the Medical Marijuana Hashish rating system for consumers and patients.
Reverend Cannabis was formerly Dean of the Cannabis College and has worked extensively on cannabis reform with the Coalition for Cannabis Standards and Ethics, The Cannabis Defense Coalition, and the Patient Arrest Protection Group. Welcome, Reverend Cannabis.
Jeff Church: Hello.
Shango Los: I know you to be fascinated by historical hash production, as well as being on the cutting edge of the newest techniques. In what ways do you see modern hash production as similar and dissimilar to historical techniques?
Jeff Church: Modern hash has really risen out of all of the historical techniques that we have. The basic types of hashish production, sieving and hand-rubbing kind of translate over into the new things that we’re doing. The hand-rubbing is similar to the live resin that we have nowadays. The sieving we’ve taken that to the purest form where now we’ve got 99% pure trichome heads in our dry sift, so there’s quite a few things.
The one thing that historically hasn’t been done as much is the use of solvents. That’s a fairly new thing, especially CO2 but there’s been ethanol extraction in history and that just stayed around. The old world techniques have really proved to be worthwhile over time. I would see them very similar. The only main difference is today we have all of the technology that we can apply to this. Where you were only able to get so pure of a product with old world techniques we’re able to step it up with a little bit of science and get a lot of pure extract.
Shango Los: A lot of people say, “Oh, old schools can be the best way to do things,” but in this case you’re saying that, “Yeah, the old ideas, it maybe the goal of the end product is the same but we can apply science that we have now to create a better end product.”
Jeff Church: We can be a little bit more selective in what we’re actually getting out of an extract. We can remove any chlorophylls through different solvent extractions. With the refinement in screening techniques we’ve been able to get really, really nice dry sift. The quality of products has just risen quite a bit. Now that’s not to say that the efficacy has changed all that much, we’re just getting to a more pure, more potent, more pleasurable extract nowadays.
Shango Los: In what ways do you think it’s more pleasurable?
Jeff Church: I believe that the terpenes really make it a lot more pleasurable. If you look to extraction with solvents, traditionally it was done with ethanol. To purge out the ethanol you really lose all of those volatile terpenes, the search for terpenes that they just, they fly away really quick with the ethanol when you’re removing it.
I think that there’s been great strides made in doing cryo-extraction, cold extraction of cannabis with butane, where they’re able to retain a lot of the terpenes. There’s also been lots of terpene extraction from cannabis that’s been started recently. It’s a whole new frontier from just your plain old RSO.
Shango Los: A lot of the historical hashish production techniques, they were done in geographic specific regions of the world and they are being done with land resins. Whereas nowadays most of us, some of us have land resins but mostly they’re hybrids that we have created for modern cannabis production.
Do you think that the increase in the potency of the modern hybrids versus historical land resins has created a significantly different product? Or do you think that they’re mostly just similar but maybe with just a different flavor profile?
Jeff Church: Traditionally when you’ve been making hashish it’s been in a region like, say Afghanistan, they have a really indicate dominant pool of genetics there and it’s very suited towards sieving of hashish. You get a really, really nice dry resin. All of these different types of cannabis that we have now a day with the hybrids they don’t all lead to hashish extraction in that dry sift method.
You can definitely do any plant dry sift but some plants are going to be better. That being said there are some that are better for water extraction. Some of them are better for butane extraction. Today we can kind of have to, with the large plethora of strains out there, we have to look at the material, analyze it by doing the different processes to that certain strain, and deciding on what the very best processing method is.
Where historically you had fairly similar things being produced in one region. You would see a lot of plants that were hand-rubbed in the Himalayas. They have a certain type of cannabis that’s there and it’s a bit different than what they have down in Afghanistan, or Morocco where they’re doing a lot of sieving.
Getting away from those land resins has made it a little bit more difficult, but because we have so many different methods to choose from nowadays you don’t need to just extract by sieving alone. We’ve gotten around that. We’ve progressed with the plan.
