{"componentChunkName":"component---common-build-tags-template-js","path":"/tag/industry-spotlight/","result":{"data":{"allArticle":{"edges":[{"node":{"id":"Article_2983-markdown","title":"Need a Cool, New Cannabis Vape Pen? Try the Hanu Stone","slug":"need-a-cool-new-cannabis-vape-pen-try-the-hanu-stone","content":"Vaping is more popular than ever: A recent report estimates that the vaping industry will be [worth $43 billion worldwide by 2023](https://www.vapetrotter.com/news/vape-industry-to-hit-43-billion-in-the-next-5-years/). But even with this growth, vape technology is still lacking. Cartridge leaks, dead batteries and other product malfunctions are still the norm—but this may soon become a thing of the past.\n\nEnter jiu-jitsu fighter and cannabis entrepreneur Seibo Shen. A former stuntman, Seibo turned to medical cannabis as a way to manage pain from injuries he sustained both at work and as an athlete. \n\nFOLLOW US ON [FACEBOOK](https://www.facebook.com/pg/hellomdcompany/posts/) & [INSTAGRAM](https://www.instagram.com/hellomd_us/?utm_medium=copy_link/)\n\n### Seibo’s Search for a Superior Vaporizer Led to the Development of VapeXhale\n\nAlways health conscious, Seibo wasn’t interested in smoking cannabis, so he turned to vaporization. He bought his first vape in 1997 and in subsequent years went on to purchase about 75 other devices. Unable to find one that worked well for him, he decided to make his own: the desktop vaporizer that’s now known as the VapeXhale. \n\nThe VapeXhale has won numerous awards and garnered praise from cannabis connoisseurs for its powerful production engine that vaporizes marijuana quickly and efficiently while preserving its flavor. \n\n### Seibo’s Latest Creation—the Hanu Stone Vaporizer—Is Big on Form as Well as Function \n\nNow, Seibo is using the knowledge he acquired while building one of the best desktop vaporizers in the cannabis world and applying it to the portable vaporizer market with his newest creation: the Hanu Stone. \n\nSeibo didn’t want his device to be shaped like your typical vape pen. Modeled after a rock found on San Francisco’s Ocean Beach, the Hanu Stone was designed to feel good in the palm of your hand. Seibo likens it to “an adult fidget spinner.” \n\n“When a person picks [the Hanu Stone] up, it evokes some sort of response or emotion,” he says.\n\nBut the Hanu Stone isn’t just about good looks; it also boasts a 500-milli amp battery—that’s about twice the size of the standard vape battery that you’d find on the market today.\n\nThe device also has a voltage regulator and integrated circuit. Ever notice how the quality of your vapor deteriorates as the battery in your pen runs out? This won’t happen with the Hanu Stone. \n\nWhen the battery in the device drops below 50%, logic built into the pod pushes out more cannabis oil to make up for the drop in power. The result is a consistent user experience: You get the same amount of hits, and the quality of these hits doesn’t diminish with use. \n\n### Additional Bells & Whistles of the Hanu Stone Cannabis Vaporizer\n\nMeanwhile, the Hanu Stone uses a ceramic wick in lieu of heavy metals, making it a safer and healthier alternative on the market.\n\nSeibo has also designed and calibrated his pods to reduce leakage—even at high altitudes. And he’s made the vaporizer easy to share with others—without compromising your health. The Hanu Stone boasts two mouthpieces: one for your friends and another for your own personal use. \n\nSo, where can you get one? Currently, the device is only available from select vendors—including HelloMD. If vaping is your preferred method of consumption, investing in a Hanu Stone may be worth your while. You’ll be getting a top-of-the-line device that was designed to deliver a stellar experience from start to finish—and you may just turn a few heads while using it.\n \nIf you’re new to cannabis and want to learn more, take a look at our [Cannabis 101](https://hellomd.com/articles/cannabis-101-what-you-need-to-know-about-marijuana/) index of articles. And if you have questions about cannabis, [ask them](https://hellomd.com/questions-and-answers//) and our community will answer.","image":{"childImageSharp":{"fluid":{"base64":"data:image/jpeg;base64,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","aspectRatio":1.3605442176870748,"src":"/static/6b09ab7fe71504be4d341aeaa239d981/14b42/d50ba800b2c83701415d76a0d88db8a2.jpg","srcSet":"/static/6b09ab7fe71504be4d341aeaa239d981/f836f/d50ba800b2c83701415d76a0d88db8a2.jpg 200w,\n/static/6b09ab7fe71504be4d341aeaa239d981/2244e/d50ba800b2c83701415d76a0d88db8a2.jpg 400w,\n/static/6b09ab7fe71504be4d341aeaa239d981/14b42/d50ba800b2c83701415d76a0d88db8a2.jpg 800w,\n/static/6b09ab7fe71504be4d341aeaa239d981/47498/d50ba800b2c83701415d76a0d88db8a2.jpg 1200w,\n/static/6b09ab7fe71504be4d341aeaa239d981/0e329/d50ba800b2c83701415d76a0d88db8a2.jpg 1600w,\n/static/6b09ab7fe71504be4d341aeaa239d981/37efb/d50ba800b2c83701415d76a0d88db8a2.jpg 2992w","srcWebp":"/static/6b09ab7fe71504be4d341aeaa239d981/58556/d50ba800b2c83701415d76a0d88db8a2.webp","srcSetWebp":"/static/6b09ab7fe71504be4d341aeaa239d981/61e93/d50ba800b2c83701415d76a0d88db8a2.webp 200w,\n/static/6b09ab7fe71504be4d341aeaa239d981/1f5c5/d50ba800b2c83701415d76a0d88db8a2.webp 400w,\n/static/6b09ab7fe71504be4d341aeaa239d981/58556/d50ba800b2c83701415d76a0d88db8a2.webp 800w,\n/static/6b09ab7fe71504be4d341aeaa239d981/99238/d50ba800b2c83701415d76a0d88db8a2.webp 1200w,\n/static/6b09ab7fe71504be4d341aeaa239d981/7c22d/d50ba800b2c83701415d76a0d88db8a2.webp 1600w,\n/static/6b09ab7fe71504be4d341aeaa239d981/60e67/d50ba800b2c83701415d76a0d88db8a2.webp 2992w","sizes":"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px"}}}}},{"node":{"id":"Article_2934-markdown","title":"MJ Lifestyle’s Jennifer Skog on Cannabis for Women ","slug":"mj-lifestyles-jennifer-skog-on-cannabis-for-women","content":"We’ve all heard for a while now that print media is a dying form. And even the _New York Times_ agrees—[except when it comes to cannabis](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/09/style/pot-marijuana-weed-magazines.html). According to a NYT profile piece, cannabis magazines tailored to a stylish, sophisticated consumer—not “stoner Steve”—are on the rise and doing well.  \n\nAnd when you look at a publication like _MJ Lifestyle_, it’s hard to argue with that assessment. With its inviting images and accessible content, which shows an aspirational lifestyle normalizing the plant and empowering women, it’s no wonder the magazine is flying off the shelves (and off virtual shelves online, too).\n\nFOLLOW US ON [FACEBOOK](https://www.facebook.com/pg/hellomdcompany/posts/) & [INSTAGRAM](https://www.instagram.com/hellomd_us/?utm_medium=copy_link/)\n\n\nThe woman behind _MJ Lifestyle_ is Jennifer Skog, a fashion photographer and creative director who has turned her sights onto cannabis. As a long-time cannabis consumer, Jennifer now focuses on inspiring women in the cannabis space to create an inclusive, diverse and positive community. \n\n![](https://hellomd-development.s3.amazonaws.com/markdown-image-injector-1bc1541f-63a9-4700-b585-065275307339/original.jpg)\n\nI spoke with Jennifer about why she started _MJ Lifestyle_ and how she hopes the publication will inspire women in the future. \n\n**Pamela Hadfield: MJ Lifestyle (MJ) advocates the benefits of cannabis for women and is about women. But, who the hell starts a magazine in this day and age?**  \n\n**Jennifer Skog:** Yes, this has been a huge undertaking, but sometimes you have to take a jump into the unknown. Had I known just how difficult this was, I probably would’ve never considered it. \n\nMJ started with a close friend and former business partner who had a vision for me. As a cannabis consumer for the past couple of decades often clouded by the shame of my consumption, she knew that this was something I was meant for long before I did. \n\nI actually shut the idea down a few times until a fellow boudoir photographer asking to start a magazine for women/boudoir/body positivity approached me. It was then I realized maybe I do have something I can share with this dark world.  \n\nOnce we entered the cannabis space, which started off as a secret Instagram page, it was quickly evident that women weren’t properly represented in the cannabis space and our mission evolved.  \n\nAs a photographer, I’ve had visions of how I’d create a magazine, paying close attention to not only the quality of content and materials used, but also a piece of “herstory “ in the making.\n\n**PH: Your magazine is truly stunning. It has a dreamy quality and feels like a work of art—I want to keep it on my coffee table forever. You’re a professional photographer and creative director by trade. How has your experience shaped _MJ Lifestyle_?**\n\n**JS:** Thank you. I believe that I’ve been unintentionally conditioning myself for this work my entire life. I can go way back, but I’ll start with college and the desire to go to art school for photography. I was the oldest of three to very hardworking parents both without degrees, so art school wasn’t exactly on the menu. Instead, I got my business degree in marketing, so I could learn to sell my work.\n\nAs a wedding photographer, standing by the bride’s side on her most cherished day has shown me life through so many personalities and cultures. My wedding photojournalism turned to fashion-inspired wedding photography. I began photographing women more intimately and eventually reinvented boudoir photography and taught other photographers how to photograph women. \n\nI’m addicted to photographing women, getting them comfortable in front of the camera, so I can capture the unprepared, effortlessly beautiful vision that she is. As women, we can be ruthless to ourselves. I love showing a woman how I see her. \n\nI’m a recovering sarcastic person; sometimes I feel the only way I’m understood is from my art, it’s important to me to keep those elements of authenticity continuous in the magazine, especially because it’s meant to be cherished on your coffee table. \n\nThis magazine is made for all women, so we try to have something for every woman.\n\n**PH: You cover a variety of cannabis content from living and wellness to the industry and culture. What are your thoughts on how cannabis spans all of these topics?