Shango Los: That’s really interesting that the different strains, they all have their own use. Somebody like yourself who has done this a bunch, can you give us a couple of examples? Like for example if you were looking for a plant that is going to be better for sieving versus a solvent extraction technique, what are you actually going to be looking for in the plant? I encourage you to name a couple strains, even though strains tend to be regional in a lot ways. Give some more concrete examples.
Jeff Church: I’ll start off with Afgooey, that’s my very favorite strain for production of high quality hashish from the water extraction method, and it too works well with dry sift. The one thing about that strain is the resin had seemed to cure so well that they’re just brittle and they pop right off. There is a large amount of resin on there. Now Afgooey, it’s an Afghan cross and that one was really produced and bred over time to be for dry sift production, and then it was brought out to California and bred, and now we have the Afgooey.
Now that being said, the Afgooey’s flavor is just kind of sweet. There’s really nothing to terpenely much that stands out with that. I, myself prefer other strains for their terpene contents that are a little bit more strong and a little bit more in the haze range. Now haze plants, I really have a hard time extracting those with dry material, as the resin had seemed to be a bunch more submented onto their stocks.
Anything like Dog shit or Schrom, those strains don’t give up their resin as easily as Afgooey. Afgooey, our record was 2.75 ounces from 1 lb. of material, and that was all four-star, high quality bubble or greater, some was five-start but at least four-star from that. Where if you run another strain, you’re just going to end up with some two-star and it’s not going to be as tasty.
Those sort of strains you would want to process with a solvent to get the most efficacy of the cannabinoids present in the plant. Because if you’re only getting a 5% yield with water extraction and then you bump it over to a solvent you’re getting 10% to 15% yield, you’re being a lot more efficient.
Shango Los: I follow. I follow. You mentioned a two and three star, and this is the star based hash grading system that you helped to develop for producers and consumers. You developed that a couple of years ago and now a couple of years later do you still find it, is it as inclusive as when it was originally devised? Or are you finding that hash is going in directions that you could never have expected and the star rating system needs to be adapted? Why don’t you explain a little bit about it for folks who are listening who aren’t familiar with it, and then talk about it if you’re still finding it as appropriate now as you did when it was devised.
Jeff Church: The star rating system, it was originally devised by a good buddy of mine who has been making hashish for just as long as I have. We’ve made hashish together for years and he goes by Milton Bubbly on Instagram. He was the owner of the hashish bar in Oakland called The Bazaar. When they opened up their hashish bar they were really into making hashish and they wanted to have a hash bar. [Inaudible 00:10:47] allowed for basically, to do within your private home or business, you were able to have a social club to allow for the distribution of hashish and marijuana and people to collectively smoke.
He really wanted to have a grading system that reflected the hash quality to the consumer. Everything had been pretty much $20, $25 a gram retail was hashish’s standard price, but there was a lot of stuff that was lower quality than that. It didn’t really deserve to fetch that high price, but just because it was hashish it got that price. Then there were a lot of things that were higher priced … or that were higher quality than that, that should have been fetching a higher price because they are much more rare, much more high in potency, but they weren’t able to attain the same prices that BHO at the time was able to attain.
The idea was make a one through six star system. One-star being basically no melt, doesn’t want to press. Two-star presses, melts tiny bit. Three-star, it will melt into a lump and boil into that lump. Four-star will boil into a puddle, it will basically come into a lump and then boil flat into a puddle, and continue to boil.
Five-star will do the same, boil into a puddle and then it will boil big, clear domes that take up basically the whole space of where the hashish is melting on the screen, and the contaminant itself is pushed out to the edges of the screen by the bubble. When that pops you actually can see the bare screen down below it, where previously there had been hashish boiling. That’s the five-star is that crater, once you get that crater to form that’s five-star.
Then six-star is pretty much just the same consistency as hash oil, just a little bit more contaminated than hash oil because there’s some cellulose and blacks that’s actually in the resin had itself, that when you do a solvent extraction that’s left behind. That’s the one through six-star.
It’s really served the patient community very well, as well as the, it’s starting to serve the recreational community. People are able to say, “Hey, you know this is my budget. I want to be able to get at least this quality, so I’ll purchase, you know this much in this star range.” Then some people are like, “I want the very best,” and they’ll only look for four or five and six star. There’s different patients out there that have different needs and this helps fulfill them and gives them a path to walk down.
As far as the future, we’ve come into 2015 with this working really well. It’s getting widely adopted. A Greener Today, a dispensary around here that helped publicized the star rating system has now jumped onboard. They’ve got a six-star on their rating system because they see the need for having these different high-quality differations.
The industry is really picking up on which I think is great for consumer, but we don’t really have anything to differentiate anything of it in melt, at this point. How well is your hashish melting, that’s a direct relation to what is the level of cannabinoids and terpenes in your extraction. The more you have, the better it’s going to melt. It definitely shows quality but there’s a category of quality that it cannot cover and that’s flavor. Flavor is pretty much left out in the star rating system.
Moving forward, having things such as Rosin coming forward, basically every Rosin is a six-star plus but when you heat it, not every Rosin tastes great. Some things that are made from low quality hashish don’t have a good flavor, they have a flavor similar to the low quality hashish. Now they’re way higher in quality, way higher in purity than that low quality hashish was, but they’re still on that lower end. Where if you take a higher quality hashish or a flower and make the Rosin from that it’s going to hit that higher quality level.
I think that really, we need to device a system for that that’s above and beyond the star rating system, something that really we can apply a quality standard to the products so that consumers will be able to say, “Oh well, you know, this is only this good and that one is way better, because it was rated that way.”
The one issue I see with that is that the star rating system is very easy to determine just by looking at it. Everybody has a very good visual cue, you can look at it but every person’s palette is different. Something that taste wonderful to me could not taste as good to you. That’s the struggle. We’ve got to try and figure out a way to reflect the quality but not have it be in such a way that somebody might think that it’s higher quality more than another.
The star rating system really keeps hash producers honest, as well as informing the consumer. I think that if we’re just saying, “Oh well, this tastes better,” it would be really easy for a hash maker to just say, “Oh well, all of mine are in this higher category,” even if they’re not. We’ve got to work together as community to figure this out.
Shango Los: Sure. I could imagine that that we all have our favorite strains and the terpene profiles that we like the most, and maybe not a judgment call about which flavor is actually preferred but actually how much terpene there is to begin with, and then so that we know how much a [inaudible 00:17:27] it’s going to have to begin with. Then within that you find your particular niche.
Jeff Church: The one funny thing about that, I’ve told you that let’s just based it on terpene milligrams, and then I started really thinking about there is a huge difference in between all of the different terpenes. If you’ve got something that’s very, very close to what the flower is, you’re going to have a profile very, very similar.
If you heat it a little bit too much, those terpenes are going to transform into other terpenes. What maybe an off labor could register in a lab as a very high terpene result, but because they were changed so much in the process it’s not very palatable for consumers even though its numbers are very high. It’s an interesting thing, possibly how close is that ratio to the flower that you originally extracted it from could be the mark of quality. How far off are you?
Shango Los: Right on. It will be really, really interesting to find out how that evolves, now that legalization is taking hold in so many states there’s going to be more people taking about this. The information is being exchanged so much more quickly through Facebook and Instagram, and people meeting at Cups, and all these things that it seems like there is … If you were looking at it on graphic, look like a hockey stick where suddenly hashish have come this far during the last couple thousands of years and then suddenly it just taken off.
Jeff Church: To the moon, for sure. It’s quite drastic. We look at Rosin in its infancy and thousands and thousands of people around the world are doing this brand new extraction technique.
Shango Los: Let’s go right into that. I was going to hit on the Rosin Tech in a little while but since we go that way, let’s talk about it, because a lot of people probably have not come across this yet.
I came across it … I think it was soon after Soilgrown down in Southern California developed his technique. I was lucky enough to be following his Instagram feed and he started posting this how-to videos, but since you have spoken with him directly and have been teaching people around the world now how to do it, why don’t you just go ahead and summarize what this new evolution is, and give the credits where they’re due for folks.