**\n\n**JS:**  It’s crazy entering this industry as a consumer; cannabis seemed to be all about smoking weed and making money. As you dig a little deeper, you find the introduction of the ECS (endocannabinoid system) and CBD (cannabidiol) that is literally saving lives, the necessary education and standardization of laws. \n\nWe’ve got constant policy changes, men and women still fighting the war on drugs, small cannabusinesses losing everything in the California fires, because they can’t be insured, and the looming dark cloud of the inevitable attempt for big pharma/tobacco to take over and destroy the industry.  \n\nAll of these topics are things women care about or might care about if they were more aware. Enter _MJ Lifestyle_.\n\n![MJ Lifestyle mag cover](https://hellomd-development.s3.amazonaws.com/markdown-image-injector-dca7fd8a-8835-401e-9f36-e81ce1840c09/original.png)\n\n**PH: There are a variety of luxury brands that are highlighted throughout the magazine and your site. How do you select brands to represent?** \n\n**JS:** Of course, we’re attracted to pretty packaging and clever branding, but we all know what happens when we judge a book by its cover. For us, it’s about the quality of the products and the people behind the brands. We’re only interested in companies that align with our business ethos and our priority to spotlight social responsibility.\n\n**PH: You interviewed me for your recent issue, and we had a lot of fun hanging out together. I like that we’re turning the tables, and I’m interviewing you. In interviewing so many women in the cannabis industry, are there any consistent themes you’ve seen emerge in what people are talking about?**\n\n**JS:** It really depends on who it is that I’m speaking to, but the biggest priority for most of us is fighting for social justice for the many men and women of color who’ve been so dramatically affected by the war on drugs.  \n\nAdditionally, as women with small businesses, many of us are concerned about big money attached to misogynistic and dangerously rich men entering the cannabis industry. They see big money, and often big money doesn’t serve the consumer or the community.\n\n**PH: Where do you want to see _MJ Lifestyle_ in two years?**\n\n**JS:** MJ has evolved in such a short period of time that it’s hard to envision where it will take us. It’s our hope as self-made women to inspire a sisterhood of women around the world, sharing our talents and resources for something greater.  \n\nWe at MJ hope to be self-sufficient too; we’re self-funded, so we’re most excited about building dynamic partnerships in the coming year. Issue 2 has been picked up for retail in the U.S. And in the next year, we hope to be internationally selling and starring on “Ellen.” But really there’s no limit we can’t reach together.  \n\n**PH: How often is MJ Lifestyle published, and where can people buy it?**\n\n**JS:** We publish three times a year, every four months. Issue 2 has actually already sold out online. But it’s coming to select Barnes & Nobles and retail stores around the U.S. very soon.\n\nPhoto credits: [Jennifer Skog](https://www.instagram.com/jenniferskog/?hl=en) (main image and Jennifer Skog image), [MJ Lifestyle](https://www.instagram.com/mjlifestyle/) (_MJ Lifestyle_ image) \n\nIf you’re new to cannabis and want to learn more, take a look at our [Cannabis 101](https://hellomd.com/articles/cannabis-101-what-you-need-to-know-about-marijuana/) index of articles. And if you have questions about cannabis, [ask them](https://www.hellomd.com/) and our community will answer.\n\n","image":{"childImageSharp":{"fluid":{"base64":"data:image/jpeg;base64,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","aspectRatio":1.3888888888888888,"src":"/static/3fc74bd56d2daa94aa45dd3c2e4c308f/14b42/ec9b2356448872e1c05ea61ab9c6d65e.jpg","srcSet":"/static/3fc74bd56d2daa94aa45dd3c2e4c308f/f836f/ec9b2356448872e1c05ea61ab9c6d65e.jpg 200w,\n/static/3fc74bd56d2daa94aa45dd3c2e4c308f/2244e/ec9b2356448872e1c05ea61ab9c6d65e.jpg 400w,\n/static/3fc74bd56d2daa94aa45dd3c2e4c308f/14b42/ec9b2356448872e1c05ea61ab9c6d65e.jpg 800w,\n/static/3fc74bd56d2daa94aa45dd3c2e4c308f/47498/ec9b2356448872e1c05ea61ab9c6d65e.jpg 1200w,\n/static/3fc74bd56d2daa94aa45dd3c2e4c308f/d1c6b/ec9b2356448872e1c05ea61ab9c6d65e.jpg 1383w","srcWebp":"/static/3fc74bd56d2daa94aa45dd3c2e4c308f/58556/ec9b2356448872e1c05ea61ab9c6d65e.webp","srcSetWebp":"/static/3fc74bd56d2daa94aa45dd3c2e4c308f/61e93/ec9b2356448872e1c05ea61ab9c6d65e.webp 200w,\n/static/3fc74bd56d2daa94aa45dd3c2e4c308f/1f5c5/ec9b2356448872e1c05ea61ab9c6d65e.webp 400w,\n/static/3fc74bd56d2daa94aa45dd3c2e4c308f/58556/ec9b2356448872e1c05ea61ab9c6d65e.webp 800w,\n/static/3fc74bd56d2daa94aa45dd3c2e4c308f/99238/ec9b2356448872e1c05ea61ab9c6d65e.webp 1200w,\n/static/3fc74bd56d2daa94aa45dd3c2e4c308f/956ec/ec9b2356448872e1c05ea61ab9c6d65e.webp 1383w","sizes":"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px"}}}}},{"node":{"id":"Article_2888-markdown","title":"Can Cannabis Shrink Tumors: Mike Voss Thinks So","slug":"can-cannabis-shrink-tumors-mike-voss-thinks-so","content":"Cannabis was always something Mike Voss, director of sales for the [Venice Cookie Company](https://ondello.myshopify.com/blogs/articles/tagged/vcc-brands/), had enjoyed—through his youth and adulthood. But it took on new and deeper meaning when crippling migraines and his subsequent discovery of a small lump on his head sent him into a scary and unexpected downward spiral.\n\nThat lump turned out to be a tumor that was blocking the blood flow in his brain and inflicting terrible pain. Mike found that smoking cannabis made the pain worse, and yet he didn’t give up on the plant. Though he quit smoking, he turned to cannabis oil and found that it eased his pain, so much so that he was no longer bedridden.\n\nFOLLOW US ON [FACEBOOK](https://www.facebook.com/pg/hellomdcompany/posts/) & [INSTAGRAM](https://www.instagram.com/hellomd_us/?utm_medium=copy_link/)\n\nMike eventually started a program involving taking high doses of [Rick Simpson oil (RSO)](https://www.healthline.com/health/rick-simpson-oil-cancer). To his neurosurgeon’s great surprise, the tumor shrank—so much so that they no longer needed to operate to get it out. Now, more than two years later, the tumor has significantly reduced in size, with no new abnormalities or lesions.\n\nWe sat down with Mike to learn more about his incredible journey back to health. It’s one that he says he’s still working on, and involves a holistic approach that includes eating better, spending time with his family, doing what he loves—Mike got into the cannabis industry following his wake-up call—and continuing his RSO regimen every year. \n\n### Let’s walk through your background and where you were two years ago. What was going on then when you first started feeling unwell?\n\n**Mike Voss:** It's crazy. I have doctors who’ve told me that I kind of paid attention to myself more so than the average person. So, I was doing a lot of work in the logistics industry, and my job required my full concentration. \n\nMy brain was constantly running, thinking about ideas, of new things. And so I needed that to function. And I was also in front of a computer screen—three screens in front of me. A lot of movement, a lot of brain power. I required 100% of my brain every single day.\n\nI started experiencing these small headaches in the afternoon. I was not healthy at all. I was overweight. I’m still overweight, but I'm trying to overcome that now. So I thought these headaches were a result of me just being unhealthy and not taking care of myself. \n\n### And you were young at the time, and are still young now, aren’t you? \n\n**MV:** Yup. I'm 36 now, so I would've been 34 years old in September 2016. And yes, I'm relatively young, but at the same time I knew I'm not at my healthiest, so like maybe these headaches are because of that.\n\nI started drinking more water. I paid attention to what I was eating, but really didn't change much in terms of diet. And things started to seem to gradually get worse. I was getting fatigued really easily. I live in a two-story home and walking up a flight of stairs was fatiguing.\n\nI would say this was over the course of about three weeks. I'm realizing that I'm starting to get headaches. I’m realizing that I’m getting a little bit fatigued while I'm walking up a flight of stairs. And then the week before I saw my doctor, I was getting a migraine every afternoon. I would get these migraines where I'd just shut down.\n\n### And can you describe these migraines? What were they like? How did they come on, and what did you do?\n\n**MV:** Yeah, absolutely. They were behind my eyes, a very intense headache that I've never experienced before. Light really affected my mood. Smells affected me; sounds—even me talking loudly intensified the pain behind my eyes. And it was painful—like there was something in my brain trying to pull it out. \n\nAnd the only thing that really seemed to help was resting, getting to a dark, quiet room by myself where I didn't have to talk to anybody or deal with outside life. Sounds pretty depressing, but that was how I felt for the week before I got myself to see a doctor. I even felt that way a couple of weeks after seeing the doctor.\n\nSo, I’d been around cannabis for a long time. I consumed it most of my life. But during that time, I stopped consuming cannabis altogether. I stopped smoking. Smoking cannabis made my headaches even worse. It made my body feel awful, so I gave it up.\n\n### Tell us about when you discovered the tumor on your head. What did the doctors advise you to do? \n\n**MV:** The next thing that scared the living hell out of me that got me to go see a doctor was I felt a bump protruding from the top of my skull. I remember sitting in bed and feeling the top of my head and thinking to myself, ‘What the hell is going on?’\n\nI have a really close friend who’s a nurse. And I texted her, ‘Hey, so, do I have any nodes on the top of my head that, if I get sick, they’re like lymph nodes and protrude?’ And she said, ‘No. There’s nothing that should be protruding from your skull.’\n\nSo I went to make an appointment with my primary care doctor. He couldn't see me for a couple of weeks, and I knew that was unacceptable. So I went to urgent care. The urgent care doc said the first thing that he wanted to do was get an image of my head and see what was going on up there. \n\nSo, I went in to get an MRI. I got a phone call from urgent care that night. They said, ‘We need to talk to you. Come on in.’ And my wife was putting my son Vinny down, and I said, ‘I have to go.’ She had a very worried look on her face and said, ‘I want to go with you.’ I said, ‘No. Deal with Vinny. I'll be back.’\n\nThe doctor told me there was a mass growing on top of my head about the size of pea. \n\nThe urgent care doctor didn't give me a lot of information beyond that and said, ‘I need you to seek help.’ I grew up with Dr. Perry Solomon (HelloMD’s Chief Medical Officer) and his family in the same community. One of his colleagues, Dr. Gracia—his son John and I are very good friends. Dr. Gracia is a Stanford doctor. So, I called up John and said, ‘Hey man, I need you to call your dad. I need advice right now.’ \n\nI’d called up UC Davis; they told me that it was going to take a month or two for me to get in there since I wasn’t a patient. So, John called up his dad, and they called me back and said, ‘Mike, if you want to get seen right away, go to the ER.’\n\nSo I went to the UC Davis ER, and I spent about 12 hours there. I was put through three different brain scans, and they fully assessed me with the neurological team. They decided that I wasn’t an emergency candidate. But at the same time, I needed to be seen by their clinic right away. \n\nThe next week, I was seen by a neurological clinic. And I spoke with the neurosurgeon who looked at all of the images. He told me, ‘This tumor isn’t going to shrink. I have no idea if it's cancerous. I will have no idea what type of tumor it is until we biopsy it, and that means I need to take it out of your head.’\n\nHe said, ‘We don’t have to do the surgery right now.’ But I was having these migraines. And I could barely get out of bed. My wife drove me to the appointment; I couldn’t even drive anymore. And so he said, ‘OK, so surgery needs to be done, since you’re not mobile and can't live a normal life right now.’ \n\nThe pea-sized tumor wasn’t attached to my brain. It was lodged between my brain and my skull. It was sitting on top of the main vein, and that was what was causing my fatigue—there wasn’t a lot of blood flow.\n\nAnd so he said, ‘Mike, go home and relax. Let's schedule surgery for January.’ When I saw him, it was at the end of September, maybe early October. And so I did that. \n\nI wasn’t feeling well. I saw a neurologist as well as the neurosurgeon. The neurologist prescribed me medication—long-term as well as short-term medications to try to get rid of my daily migraines.\n\nEventually, the medication worked, but in the short term, I was experiencing daily migraines and fatigue, and was spending all day long in my bed. I put up a blanket so I could block out all of the light.\n\nI wasn’t reading. I wasn’t looking at my phone. I wasn’t on the computer. I wasn’t watching TV. I wasn't having conversations with my wife.\n\n### How did you come to consider consuming cannabis for your condition? You’d said that smoking cannabis made your migraines worse. How did you learn that another form of cannabis could potentially help you? \n\n**MV:** I had some chocolate, which were a one-to-one THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) to CBD (cannabidiol) ratio. I took a couple, and they made me feel better. And that's when I had the light bulb in my head to contact my friend Jessica who cultivates cannabis in the Santa Cruz mountains. She and her husband also produce an oil, not an RSO (Rick Simpson oil), but an extract.\n\nI told her what was going on. My sister-in-law lives in Santa Cruz, and they hooked up. The very next day, I started consuming that oil with the push from Jessica, telling me about the benefits.\n\nThe oil had a high-CBD content. It was an [ACDC](https://www.hellomd.com/strains/5a7cbe97d520d60009f4f4a5/acdc)-specific oil. She told me what her brother had just been through: Her brother had just overcome a form of cancer. He was using the oil during his treatment, and she said that it made him feel a whole lot better.\n\nRELATED: [STUDY FINDS 96% OF CANCER PATIENTS IMPROVED WITH CANNABIS](https://hellomd.com/articles/study-finds-96-of-cancer-patients-improved-with-cannabis/)\n\nAnd so I said, ‘Sure. Let's give it a shot. I have nothing to lose.’\n\n### Can you describe what level of dosing you were taking of this high-CBD cannabis oil to treat your migraines while you were waiting for the surgery to take place on your tumor? Also, did you use a dropper? How did you ingest it?\n\n**MV:** It was a guesstimate. I had a syringe that I’d use to fill gel capsules. And I think the first amount that I took was about four veggie capsules of the cannabis oil. I'm sorry. I wish I knew what the percentages, what the dosing was, but I have no idea. \n\n![ACDC cannabis strain](https://hellomd-development.s3.amazonaws.com/markdown-image-injector-7df0c679-9c6e-4756-8514-dfbfc143c11a/original.png)\n_Mike started taking large amounts of ACDC cannabis oil and found that it significantly eased his migraines._\n\n### You just knew that you were taking a lot of the high-CBD cannabis oil every day. \n\n**MV:** Yeah. I was taking a large quantity. Absolutely. So the very first time I took this medicine, I'd say about a half hour to 45 minutes after ingesting it, I was sitting up in bed; I was having a conversation with my wife. Sandra and I weren’t having conversations up to this point.\n\nShe had the TV on in the room at a very low volume, and I actually got out of bed to look at the TV to see what was going on. I was amazed by what was happening. So I decided that I would continue consuming cannabis. Why would I give that up? It made me feel better. Jessica had provided me with probably 30–32 ounces of oil, which lasted quite a while. \n\n### And so when was it that you started to think cannabis may help combat the tumor, beyond helping ease the pain from your migraines? \n\n**MV:** While I was at home and getting better and starting to read again, I was able to read about cannabis and how it has the possibility to kill cancerous cell. I read people's biographies online—much like my story now—about how they simply ingested cannabis and how they had either shrunken or completely dissolved tumors.\n\nRELATED: [CAN CANNABIS SWITCH OFF CANCER?](https://hellomd.com/articles/can-cannabis-switch-off-cancer/)\n\nI didn't want to go through surgery. That's brain surgery; that’s cutting my head open. So, I reached out to Debby Goldsberry, who’s the CEO of Magnolia Wellness. I’d met her when I was working at her dispensary at Berkeley Patients Group. She was the big honcho in charge, and I was just a budtender. I'd only met her a couple of times. She probably didn't even know my name.\n\nBut I shared my story with her. I told her that I’d heard there had been effects of shrinking tumors with the use of cannabis extracts. And I said, ‘I also know by working at Berkeley Patients Group that there are compassionate programs at some of these dispensary. And I'm curious, do you have a compassionate program?’\n\nShe wrote back in 10 minutes and said, ‘Mike, so happy you reached out. We will absolutely provide you with your first six months of RSO. I have this manufacturer, and this is what they do. They provide this for people like yourself.’ \n\nI was very grateful. I started consuming RSO very slowly. RSO isn’t something to mess around with. It will activate in your system right away. And it gets you very, very high to a point where the high isn’t comfortable. \n\n### Can you describe how you titrated, how you started taking RSO and increased your dosage over time? \n\n**MV:** Absolutely. So RSO is a very thick oil. And the way I received it was in a syringe. And I was able to dose out of that syringe a tenth at a time. A tenth of a gram is the size of a half of a rice kernel. This is what I’d put into a veggie cap and take at night. I did that for one week. I did one-tenth of a gram, and then I went to two-tenths for the next week and then to three-tenths the week after that.\n\nSo, very slowly building up week after week. This is very important, because I’d actually stopped using RSO for a bit, and I thought, ‘This is no problem. I've done this before.’ So, I consumed 500 mg of RSO, and it made me extremely dizzy the next day. I had ingested way too much and didn’t properly titrate the RSO into my system.\n\nI just want to give that warning so that if anyone considers using RSO, start slow. Eventually, I titrated up to 1 gram. At one point, I was consuming a gram and a half to 2 grams of RSO on some evenings. \n\nSome of the RSO that was given to me was a one-to-one CBD-to-THC ratio. Although I was told that THC is what’s important in killing cancerous, tumorous cells. But the CBD RSO enabled me to consume a little bit extra THC. \n\n### That makes sense. Because CBD helps mitigate the effects of THC, allowing you to consume more THC in the RSO oil. \n\n**MV:** Yep. Not only that, but CBD in high doses makes your body feel really good. It gave me the best sleep ever.\n\nRELATED: [4 WAYS YOU CAN USE CBD TO BEAT INSOMNIA](https://hellomd.com/articles/4-ways-you-can-use-cbd-to-beat-insomnia/)\n\nSo I was consuming the RSO at very high doses, and December rolled around. I was feeling a whole lot better, and it was time for me to enjoy being with my son.\n\nI was fearing that I was going to die, and now I was feeling fine. So I pulled him out of daycare. And he and I spent every day with each other. It was really awesome to be able to bond with him. And the good result is I didn't die in the end.\n\nI contacted my doctor, and we decided to do some pre-op things. They wanted me to go in for an imaging to check out the tumor, check out exactly where it was for when they performed surgery.\n\nI received a call five days later from the doctor saying, ‘Your tumor has shrunk. It's not dissolved, but it has shrunk significantly. Please come in, so we can talk.’\n\nThe doctor showed me the images. The tumor had rolled off the main vein, and there was a significant size reduction. And he said, ‘I'm not really sure what happened. I've never seen this before.’\n\nAt the time, I told him I was ingesting cannabis. I could tell that was a conversation he didn’t want to have with me. So I didn’t. I understood that this was an alternative medicine that he had no control over, but this was what I doing.