Jeff Church: I’d love to give a little quick history of what happened for Soilgrown, at least from my third party account of what’s going on here. Soilgrown is a ice water extraction maker down in California and he loves to smoke melt, that’s his favorite, he loves the melty hash. He started running low on his melty hash. He had noticed when he squished some lower quality hash that squeezing it out to make a dab, that when he squished it a little too long some hash oil leaked out to the edges of where that hashish was, and the contaminant stayed in the center.
He started collecting that up and really turning like two-star hash into five-star hash. It was quite an amazing thing. Then he ran out of his half melt that he had been making into higher melt and kind of processing. He says he was just standing around, he says, “I don’t know what made me do it exactly but I was just standing around with my father in-law, and I just took a piece of button and put it in between the parchment and squished it, because I had been doing that with the hashish and was just like, let see what happens.”
Shango Los: Suppose you don’t know what he’s squishing in it, what’s he squishing in it? That’s a pretty big deal.
Jeff Church: Basically what it is, is you take a piece of silicon coated parchment paper, baking paper, and fold it in half and you put a piece of flower in there. Then Soilgrown’s original method was take a flat iron which is just your basic hair straightener, $20 or less, and you put it at, it depends on who you’re talking to what the temperature is. I personally like 230 degrees, it’s not as quick but if you like, the terps are a little bit better, but you basically just, you’ve got your bud in between a parchment and you squeeze it with this hot iron.
What happens is the cannabinoids and terpenes rupture out of the resin heads that are on the flower and they become liquid. There’s a little bit of steam action because there’s some water that, the water content in the flower, but basically that steam action and the cannabinoids becoming liquid because of heat drives them out to the sides of the bud with the pressure that you’re applying. What you end up with is a completely solvent-less dab that is very, very similar to BHO. In my opinion, better flavor, more terpene content than BHO made from the same type of material. It’s from bud to dab in 30 seconds.
Shango Los: People are … What people come across is on his Instagram feed, which you can find at Soilgrown or in the Facebook group that’s presently exist called Rosin Tech, people are really blown away. To go from a position where we’re using all these complex recipes and expensive technologies, if we’re talking about CO2, to get the hash oil and then suddenly to have somebody realize that you can just wrap a bud at parchment and squeeze it in a hair straightener, and suddenly you’re getting six-plus star hash with no solvents. It’s perfect for patients. It’s a real game-changer for everybody.
Jeff Church: The only thing that’s holding back right now is the ability to produce it on a large scale. When I was down with my buddy, down at The Bazaar in Oakland, the guy who helped create the star system, we used the flat … a t-shirt press because he didn’t have a flat iron. He knew nothing about it at all.
We were just messing around and grab this t-shirt press and started squishing out hash, and then we said, “Oh, you know, we need to filter to hold back this hash,” because we’re only getting five star. He said, “Well, let’s use the pressing screen from the bubble bags and we’ll just toss it, and toss the hash and then see what happens.” Lo and behold, six-star shot out of it and it was quite an amazing discovery that’s kind of changed the world.
Soilgrown, I don’t know if he realizes it but he has created a whole new category of extraction. I knew we had mechanical extraction with his dry sift and bubble hash, and then we had solvent extractions which is CO2, BHO, PHO, ethanol, you name it. You can use pretty much most non-polar solvents. This has created a whole new no solvent heat extraction, heat and pressure extraction.
I think moving forward in the world, this being such a small footprint when you look at what is your production method doing to the resources of the world. Ice water has been great, you’re using water. Water is scarce is some places in the world but you’re not really polluting the water that bad, unless you’ve got horrible material you’re using that’s coated in pesticides and such, but it’s been a minimal footprint. Then you jump over to this Rosin Tech and every day the footprint is getting less and less. You’ve got a little bit of electricity required and a small amount of equipment and you’ve got a product that is solvent-free.
Shango Los: It really liberates hash oil for the people, if you will, right? Because so often you either need an advanced technical skill or you need expensive machinery, and you need to have access to a lot of product to justify that as well, but now suddenly if you want to do it real small you can literally take one of the buds out of your eight and squeeze it, and now you have your own personal dab that you made at home yourself. You don’t have to go through all these intermediary people, and even if you upgrade and you’re doing larger amounts in a t-shirt press, it’s still something that you can do with a $300 piece of equipment, and some parchment paper. Now suddenly this power’s in the hands of everybody.