\n\nSo that was January. The doctor wanted me to come back for a brain scan six months later. I went back in May. So in January, I ended my short-term disability, because I was really excited to go back to work. \n\n### By that point, you were feeling good? You were feeling well enough to go back to work? \n\n**MV:** I was feeling good. I was feeling good to get back to work and get back into my normal groove. And it wasn't all that I had hoped. I wasn’t feeling so passionate about my job. Especially with such an encouraging story; I had such high hopes that it was really cannabis that was helping me along. So, I decided to get into the field. That's what led me to work for the [Venice Cookie Company](https://www.hellomd.com/brands/5babec3eac31edbfe8d63963/venice-cookie-company) (VCC).\n\n![Venice Cookie Company cookies](https://hellomd-development.s3.amazonaws.com/markdown-image-injector-f1f2aa5c-3d69-4321-aecd-0ac126b9f3e4/original.png)\n\n### How did you connect with the Venice Cookie Company? Why did you choose to work for VCC vs. another cannabis company? \n\n**MV:** I knew I wanted to work for a manufacturer. I eventually connected with Kenny Morrison, the founder of the Venice Cookie Company. He sits on the board of the CCMA, the California Cannabis Manufacturing Association. \n\nKiva, Jetty, the Venice Cookie Company are all a part of the CCMA. They have a lobbyist in Sacramento who helps get their message out to lawmakers and politicians. I really liked that. It made sense to work for someone who was equally as passionate on the activist side of cannabis. \n\nAnd so I sent Kenny an email, and I received an email from him saying, ‘I'm on my way up to northern California from LA. I'm in the car all day. Do you have time to talk?’\n\nI gave him a call, and I was on the phone with them for an hour and a half. It was a good conversation, one that led me to be employed by him. It's been a good home. \n\n### That’s great. And so tell me, since that time when you received the great news about your tumor shrinking and not needing surgery, what do you have to say about your health and your journey? Where are you now? \n\n**MV:** Sure. January 2017 is when I had my brain scan, which showed a reduction in the size of the tumor. I went back for another MRI in May 2017. That imaging showed another significant reduction in the size of the tumor.\n\nAt that point, the doctor said, ‘Great, Mike. Again, I don't know what's happening here. Sure, you're consuming cannabis. I don’t want to talk about that. Why don't you come back in one year's time, and we'll take another image to see what's going on?’\n\nA year and a couple months went by, and I took another image this last summer in 2018. I got my hopes up high that I would see a complete dissolving of the tumor. But I didn’t. It's the same exact size, in the same exact location as it was in May 2017.\n\nBut after getting over that emotional hour of being like, ‘Oh man, I thought I was going to be done,’ I'm fine with it, because it's at a point now where it doesn't take control of my daily life. It hasn’t grown any since May 2017. There are no new abnormalities. There are no new lesions. \n\nAnd for the first time the neurosurgeon used the word benign. There's nothing new inside my head—just the same old tumor. And that makes me feel OK.\n\nThere's another part to this journey. I wasn’t healthy two years ago. I’m still overweight, but I’m now consuming healthy food. There’s a doctor that I've been reading. His name is Dr. Joel Fuhrman, and he’s very big into plant-based nutrition, consuming lots of vegetables and vegetable fats. He's into the research behind consuming these micronutrients, and the possibilities of killing cancer itself or at least avoiding cancer.\n\nMeanwhile, there’s the standard American diet that we’re all consuming that consists of animal products. When you consume animal products, a special hormone is released, and that hormone is a cancer-causing hormone. That doesn’t happen when you consume vegetables.\n\nI'm sure there are many other doctors who have many other things to say about this, but I feel there might be some truth to this. Dr. Fuhrman’s second book is about the powers of fasting and how prolonged, medically reviewed fasting is beneficial to helping us excrete toxins and possibly help heal the tumors that are inside you. So he's saying when you fast, it gives your body the ability to fight these cancerous cells. \n\n### It sounds like you’re taking a holistic approach to your health, which seems absolutely necessary in maintaining wellness.\n\n**MV:** That's where I am right now. Last year was all about me figuring out what was inside my head, how to control it and get over that. This year and the next are all about me getting healthy. \n\nAnd being healthy is all-encompassing. There's a lot involved that I've never taken into consideration. It’s a new lifestyle. I have a family history of heart disease. It's time for me to take control of that.\n\nMy experience of truly thinking that I was going to die has humbled me. I used to be a lot angrier type person. I didn't take much care of my health or my future. Since then, I've really taken a deep step back and realized that there's a whole lot more to life.\n\nI think before I act or try to most of the time. I also think about other people's well-being and how their health could potentially be affecting the way they're communicating with me or the way that they're feeling. \n\n### Will you still remain on your cannabis regimen as part of your maintenance and prevention plan—keeping control over the tumor and your health overall?\n\n**MV:** I was provided six months of medication, and then I was actually provided another four months of medication. Then I took a couple of months off, and I went back to it, I'd say six months ago.\n\nI started taking RSO again, and I took it up until I left on vacation in October. And I haven't taken it since. I will start it up again. This will definitely be something that I will continue for the rest of my life.\n\nI feel I'm at a point where I don’t have to do it all of the time. I think I can take this medicine 90 days out of each year. I know it sounds crazy, but that's what I've thought I’ll do. Because there are a lot of health benefits to ingesting cannabis. I wish there was more scientific knowledge behind what I'm saying. \n\nI sound like a whack: ‘Yeah. I'm going to take RSO 90 days each year for the rest of my life.’ But I'm going to do it, because I'm hoping that's what will help. \n\n### You’re going to continue to do your scans, and you're going to calibrate your cannabis consumption based on the results of those scans, right? So, maybe it's not whack. It's just that you're experimenting and doing what you’ve found works for you. \n\n**MV:** Correct. I'm going back for another image in July or August 2019. \n\nSo, for the 90 days out of each year, I’ll titrate up to a 1 gram dose. I’ll go back to doing a tenth of a gram a week until I get to that gram. \n\n### And obviously, this isn’t for everyone. This is what works for you, based on the results that you’ve had. \n\n**MV:** Absolutely. One-hundred percent.\n\nPhoto credit: [Dmitry B.](https://www.hellomd.com/people/5a04a8c087088100077819a9/dmitry-bikkinin) (main image), [Venice Cookie Company](https://www.instagram.com/p/Bq0iHmah3G-/) (cookies image)\n\nIf you’re new to cannabis and want to learn more, take a look at our [Cannabis 101](https://hellomd.com/articles/cannabis-101-what-you-need-to-know-about-marijuana/) index of articles. [HelloMD](https://www.hellomd.com/) can help you get your medical marijuana recommendation; it's easy, private and 100% online.","image":{"childImageSharp":{"fluid":{"base64":"data:image/jpeg;base64,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","aspectRatio":1.3605442176870748,"src":"/static/df7c8cbcc630f090ccb302a6e0aee885/14b42/2d51f7b70fa9fcd864d3a7fdd8b4ee9c.jpg","srcSet":"/static/df7c8cbcc630f090ccb302a6e0aee885/f836f/2d51f7b70fa9fcd864d3a7fdd8b4ee9c.jpg 200w,\n/static/df7c8cbcc630f090ccb302a6e0aee885/2244e/2d51f7b70fa9fcd864d3a7fdd8b4ee9c.jpg 400w,\n/static/df7c8cbcc630f090ccb302a6e0aee885/14b42/2d51f7b70fa9fcd864d3a7fdd8b4ee9c.jpg 800w,\n/static/df7c8cbcc630f090ccb302a6e0aee885/47498/2d51f7b70fa9fcd864d3a7fdd8b4ee9c.jpg 1200w,\n/static/df7c8cbcc630f090ccb302a6e0aee885/0e329/2d51f7b70fa9fcd864d3a7fdd8b4ee9c.jpg 1600w,\n/static/df7c8cbcc630f090ccb302a6e0aee885/db203/2d51f7b70fa9fcd864d3a7fdd8b4ee9c.jpg 3642w","srcWebp":"/static/df7c8cbcc630f090ccb302a6e0aee885/58556/2d51f7b70fa9fcd864d3a7fdd8b4ee9c.webp","srcSetWebp":"/static/df7c8cbcc630f090ccb302a6e0aee885/61e93/2d51f7b70fa9fcd864d3a7fdd8b4ee9c.webp 200w,\n/static/df7c8cbcc630f090ccb302a6e0aee885/1f5c5/2d51f7b70fa9fcd864d3a7fdd8b4ee9c.webp 400w,\n/static/df7c8cbcc630f090ccb302a6e0aee885/58556/2d51f7b70fa9fcd864d3a7fdd8b4ee9c.webp 800w,\n/static/df7c8cbcc630f090ccb302a6e0aee885/99238/2d51f7b70fa9fcd864d3a7fdd8b4ee9c.webp 1200w,\n/static/df7c8cbcc630f090ccb302a6e0aee885/7c22d/2d51f7b70fa9fcd864d3a7fdd8b4ee9c.webp 1600w,\n/static/df7c8cbcc630f090ccb302a6e0aee885/62b7a/2d51f7b70fa9fcd864d3a7fdd8b4ee9c.webp 3642w","sizes":"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px"}}}}},{"node":{"id":"Article_2858-markdown","title":"Cannabis Cookbook Takes Edibles to the Next Level","slug":"cannabis-cookbook-takes-edibles-to-the-next-level","content":"“Have you ever had pot brownies from a boxed mix that tasted vaguely of burnt rubber tires and were _way_ too strong (discovered, regrettably, after it was all too late)? We’ve been there. Let’s chalk it up to being young and undiscerning. That was then, and this is now.”\n\nSo begins Stephanie Hua’s first cookbook entitled, “[Edibles: Small Bites for the Modern Cannabis Kitchen](https://www.amazon.com/Edibles-Small-Modern-Cannabis-Kitchen/dp/1452170444),” which takes marijuana edibles to the next level. Stephanie, the founder of gourmet cannabis marshmallows company Mellows, collaborated with award-winning cannabis chef Coreen Carroll to produce a medley of 30 low-dose recipes intended to enhance consumers’ experiences, not impair them. \n\nFOLLOW US ON [FACEBOOK](https://www.facebook.com/pg/hellomdcompany/posts/) & [INSTAGRAM](https://www.instagram.com/hellomd_com/?hl=en)\n\nThese recipes, which are ideal for entertaining, range from [The Elvis Cookie](https://www.hellomd.com/health-wellness/5bd794c1ee0ba400094ef0e3/edibles-cookbook-recipe-the-elvis-cookie) and Booty Call Brownies to Green Eggs & Ham and PB&J Chocolate Cups, and are dosed at about 5 mg of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) per serving. “What we’re going for here is more of a rosé-all-day vibe,” state Stephanie and Coreen in the cookbook, which hits stores on Nov. 6.