Jeff Church: That was the most important thing for me, within a new technology we see a lot of hoarding going on and it’s tough for every human. We are designed to go out there, find the best thing, hold it for ourselves to make a profit off of it. That’s just built in to our genes, and it really just blows me away that there are people out there such as Soilgrown that didn’t have that thought, that said, “No, let’s just give this to the people.”
When [inaudible 00:27:48], Milton Bubbly and I came up with the method down in Oakland of using the 25 micron screen, it was pretty much a no-brainer. We have to get this technique out to the world so that everybody can be able to do this. For one, I want it to be applied on a commercial scale, and I feel that releasing this technique to the world is going to up the research that is going into this. Every single person that’s doing this now is researching some way to make it better, which is just, it’s great, and posting it on this Rosin Tech’s group.
But even more important than that is the children. We have kids that are getting a little turkey baster, stuffing it full of herb, and putting a coffee filter on the bottom of it, and blasting butane in their kitchen, which is the worst thing that you could ever do. They’re endangering themselves and others. People have died. People have burned themselves really bad from processing of cannabis just to get a dab that is the same dab as you’d be able to get from Rosin.
Now this technique is out there for the world so that we don’t have to have as many hashish manufacturing explosions which are very bad for our progression into mainstream culture of cannabis and cannabis extracts. A lot of places have been scared off and banned cannabis extracts from even being produced, because they don’t want people doing it at home and blowing themselves up. I hear that.
The reason why I haven’t done butane extraction for many, many years now is because of the safety. I felt that the way that I was doing it was only so safe, both for my health in breathing all the fumes, but also for everybody else around me. What if I blew myself up while I was doing it? That’s why we gravitated towards CO2. It’s still a dangerous procedure to do, but you have to buy clothes, loop equipment, that is manufactured to really high quality specs to be able to even do CO2.
We felt comfortable that the equipment we were using was good, and that the footprint, our ecological footprint from CO2 was a lot better than just open blasting cans and allowing them to evaporate into the atmosphere. We’re using really clean CO2 for our extractions rather than using something that’s mined out of the Earth.
Shango Los: You touched on the idea of crowdsourcing the evolution, right? I remember seeing Soilgrown’s post to Instagram and he was, it was like four, five days in a row. Each day he was posting another short video of each step of the process. I started seeing them in like day three or something. As I watched the first three days, being a cannabis entrepreneur myself, I can almost feel the ground shake and the industry that this is such a disruptive technology. I was like, “My God, I can’t wait until day four to see how he finishes this, because this is amazing.”
Then the idea that he was just giving away his intellectual property and letting this be open source so that folks didn’t have to use butane, and that they can make it at home. All sorts of folks in the Midwest who are in states where legalization is still coming along but coming along slowly, this has suddenly allows people to be able to make their own clean dabs at home while they get their local laws straight. It’s pretty radical stuff.
Now we’ve got Facebook group where people are exchanging their technologies. I think it’s pretty incredible that now we can all work together. Heck, even our conversation here, this is thanks to ganjapreneur.com and the internet, and the fact that you and I find each other on the internet, and we get together in a talk. This is all stuff that the generation before us didn’t have a chance to do. That’s pretty great.
Jeff Church: Right, I feel that in this new time that we’re in, with the internet being so readily available for everybody, it’s really important for everybody to utilize that. There are going to be trade secrets in the cannabis industry.
I know, I actually have previous knowledge, it was maybe two months prior to Soilgrown’s experiments of people doing hydraulic and heat extraction, is what they said. They said heat and pressure rather, I don’t know the actual machine that they’re using because they were very secretive. They said, “We have this solvent-less shatter that we had made from bubble hash.” They were selling it and they had come up with a great method for it that was working but they were unwilling to tell anybody anything more than heat and pressure.