\n\nFor those new to cannabis, “Edibles” provides a quick tutorial on strains, terpenes, cannabinoids and the endocannabinoid system. Meanwhile, the cannasseur can skip ahead to calculating marijuana dosage, decarboxylating, making an infusion and then trying out the “gorgeous, gourmet and carefully dosed” recipes, many of which are accompanied by colorful, mouthwatering images.\n\n![Edibles: Small Bites for the Modern Cannabis Kitchen cookbook cover and Stephanie Hua author](https://hellomd-development.s3.amazonaws.com/markdown-image-injector-eea04340-5b87-4df9-8d29-538d70435626/original.png)\n\nWe sat down with Stephanie (pictured above) to learn about how “Edibles” came to be, how she and Coreen chose the 30 recipes, and what they hope folks will get out of the cookbook.\n\n### How did you decide to go with Chronicle Books as the publisher of your cannabis edibles cookbook? What was the start of it all?\n\n**Stephanie Hua:** It all started at the San Francisco Cooking School. That's where I met Coreen about five years ago. Coreen was my schoolmate. In any case, the founder of the school, Jodi Liano, introduced us to [publicist and agent] Andrea Burnett. Andrea had previously worked at Chronicle Books for a long time, and after we had first met, she came back to us and said, “Hey, you know, I'm really interested in doing a cannabis edible book.”\n\nI had already come up with this concept of really focusing in on low-dose cannabis edibles with my business Mellows. I’ve been a believer in low-dose products for a long time now. And so I was really excited about taking that philosophy, and growing and expanding it to cover a lot of other recipes that wouldn't necessarily work as a packaged product. The recipes that we love and have had in our back pockets for a long time.\n\n### What year did your cannabis marshmallows company Mellows get its start, and when did the idea for the book come to be and then take off?\n\n**SH:** So, Mellows first got started in 2015. We’ve been making low-dose, gourmet, hand-crafted marshmallows for the past few years.\n\nWe started working on the book close to about a year ago. That’s when it was first conceptualized. I brought Coreen in because there’s no one I would want to share this project with more than her.\n\nAnd we had so many recipes. It was hard to narrow them down. Deciding on the right ones was much harder than I thought it would be. So that process was pretty fast, and then we shot the photographs last October and developed the recipes, tweaked and tested them in four months.\n\nIt was a really fast timeline, especially with legalization this year and the recreational market opening up. We wanted to get the book on shelves in time for the holiday season. So, we crunched through it to make sure we could get it out in time. \n\n### There’s no doubt your cookbook would make a great gift for a lot of home cooks. The recipes photos are drool-worthy. What are you hoping folks will get out of your cookbook?\n\n**SH:** Part of our goal is to inspire people to think beyond their current perception of what a cannabis edible can be. We really wanted to be creative with the recipes and showcase how elegant and elevated it can be. \n\nWe feature some of our favorite makers in California. And so, for example, we feature the [The Elvis Cookie](https://www.hellomd.com/health-wellness/5bd794c1ee0ba400094ef0e3/edibles-cookbook-recipe-the-elvis-cookie), which is a [Venice Cookie Company](https://www.hellomd.com/brands/5babec3eac31edbfe8d63963/venice-cookie-company) cookie by Kenny Morrison. We were trying to figure out which cookie to feature, and that one really caught our eye—the flavor profile of it. And when he sent us the recipe, it had 1,000 mg of THC per cookie. And I said, “OK, let’s scale this way, way down.”\n\nRELATED: [\"EDIBLES\" COOKBOOK RECIPE: THE ELVIS COOKIE](https://www.hellomd.com/health-wellness/5bd794c1ee0ba400094ef0e3/edibles-cookbook-recipe-the-elvis-cookie)\n\nSo, I think it'll be fun for people who always wanted to try that cookie, but can't necessarily commit to a 1,000 mg cookie to be able to finally get a taste of what it's like. \n\n### I love how you spend time laying the groundwork with infographics and visuals, how you start off giving folks a primer on cannabis. I think that it really helps folks new to the plant break into cannabinoids, terpenes and flavonoids. What was your thought process there?\n\n**SH:** Yeah, thank you. It was really important for us—part of our overall goal for this book is education. For a lot of people, the photos are what catches their eye, and a lot of times they tend to gloss over the introduction.\n\nBut I think with cannabis cooking, it’s so important to really understand the ingredients, and it's something that a lot of people aren't aware of. They don't realize that there are hundreds of cannabinoids, for example.\n\nAnd so we thought it was really important to include a pretty robust cannabis 101 upfront just as a primer—before you even get into the kitchen, know what you're working with. \n\n### I like that. And so you mentioned that you had so many recipes that it was hard to bring it down to the 30. How did you make that selection for the cookbook? \n\n**SH:** Well, the thing we ended up on was “Small Bites for the Modern Cannabis Kitchen”—so, small bites, low dose. What would be easy to do as a one-bite dosage. And so that really helped us narrow down. We aren't doing huge potluck style. Everything is very party-ready, mostly sweet. So, desserts, hors d'oeuvres, finger foods, things that people can really entertain with.\n\nAnd so, that was also a guiding theme: What can people entertain with? For us, we love to entertain obviously as cooks, and we love to feed people. And I think that a large part of edibles is being able to showcase it in a way where you're sharing it, and you're bringing people around our table and sharing this experience together. \n\nAnd we also looked at seasonality. The book is very much a reflection of how we cook and eat. And so being fortunate to live in San Francisco, we have such amazing access to local, seasonal produce. And so we celebrate summer tomatoes, strawberries, green garlic in the spring. We try to work in those special ingredients. \n\n### What do you recommend to folks who don’t have that local, seasonal access? For example, folks in the Northeast who have shorter summers—and therefore shorter growing seasons—and cold, snowy winters. \n\n**SH:** Yeah. We also make a lot of substitution options in the book. For example, when peaches aren't in season, and you want to make this delicious peach cocktail, you can easily use frozen peaches. It won’t quite be the same, but it'll still be delicious.\n\nAlso, chocolate is always in season. We have a lot of chocolate recipes.\n### With your cannabis edibles cookbook, are you hoping to encourage people to be adventurous, to try different foods and flavor combinations? \n\n**SH:** Absolutely. There are a lot of unexpected twists. For example, we have a blood orange blondie in the book. We call it our shatter. We have a caramelized sugar shard that we add on top of the blondie; it’s a little nod to our friends who dab.\n\nBut yeah, we had a lot of fun with it and tried to walk a nice line between things that were accessible and familiar, and things that were a little bit unexpected.\n### What do you hope people will come away with if they pick up or go through your cannabis cookbook?\n\n**SH:** I would love for people to pick up this cookbook, read through it and walk away with a sense that cannabis can be totally normal. This idea of normalizing cannabis is a huge goal of this book, and to think, “Hey, I can have this on my coffee table and not feel weird about, and it’s a beautiful coffee table book. It should feel right at home on my cookbook shelf with all of my other cookbooks.”\n\nAnd so normalization is definitely a big goal of mine with this book, and putting it out there and really presenting it as something that isn't scary, and that’s accessible and delightful. \n\n### Do you have plans to create more cannabis edibles cookbooks? \n\n**SH:** Yes. We had so many recipes to draw from that we could easily fill another book or two. So, fingers crossed this does well. I would love to continue sharing recipes with the world.\n\nPhoto credit: Linda Xiao\n\nIf you’re new to cannabis and want to learn more, take a look at our [Cannabis 101](https://hellomd.com/articles/cannabis-101-what-you-need-to-know-about-marijuana/) index of articles. [HelloMD](https://www.hellomd.com/) can help you get your medical marijuana recommendation; it's easy, private and 100% online.","image":{"childImageSharp":{"fluid":{"base64":"data:image/jpeg;base64,/9j/2wBDABALDA4MChAODQ4SERATGCgaGBYWGDEjJR0oOjM9PDkzODdASFxOQERXRTc4UG1RV19iZ2hnPk1xeXBkeFxlZ2P/2wBDARESEhgVGC8aGi9jQjhCY2NjY2NjY2NjY2NjY2NjY2NjY2NjY2NjY2NjY2NjY2NjY2NjY2NjY2NjY2NjY2NjY2P/wgARCAAPABQDASIAAhEBAxEB/8QAGAAAAwEBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMEAgX/xAAWAQEBAQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACAAP/2gAMAwEAAhADEAAAAa5sOyazoiv/xAAbEAACAQUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABAgADEBITIf/aAAgBAQABBQKqwc2w6hmtJ//EABYRAQEBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABEv/aAAgBAwEBPwGNv//EABYRAQEBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABEv/aAAgBAgEBPwGsv//EAB4QAAIBAwUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABAhEhQSIxMkJR/9oACAEBAAY/AtLrQ8Oo1C2WQytjij//xAAdEAACAgIDAQAAAAAAAAAAAAABEQAxIUFRYYHx/9oACAEBAAE/IaOsSobDZXAToehA+QXPiE3JyzPVKfAn/9oADAMBAAIAAwAAABCv7//EABgRAQADAQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAEAETFR/9oACAEDAQE/EEhSZKcn/8QAFxEAAwEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAERUf/aAAgBAgEBPxCGy9P/xAAdEAEBAAIDAAMAAAAAAAAAAAABEQAhMVFhcYHB/9oACAEBAAE/EDUtRlivD4+ZVUBQyRLPnImovY/e8UoteRmwHW82hS3UbQfrzNqyu8f/2Q==","aspectRatio":1.3605442176870748,"src":"/static/1a89c8c31c51a368f517fde66579c983/14b42/274ec209969414bd940ab3457c04b717.jpg","srcSet":"/static/1a89c8c31c51a368f517fde66579c983/f836f/274ec209969414bd940ab3457c04b717.jpg 200w,\n/static/1a89c8c31c51a368f517fde66579c983/2244e/274ec209969414bd940ab3457c04b717.jpg 400w,\n/static/1a89c8c31c51a368f517fde66579c983/14b42/274ec209969414bd940ab3457c04b717.jpg 800w,\n/static/1a89c8c31c51a368f517fde66579c983/47498/274ec209969414bd940ab3457c04b717.jpg 1200w,\n/static/1a89c8c31c51a368f517fde66579c983/0e329/274ec209969414bd940ab3457c04b717.jpg 1600w,\n/static/1a89c8c31c51a368f517fde66579c983/7c89d/274ec209969414bd940ab3457c04b717.jpg 3636w","srcWebp":"/static/1a89c8c31c51a368f517fde66579c983/58556/274ec209969414bd940ab3457c04b717.webp","srcSetWebp":"/static/1a89c8c31c51a368f517fde66579c983/61e93/274ec209969414bd940ab3457c04b717.webp 200w,\n/static/1a89c8c31c51a368f517fde66579c983/1f5c5/274ec209969414bd940ab3457c04b717.webp 400w,\n/static/1a89c8c31c51a368f517fde66579c983/58556/274ec209969414bd940ab3457c04b717.webp 800w,\n/static/1a89c8c31c51a368f517fde66579c983/99238/274ec209969414bd940ab3457c04b717.webp 1200w,\n/static/1a89c8c31c51a368f517fde66579c983/7c22d/274ec209969414bd940ab3457c04b717.webp 1600w,\n/static/1a89c8c31c51a368f517fde66579c983/02a42/274ec209969414bd940ab3457c04b717.webp 3636w","sizes":"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px"}}}}},{"node":{"id":"Article_2821-markdown","title":" One Hemp Farmer’s Transition From Cattle to Cannabis","slug":"one-hemp-farmers-transition-from-cattle-to-cannabis","content":"These days, Americans are discovering, appreciating and enjoying the “other” cannabis: hemp. \n\nThough hemp has been documented as one of the nation’s first commercially grown crops, it’s seen a recent resurgence as states begin to accept the plant’s potential as a strong agricultural income-driver. \n\nHemp farms are now popping up in several states across the country. We recently caught up with Jason VonLembke, a Colorado hemp farmer who supplies [Elixinol](https://www.hellomd.com/health-wellness/5b6291d9a1805500087dba24/elixinol-hemp-cbd-for-better-health-and-wellness), a company that produces high-quality, hemp-derived CBD health and wellness products sold worldwide and [through our website](https://www.hellomd.com/brands/5b5a2815cad6a4000967d6d6/elixinol). \n\nFOLLOW US ON [FACEBOOK](https://www.facebook.com/pg/hellomdcompany/posts/) & [INSTAGRAM](https://www.instagram.com/hellomd_com/?hl=en)\n\n### Traditional Farms Transition to Hemp \n\nJason’s hemp farm, Centennial Ranch, is a portion of his family’s much larger 14,000-acre ranch located in northern Colorado on the eastern side of the Rockies. \n\n“Historically, it was a cattle property, used mostly for grazing. We purchased the property in 2003 after it had been converted into a defunct hog farm. Since then, we’ve run cattle and have been doing some agriculture,” Jason explains.\n\nBut like so many farmers, economic considerations led Jason and his family to re-evaluate their farming operations, which led them to consider growing hemp.\n\n![Colorado hemp farmer Jason VonLembke](https://hellomd-development.s3.amazonaws.com/markdown-image-injector-0ad83638-ca9b-4c00-a71a-2b7f866cdd75/original.png)\n\n“Most farms in this area are in support of the cattle industry,” says Jason. “But as the prices of beef continue to go down, many farmers are at the mercy of feed lots and dairies. We were barely breaking even, and came to a point where we were looking to better monetize our asset.”\n\nElixinol approached Jason, which was looking for farms interested in participating in a vertically integrated hemp operation.\n\nElixinol announced its [Northern Colorado High Plains Partnership (NCHPP)](https://globenewswire.com/news-release/2018/04/25/1486951/0/en/Colorado-based-Elixinol-Announces-New-Operations-Partnership-with-Historic-Colorado-Farmer.html) last spring. Elixinol had already been sourcing hemp from Colorado, but the rollout of this joint venture now allows for seed-to-sale control over the entire vertical process, including the acquisition of water rights. \n\n### Hemp vs. THC Cannabis \n\nThe county where Jason’s farm is located only allows for the growing of industrial hemp, which must contain less than 0.3% tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). Hemp is rich in cannabidiol (CBD), which is used in all types of cosmetic and medical preparations. But until recently, most hemp used to extract CBD was being grown in unregulated conditions outside the U.S. Jason intends to change that.\n\nRELATED: [CBD OIL VS. HEMP OIL: WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE?](https://www.hellomd.com/health-wellness/5b16ba68bf4c4d000a0e742d/cbd-oil-vs-hemp-oil-whats-the-difference)\n\n“Until fairly recently, we had no experience with hemp. We learned from and met as many people as possible who were willing to talk to us. I’ve got great guys on our staff with decades of farm experience. And growing one plant is definitely not so different from growing another,” Jason says with a smile.\n\n### The Science of Big Commercial Hemp Farming \n\nWhat’s profoundly different from Jason’s farm as compared to commercial cannabis farmers growing THC-rich cannabis is the sheer scale of his operation. Earlier this summer, Jason planted 250,000 hemp clones spanning a mind-boggling 120 acres. Jason’s farm uses a very modern approach to commercial agriculture.\n\n“We utilize GPS-guided tractors. We try to be very exacting and are very committed to precision agriculture, which incorporates both efficiency and conservation.”\n\nFor this season, Jason purchased clones from local providers, but in the future, he’s hoping to expand his operation into propagation of his own plants. These days, it isn’t so easy to put in an order for a gigantic supply of hemp clones. “Putting in an order for 100,000 plants doesn’t mean you’ll receive that many, or that they will be healthy.” \n\n![Colorado hemp growing operation](https://hellomd-development.s3.amazonaws.com/markdown-image-injector-064cd679-5bde-4b85-8eb1-8009576c4a52/original.png)\n\nJust like outdoor-grown, THC-rich cannabis, hemp is an annual plant that’s placed into soil following the last spring frosts. It must be mature and ready to harvest before the weather turns in the fall.\n\n“The rule of thumb is to plant after the freezes in mid to late May and plant around Mother’s Day. You don’t want to plant too early and risk losing a million bucks worth of clones,” Jason says. “Then we harvest in from late September to early October.”\n\n“Depending on when you plant, we’ll have mature plants around five to six feet tall with a four- to five-foot diameter,” says Jason. To determine when the plants are ready for harvest, Jason runs weekly tests for about three to four weeks. “Once we’re happy with test results, we begin harvesting.” \n\nJason bought tobacco harvesters to manage the massive amount of plant material. “The harvesters run alongside a row,” he explains. “Then the harvester lifts the plant up and lays it down on other side of the machine where you have an awaiting trailer.” \n\nA number of the farm’s former hog barns are being retooled and readied to become drying houses. “We’re clearing out all that old infrastructure and preparing the barns to be ready for hanging. We have 10 barns streaming with ropes. Once we buck the plant, that’s the end of the process from our side,” he says. \n\nTo accommodate the increase in product, plans are underway for Elixinol to more than double its extraction and fulfillment facility to 20,700 square feet.\n\n### Colorado Understands the Importance of Hemp \n\nLuckily, because all forms of cannabis have been legal in Colorado for many years, Jason hasn’t had much pushback as a hemp farmer. \n\n“The public is fairly well educated in our area. There’s been time for people who were against marijuana to become comfortable with it. The farming community certainly knows what’s going on with regard to the Farm Bill. We know the law. We know we can’t grow psychoactive marijuana. We’re very transparent in what we do. We follow all the rules. We haven’t had any problems, so we’re very comfortable,” Jason says\n\nYet even hemp farmers like Jason are still challenged by laws and guidelines, which over time may better support the burgeoning industry. “We’re always dealing with regulations, banking issues, cash flow—things like that,” he concedes.\n\nJason believes that the proposed Farm Bill provides justification for exactly what he’s doing. “Many of our friends are moving into industrial hemp. If the Farm Bill passes, commodity prices will probably crash, and more people may get into hemp. I’m hoping that precision farmers who are conservative with water will survive these downswings and will be able to move forward once the market stabilizes,” Jason says.\n\n### Hemp CBD Makes for a Happier, Healthier Farmer \n\nJason isn’t just a grower; he’s an enthusiastic CBD consumer.\n\n“I didn’t know much about [CBD products] until about 18 months ago. I broke my ankle some months ago and really started taking CBD capsules. I take them twice a day. They help with inflammation and even some anxiety. I think they work very well.”\n\nJason describes his journey to hemp farming as “a big learning process.” \n\n“We’re very excited about it. We’re figuring out the hiccups as we go. We’re very proud of our precision farming techniques and our plants, and we’re looking forward to the next two years as we expand our operations,” he concludes.\n \nIf you’re new to cannabis and want to learn more, take a look at our [Cannabis 101](https://www.hellomd.com/health-wellness/5b8882d88dd0720008373fcf/cannabis-101-what-you-need-to-know-to-about-marijuana) index of articles. [HelloMD](https://www.hellomd.com/) can help you get your medical marijuana recommendation; it's 100% online, private and efficient.