With the internet being out there’s only so long that you are going to have to hold down any technique nowadays, because somebody else is going to figure it out and post it online. I think that Soilgrown, he’s not the guy that first did this. The first guy that did this was probably a long, long time ago. Honestly, really the first guy that ever pressed some Rosin was … there’s Compassion, who was the guy that did it back in the late 90’s, early 2000’s?
But before that it’s the guy in Morocco that was manning the press. He squeezed his hashish into bricks and oil would squirt out on the sides. They would collect up that oil and it would be a red oil, because it had been heated a whole bunch, but that was the first Rosin. It’s been this progression but nobody’s really picked up on it as a technique, only kind of like a side thing that’s happened.
Shango Los: Certainly no one’s put it in the hair straightener.
Jeff Church: Right. Now, we had this whole dab culture that came on, that really was BHO prevalent. Now we’d move it over towards dry sift and solvent-less. Everybody got a hair straightener to press out their bubble into a dab before they heat it. Most people had the equipment at home to make this as soon as Soilgrown was just willing to give it to the world. I think the internet is going to continue to be one of the best places to learn.
I just went over to Spain. I met with a lot of people from all over the world. I feel like on the West Coast here, we’re a couple years ahead of anywhere else in the world, but the guys from the UK, they really have a very similar level of product. Their product is very well refined. That’s very similar to the BHO that we’ve got on the West Coast is what they’re producing in the UK, and that’s because the language barrier is non-existent. They can follow as many Americans as they want and read every single comment, read everything on there, and Instagram has really taught these people how to make high quality extracts.
Where you go to Spain and talk with the Spanish people, and they definitely have a love for it but their knowledge that they’ve been able to gain from everybody else on Instagram is not as high, because they have this language barrier. It’s not in their main language so there’s less of them that are going there.
Shango Los: We’ve been talking a lot about getting the cleanest dabs possible and getting as close to the source, from a flower material as possible, and a lot of people are still using BHO for extraction, even though it gets a lot of flak for both the health concerns and the potential danger in the extraction. What do you think? Do you think that BHO still has a place in the legal hash oil market?
Jeff Church: I definitely think that the BHO has a place in the legal hash market. I think Rosin is definitely going to become more and more popular but there’s something to be said about a hydrocarbon extraction. You can get near a 100% of cannabinoids out of the material utilizing enough solvent. I think that for a lot of the recycling of material, butane’s going to be very much in use.
If you think about it if you’re making flower Rosin, you’re going to have a ton of leftover material to grind that all up and do a hydrocarbon pass on that after you’ve gotten your Rosin, then you have another product that can be utilized to all kinds of different ways. You can make that into the concentrate type of product or you could make that edible oil. It’s not going to be something that you’re going to want to smoke without purification probably but it’s … I think that there’s always going to be a place for it. You know that not all trim is high quality.
If you make Rosin from low quality material, it’s going to be lower quality flavor. There’s always going to be the best process for any given type of material. I just think that Rosin is going to fill a lot more of that gap. It will kind of eat away from bubble hash and CO2 and butane. I feel that CO2 extraction, a lot of people love that, they definitely do but it’s … and PHO are going to be the less used process, kind of more on the recycling, getting all the waste taken care of.
There’s definitely been lots of people giving into purified cannabinoids. I think that the market is always going to want that but terpene content for me, is always a huge thing. It modulates the effects of the cannabinoids, it acts as a solvent on the CB1 and CB2 receptors to allow for THC and CPD that are take on the receptive surface, to be dissolved so that they may more readily pass in through the receptors.
There’s a lot of use to having that whole plant but that’s not to say that some of the fractions aren’t good.
Shango Los: You mentioned that you had just gotten back from Spain, where you were there for The Secret Cup and for Spannabis. Because I follow your Instagram feed I got to see some of the celebrities that you were interacting with. Why don’t you tell folks a little bit about Spannabis and what you got to see and do there, just so that we can all geek along with you?
Jeff Church: Spannabis was an epic adventure. It’d been many years since I’ve been to Barcelona and it was way different. Last time I was in Barcelona the experience of cannabis there was going to La Rambla and going down to the little park at the end and scoring some Moroccan hashish from the street dealer. That was the best I can do back in 2002.