\n\n","image":{"childImageSharp":{"fluid":{"base64":"data:image/jpeg;base64,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","aspectRatio":1.3888888888888888,"src":"/static/cf35d3b6783166947ed52d7a1dd831b6/14b42/b7e3628e07080e4c67f966a5fadabad9.jpg","srcSet":"/static/cf35d3b6783166947ed52d7a1dd831b6/f836f/b7e3628e07080e4c67f966a5fadabad9.jpg 200w,\n/static/cf35d3b6783166947ed52d7a1dd831b6/2244e/b7e3628e07080e4c67f966a5fadabad9.jpg 400w,\n/static/cf35d3b6783166947ed52d7a1dd831b6/14b42/b7e3628e07080e4c67f966a5fadabad9.jpg 800w,\n/static/cf35d3b6783166947ed52d7a1dd831b6/47498/b7e3628e07080e4c67f966a5fadabad9.jpg 1200w,\n/static/cf35d3b6783166947ed52d7a1dd831b6/0e329/b7e3628e07080e4c67f966a5fadabad9.jpg 1600w,\n/static/cf35d3b6783166947ed52d7a1dd831b6/4d713/b7e3628e07080e4c67f966a5fadabad9.jpg 2983w","srcWebp":"/static/cf35d3b6783166947ed52d7a1dd831b6/58556/b7e3628e07080e4c67f966a5fadabad9.webp","srcSetWebp":"/static/cf35d3b6783166947ed52d7a1dd831b6/61e93/b7e3628e07080e4c67f966a5fadabad9.webp 200w,\n/static/cf35d3b6783166947ed52d7a1dd831b6/1f5c5/b7e3628e07080e4c67f966a5fadabad9.webp 400w,\n/static/cf35d3b6783166947ed52d7a1dd831b6/58556/b7e3628e07080e4c67f966a5fadabad9.webp 800w,\n/static/cf35d3b6783166947ed52d7a1dd831b6/99238/b7e3628e07080e4c67f966a5fadabad9.webp 1200w,\n/static/cf35d3b6783166947ed52d7a1dd831b6/7c22d/b7e3628e07080e4c67f966a5fadabad9.webp 1600w,\n/static/cf35d3b6783166947ed52d7a1dd831b6/56f7b/b7e3628e07080e4c67f966a5fadabad9.webp 2983w","sizes":"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px"}}}}},{"node":{"id":"Article_2748-markdown","title":"Talking Equity in Cannabis With Christine De La Rosa","slug":"talking-equity-in-cannabis-with-christine-de-la-rosa","content":"Cannabis reform and legalization has been—and continues to be—a hard-fought battle. No one knows this better than the people who have unjustly had to bear the brunt of the drug war, namely people of color. Most of us in the cannabis space are aware that people of color have been unfairly targeted for prosecution on cannabis charges. Many of us have repeated this as a reason to support legalization, to end these arrests and create legal opportunities for all. \n\nBut as more states allow cannabis businesses to operate legally, and opportunities to enter into this new legal space seem plentiful, we need to ask whether the current system is actually helping to repair the damage. Is the legal marijuana industry offering opportunities to marginalized groups like people of color, women and LQBTQ folk? Or is this system just offering another avenue for the already rich to get richer?\n\nIn the chorus of triumphant cannabis business owners, finding themselves on the other side of the fight to pass cannabis laws, get licenses and become legitimized, is [Christine De La Rosa, \nprincipal and executive officer of The People’s Dispensary](https://pitchengine.com/peoplesdispensary) in Oakland, CA. She’s one of a small handful asking what her company can do to help bring more equity to the cannabis space. \n\nWe sat down with Christine to hear her views on cannabis, equity and what we can do to help keep this conversation and movement go forward. \n\nFOLLOW US ON [FACEBOOK](https://www.facebook.com/pg/hellomdcompany/posts/) & [INSTAGRAM](https://www.instagram.com/hellomd_com/?hl=en)\n\n### What first brought you into the cannabis space? \n\n**Christine De La Rosa:** On Thanksgiving Day in 2010, I almost died. I had a double pulmonary embolism in my lungs. I'd been sick for about three years prior to that, but nobody could diagnose me. And so, when this event happened, they diagnosed me with acute system lupus.\n\nThey put me on a lot of medications including steroids, opioids, other medications that really didn't do anything for lupus, but they were trying everything. In 2012, I almost died again. My heart was filled up with a lot of fluid, and it was crushing my heart.\n\nAt that point, they put me on five different opioids. I was on: Oxycontin, hydromorphone, hydrocodone, fentanyl patches, tramadol, Lyrica and gabapentin. I was on about 11 different medications. And then when those didn't really seem to be working, they kept me on them, but then they added a monthly infusion that was called a Benlysta. It was about $14,000 for one treatment a month.\n\nThen one day, I realized I was taking 11 pills a day, and I was like, \"Wow, I'm 45. I'm taking 11 pills for the illness that I have. None of them seem to work really well. If I get to live to 65, what will my pill bottle look like?\"\n\nI made a decision at that point that I was going to try to find holistic methods and started doing a lot of research. I just sat there looking at stuff. And I kept coming across cannabis and CBD (cannabidiol). \n\nSo, I started taking massive amounts of CBD every day, and by the seventh day I woke up for the first time without any pain. I jumped out of bed, and I started walking immediately. I didn't have to stop and check my feet and make sure. I started crying, because I was thinking, \"Wow, I could have been like this for seven years prior, when they diagnosed me.\" So, I just started using CBD, and I started to decrease the 11 pills until I was on no pills. \n\nRELATED: [WHAT’S SO GREAT ABOUT CANNABIDIOL, OR CBD?](https://www.hellomd.com/health-wellness/5a8dafa0f24d1300077ccb59/whats-so-great-about-cannabidiol-or-cbd)\n\n### What’s the mission of The People’s Dispensary? \n\n**CD:** The mission of the People's Dispensary has always been to embody, embrace and encourage equity in cannabis. It doesn't seem brand new because everybody right now is talking about equity and cannabis. Every city is talking about equity in cannabis. Every newspaper, every major cannabis magazine is talking about equity in cannabis. Except actually what they're talking about is entrepreneurship in cannabis and not equity. \n\nEquity means that I, as an owner of a business or an investor in a business, was able to do what anybody else is able to do to get equity. So that means I should be able to invest in a cannabis company. I should be able to get funding for cannabis companies. That's what equity actually means. \n\nI think Oakland did a great job in starting the conversation, and they did the best they could. But they don't have equity here. They give out all of these equity licenses to whoever bought one. But I can tell you half of those people aren’t running cannabis businesses because they didn't have the funding, or they got funding, but were screwed over by their incubator. \n\nGiving somebody a license, it's actually not equity, it's entrepreneurship. Equity means that you should have equity from the cannabis market. \n\n### How are you working to improve equity in the cannabis space? \n\n**CD:** We have a three-tiered equity program for The People’s Dispensary. \n\nFirst, we allow non-accredited investors to invest in our company. Right now, the cannabis industry is incredibly white and male. But the reason is because they're accredited investors.\n\nTo be an accredited investor, you have to have made $200,000 two years prior to your investment, the year of your investment, and have a reasonable expectation that you're going to do so the year after your investment. Or you can have $1 million in liquid cash that doesn't include your primary residence. These are the people who are allowed to invest into companies. \n\nWell, when we were putting up our raise together, I realized there was going to be nobody in my family or the other founders’ family or people in our community that would qualify as an accredited investor. How do we bring generational wealth to communities of color, women and the formerly incarcerated in ways in which they don't have to try to get a license, try to find some funding, quit their day job and hope that their company is successful in five years? \n\nSo, we figured out how can we get non-accredited investments, where people can invest as little as $1,000 or up to $50,000. We just finished our first non-accredited raise for Oakland, and we have 71 small investors, and they raised almost half a million dollars.\n\nWe want people to be able to invest and go about their day, continue with their jobs or whatever they're doing and then in three years hopefully it will be as successful as we predicted. And we'll be able to pay them out, so they can create generational wealth for their families.\n\n### Wow. That’s a powerful plan. You said it was just one part? What are some of the other ways you’re working towards equity? \n\n**CD:** The second tier of the equity program gives back to employees. In Oakland, it's really hard to find housing that's affordable. So, we decided that part of the benefit packages for our employees is that they will receive a housing stipend. That way we can have people live in the community in which they work. \n\nBut we're also opening up in Fresno, which doesn’t have a housing problem. Their problem is different. They can't get down payments for a home. So, we would do something that helped with that. So, each community that we're building in has a different housing need. And so, the housing plan for the employees would match the community.\n\nThe third tier is giving back to the community. A lot of the applications that we've seen in the city of Oakland ask, \"How are you going to beautify Oakland?\" I think that that's a really great thing, but my feeling is that in a $44 billion industry, we should do more than plant flowers.\n\nSo, we created a rapid response impact fund and every one of our accredited investors, so anybody that's invested $50,000 or more has to invest 10–20% into the impact fund of the community where the dispensary sits. And the dispensary will match those funds. \n\nEvery city can decide how to use this fund differently. So, for instance, here in Oakland, we picked a board of people that’s working on three of the biggest problems we've seen in Oakland:\n\n* The sex trafficking of young girls\n* LGBTQ homelessness\n* Homelessness in general \n\nBut in Fresno they have a lot of gang violence. So, their impact fund is going to focus on gang violence.\n\nIt’s going to be a blended fund, so that we can do both grants for people who need it for things like buying blankets for the homeless when the temperature drops too low. But also to have people that have an equity license to come and get a loan from the impact fund of that community. So, we can help in creating their businesses. \n\n### That’s wonderful. Do you have any examples of businesses that you’re helping through this fund that you can tell us about? \n\n**CD:** We had a group of three young former gang members. They came to me and said, \"We're in Fresno. We’re builders, and we want to rebuild grow houses. But we've been doing it illegally, and now we want to be legit.