I came to Spain, and lo and behold they have social clubs there and it is very similar to what you would have in Amsterdam back in 2002. Back in the day they have a bar there where you can get drinks, whether it’s a smoothie, or a fresh juice, or coffee, or beer, or wine, they have that going on. Then they’ll also have a bar where you can buy flowers and concentrates, and they’ll have different ice water extractions, butane extractions, and flowers, and it’s really quite an amazing atmosphere.
They’ve done it as a social club rather than it being just purely recreational or purely medical. It’s kind of not any of that, it’s just you’re coming in and socializing and using cannabis. I guess it’s more on the recreational side, but that being said everything, I guess it’s illegal in Spain. They just have really good privacy laws so people have said, “Well, we’re just going to do this within our own home and the police have no right to come inside our home or business, so we’re just going to do it,” but that was, it was really wonderful.
I got to go to Spannabis for a couple of days and met with people from all over the world that brought samples of hashish to be turned into Rosin. My favorite extraction that I did while I was there was, met a great gardener from Canada. He had his second place winning bubble hash made from [inaudible 00:42:16]. At Dabadoo he won second place. He actually put in, the stuff that he put in as an entry wasn’t quite as good as what he had wrapped for himself.
When I met up with him he had this, what was the second place winner but the better grade of it. We took that and turned it into Rosin and it was just spectacular. It was a really great experience seeing well-known extract artists from all over the world, just geeking and freaking that this was happening in 30 seconds in front of them. They’re like, you just took that hashish and turned it into hash oil like that. It was amazing, that was …
Shango Los: It kind of puts you in a role like Johnny Appleseed of Rosin Tech.
Jeff Church: Right, exactly. We really got to show it to the world. At Spannabis I was hanging out with Mark Bubbleman, he sells bubble bags up there. He had a little booth there at Medical Seeds, who actually the guy, Javier, from Medical Seeds, he was the first place Secret Cup Solvent-less winner, and I got the pleasure of making some Rosin from his Secret Cup entry as well. It was epic.
One of the best parts was during the Secret Cup finals we got to have them in the Hashish, Hemp, Camino, and Marijuana Museum … or wait it’s Hashish, Marijuana, Camino, and Hemp Museum in Barcelona. Camino is cannabis in Spanish. It’s a 15th century building and Ben Dronkers, I believe he sends his [inaudible 00:44:25] he did a 15 year restoration on this 15th century building before he put the museum in there.
He’s got another museum in Amsterdam. This one is over the top. There are pieces of history from everything that you could imagine that cannabis has touched, whether it’s textiles, or medicine, or recreational culture, so many different facets of society were represented through its love of cannabis. I was fortunate enough to go to the awards ceremony which is one of two times that anybody’s ever been able to smoke cannabis in the museum, because it’s usually no smoking because it’s a museum. You don’t want the artifacts damaged.
We got to smoke in there which was really wonderful with all of the judges of The Secret Cup. I was having a little conversation with one of the judges and Bubbleman Mark he yells over to me, “Jeff! Jeff! Get over here.” I walked over there and he said, “Hey, you want to make some Rosin?” I’m like, “Yeah, yeah, give me an adaptor.” I have the US one, I needed the European plug. He said, “Okay, give me a minute,” and I walked back over to my conversation that he pulled me away from.
Then literally 10 seconds later he’s, “Jeff! Jeff! I got the adaptor. Come on back.” I’m like, “Okay, okay.” I walked over there and he says, “Here, here, come, come up my seat.” I’m like, “Okay, okay.” I looked to the right and its Marc Emery and Jodie Emery sitting there. I didn’t see them at all before, and he’s like, “I want you to make some Rosin for these guys. They’d never seen it, never tried it, they want to try it. They want to see it.”
Jodie gave me a flower and I pressed it up and made some flower Rosin for Marc Emery, and he got to have his first dab of it. Then she gave me another bud and I pressed it up and packed one for her and one for myself. It was just really enjoyable to be able to bring this new technique out to so many people in the world, and have people that I really respect highly just blown away by this.
It really showed me how you were talking about the ground shaking earlier. That is really what Rosin is doing right now and it’s crazy. It’s quite, quite an adventure. That Spain was wonderful, lots of good cured meats there and good fun time.
Shango Los: Right on, that sounds like a really great thing. Now you’ve told us all sorts of really cool stories, if folks want to follow your social media feeds, to see pictures of you pressing Rosin for Marc Emery or any of your other adventures, where can they go to find you?
Jeff Church: On Instagram I am @cannabisreverend and on Facebook you can find me as Jeff Church, although friend request I’m not always on top of that, but you can go at least follow me and see I cross-post most things from Instagram to Facebook but Instagram is really where I’m at. Like I said earlier it’s where the wealth of knowledge is right now, and where all the knowledge is being transferred is Instagram at the moment.
Shango Los: Right on. Thank you, Jeff. We’ve been listening to Jeff Church, also known as Cannabis Reverend. Jeff Church is an internationally respected hash producer and researcher, and owner of Conscious Extracts, and is also Vice President of Research and Development at Think Extracts in Washington State. I am Shango Los, Founder of the Vashon Island Marijuana Entrepreneurs Alliance, thank you for listening to ganjapreneur.com.
The health food industry could be the perfect segue for cannabis to enter the mainstream. Sprouted hempseeds have high levels of non-psychoactive cannabinoids and are tasty sprinkled on sandwiches or salads. Balms and lotions provide relief for sore muscles, and now juice enthusiasts are experimenting with cannabis leaves.
Juicing works best with young leaves that have been cut before the plant buds. Unlike most edibles, it will not get you high so you can use it during the day and still be functional.
Katie Marsh, who recently released Juicing Cannabis for Healing, is managing severe rheumatoid arthritis through daily juicing with cannabis leaves. She has spoken on radio stations across the country to promote the herb’s healing power when juiced and will soon include a companion DVD to go with her book. The DVD contains complete instructions to set up a home grow room. Marsh says, “Although there’s a lot of information on the web, it’s sort of piecemeal. I wanted something with A to Z instructions for the very beginner.” The book is targeted for the medical grower who wants to grow for his or her own use but doesn’t want to deal with the culture that is more geared toward the recreational user.
Marsh is also an advocate of marijuana’s health benefits and says she would like to see the health food industry actively embrace cannabis. “I think cannabis, once it becomes legal federally, should be in the frozen section of every health food store in the country. It’s amazing. It’s relatively harmless. And I think it strengthens the medical movement.”
One dilemma Marsh and many practitioners in the cannabis health field face is finding the balance between making a living and making sure seriously ill patients are getting the help they need.
Marsh says, “So many people when they are ill just can’t work, and if they don’t have a passive income it can really be hard. Charging people just feels wrong when you know someone is really ill.”
One of Marsh’s dreams is to find the funding to put together a healing retreat in a beautiful natural setting that would be no cost to patients. “Whoever is most ill could come for free,” she says. The retreat would offer therapeutic marijuana treatments and help creating and setting up a grow room, in addition to the holistic healing methods such as meditation, yoga and tai chi. “I want something free flowing where people can have their privacy. A place away from the world and away from money.”
Cannabis has yet to go mainstream, but it’s the perfect industry to help us re-define health and health care, as it’s already in the process of creating a new image for itself.
Marsh says, “Once I learned the lie about cannabis wasn’t true, it made me look at a lot of other things in our society and think is this real or is this just what we’ve been sold? I find that it makes you lift the veil on a lot of assumptions you have in life.”
When the acceptance of medical cannabis goes mainstream, the pharmaceuticals landscape could face the most significant disruption of its existence. Due to the federal classification of marijuana as a Schedule 1 controlled substance, researching possible medical uses for the plant has been difficult. However, this has not stopped some companies from conducting their own research and clinical trials of cannabis medicines.
Our most recent interview features Robert Calkin, founder of 
“Rosin Tech” (or RosinTech, depending on who you ask) is a new form of home hash production which has taken Instagram by storm due to its simplicity and the quality of product it produces. Essentially, Rosin Tech involves using a hair straightener to combine heat and pressure as an extraction method — a process popularized by Instagram user 