\"\n\nAnd so, we gave them a thousand dollars to file the articles of incorporation, get their business license, set up taxes and get a couple of tools they're going to need. And they've already gotten three jobs. \n\nThe thing in the cannabis discussion that we really have to think about is what are we doing in the market to make sure that we're supporting people who have equity licenses that are supporting generational wealth and giving back to communities that had been historically criminalized for cannabis. What are we doing about that? \n\n### Do you have any advice for other companies in the cannabis space that are also hoping to improve the situation on equity? \n\n**CD:** Yes. Forty-four billion dollars. Put your money where your mouth is. That's really the thing. Eighty cents on every dollar spent in cannabis was taken home by the dispensary. I always feel like as a dispensary it's on us. How can we get even $1 billion of that $44 billion into impact funds or some type of funds that directly impact your community in cash money? I think that's important. \n\nPhoto credit (left to right): [Daniel Clanon](https://www.flickr.com/people/divrdan2/) & [The People’s Dispensary](https://www.instagram.com/mytpd/)\n\nIf you’re new to cannabis and want to learn more, take a look at our [Cannabis 101](https://www.hellomd.com/health-wellness/56201c206430320006bb0000/cannabis-101-your-quick-guide-to-medical-marijuana) post. [HelloMD](https://www.hellomd.com/) can help you get your medical marijuana recommendation; it's easy, private and 100% online.\n","image":{"childImageSharp":{"fluid":{"base64":"data:image/png;base64,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","aspectRatio":1.3888888888888888,"src":"/static/d981f5124828bc20fd23bb929184e188/b49f9/b22add42f8b341818b4fd725e64b47be.png","srcSet":"/static/d981f5124828bc20fd23bb929184e188/69585/b22add42f8b341818b4fd725e64b47be.png 200w,\n/static/d981f5124828bc20fd23bb929184e188/497c6/b22add42f8b341818b4fd725e64b47be.png 400w,\n/static/d981f5124828bc20fd23bb929184e188/b49f9/b22add42f8b341818b4fd725e64b47be.png 619w","srcWebp":"/static/d981f5124828bc20fd23bb929184e188/6f1eb/b22add42f8b341818b4fd725e64b47be.webp","srcSetWebp":"/static/d981f5124828bc20fd23bb929184e188/61e93/b22add42f8b341818b4fd725e64b47be.webp 200w,\n/static/d981f5124828bc20fd23bb929184e188/1f5c5/b22add42f8b341818b4fd725e64b47be.webp 400w,\n/static/d981f5124828bc20fd23bb929184e188/6f1eb/b22add42f8b341818b4fd725e64b47be.webp 619w","sizes":"(max-width: 619px) 100vw, 619px"}}}}},{"node":{"id":"Article_2746-markdown","title":"Learning How Cannabis & Opioids Interact With Dr. Adie Poe","slug":"learning-how-cannabis-and-opioids-interact-with-dr-adie-poe","content":"Curious about the interactions between cannabis and opioids?\n\nMeet Dr. Adie Poe, Ph.D., a neuroscientist who has spent 13 years researching the synergistic relationship between these two controversial substances. Dr. Poe is a global leader in opioid and cannabis research. She’s one of the few neuroscientists in the U.S. to be consistently funded for cannabis research by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). Dr. Poe has received numerous awards for her cutting-edge work and continues to fight for research that will help patients find safe pain relief and an improved quality of life. \n\nDr. Poe is also the co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of [Habu Health](http://www.habuhealth.com/), where she works on bringing personalized medicine to the cannabis space. She has also [recently partnered with Goldleaf on a new edition of its patient journal](https://shopgoldleaf.com/), a book designed to help patients track and improve their cannabis experience. \n\nFOLLOW US ON [FACEBOOK](https://www.facebook.com/pg/hellomdcompany/posts/) & [INSTAGRAM](https://www.instagram.com/hellomd_com/?hl=en)\n\nWe interviewed Dr. Poe to get her expert opinion on cannabis and opioids. And to learn all about her projects helping patients find the right cannabis for their needs. \n\n### How did you get started in cannabis research? \n\n**Dr. Adie Poe:** It really began as an undergrad. My undergraduate degree is in psychology, and I was volunteering in a lab that studies opioid tolerance. I had also been spending a bunch of time in Vancouver, British Columbia, and noticed that the heroin problem was quite bad.\n\nBut the difference between where I was in school and British Columbia was that cannabis was decriminalized [in Canada], and all the illicit heroin and opioid users were also using cannabis. I knew that these drugs were both analgesic and that they actually had a synergistic analgesic interaction. They create better pain relief together than they do on their own. \n\nSo, I was interested in exploring that idea further. If these things are truly synergistic, could we use them in combination rather than opioids on their own? Could we reduce the requirement of opioids needed to achieve pain relief? I wrote a small grant as an undergrad, and it was funded. I eventually rolled that into my Ph.D. thesis and two additional grants from NIDA. \n\nThe central hypothesis of my work is that these things can be used in combination so that we can reduce the negative side effects of opioids while still having effective pain relief. That's still the nature of my work to this day. I've been very fortunate to be funded by NIDA for all of these years. \n\n### What are the next steps that need to be taken to help the current situation with pain management? \n\n**AP:** I think the single greatest barrier is cannabis's status as a Schedule 1 substance. The status quo right now is that cannabis can really only be studied under the umbrella of addiction one way or another.\n\nSo, my backdoor is that I'm reducing addiction through cannabis. When Schedule 1 goes away, researchers like myself can look at the beneficial properties of cannabis, not just the addictive properties or cannabis as an influence on addiction. When anyone can apply for any grant, for any purpose, that will dramatically shift things. \n\nPolicy-wise, I really liked what the state of Illinois has done. If you have a prescription for an opioid in your hand, you automatically qualify for the medical cannabis program in that state. \n\nThis is a no-brainer. If cannabis is an analgesic drug, and if you have a prescription for an analgesic drug, you should have the legal option to consume an analgesic drug that’s safer than the opioid prescription you have. \n\nI would love to see those kinds of policies rolled out immediately. We have an immediate problem that we need to do something about. Now.\n\n### Do you have any suggestions for patients who are struggling with opioids right now and considering cannabis? \n\n**AP:** People have very different requirements. Not all pain is the same. So, without giving any specific recommendations, what I can say is that people who are in pain report that they like cannabis better, and they prefer it over their opioids. The vast majority, more than 90% of patients, would rather consume cannabis than the opioids. The side effects are more manageable. Their lifestyle is better. \n\nOpioids are extremely effective at completely obliterating the bodily sensation of pain. But they're also obliterating your ability to feel connected with your family and your ability to function at work. It severely impairs people. It inhibits cognitive function. So, people report that their quality of life is better with cannabis, even if their bodily sensation of pain isn't completely eliminated by it. The overall quality of their life is enhanced because of all of those factors. \n\nRELATED: [HOW CANNABIS CAN BREAK THE CYCLE OF OPIOID ABUSE](https://www.hellomd.com/health-wellness/5a14b5edeea891000897e26c/how-cannabis-can-break-the-cycle-of-opioid-abuse)\n\n### What can you tell us about your work at Habu Health? \n\n**AP:** The mission at Habu Health is personalized precision medicine. People have different kinds of pain; people have different kinds of lifestyle needs; and the body's endogenous cannabinoid system is extremely variable from person to person. Fortunately, there are enough kinds of cannabis out there ,and there are enough ways to consume it that everyone could potentially have their health care needs met and their quality of life improved. \n\nPeople are already using this to improve their life, but very few people are tracking exactly what it is in these products. What is causing that quality of life improvement? So that's really what we're doing. We're applying scientific rigor to the naturalistic way that people already consume cannabis so that we can figure out what's best for whom. We're still in the startup phase, but we're developing software that will essentially allow us to track this.\n\n### Tell us about your collaboration with Goldleaf on its patient journal. What did you add to the journal that wasn’t in the last edition? \n\n**AP:** Really, the shift from the previous edition was in putting the emphasis on pharmacology. Pharmacology is about the ingredients in drugs and how they interact with the human body to produce a certain effect. \n\nThe previous edition was really focused on strain recommendations. What we know is that strain names are completely arbitrary. They have no predictive value whatsoever when it comes to a reliable medical result. Even if you're buying the same strain from the same cultivator, time after time, we know that there are chemical differences in that plant from harvest to harvest.\n\nSo, what's really important in this edition is that we've shifted the focus away from strains and put it on chemistry. What are the chemicals in your medicines that are causing you to have that effect? \n\n### Before we end, is there anything we haven’t talked about that you would like to share? \n\n**AP:** The thing that I have been really fired up about lately is the lack of useful medical products in the regulated market. I spend quite a bit of time in Oregon, and the vast majority of products are above the 20% tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) mark. The market has created value for these things. Wholesalers pay more for products that are above 20% THC.\n\nBut that doesn't mean that those products have the most medical value. Just because they're valued by the wholesaler doesn't mean they're valuable to the patient. \n\nWhat we've really seen through the scientific literature and through surveys of medical patients is that really, we need a rich balance of cannabinoids and terpenes. We need diverse full-spectrum phytochemistry. But we need to limit intoxication. These folks still need to go to work and have functioning daytime lives.\n\nWhat I'd really like to see is more value placed on products that have true medical value, true value to the patients. Those that have a balanced ratio of THC and cannabidiol (CBD) or very little THC at all, but still contain all of those other beautiful terpenes and cannabinoids that have medical benefit. \n\nIf you’re new to cannabis and want to learn more, take a look at our [Cannabis 101](https://www.hellomd.com/health-wellness/56201c206430320006bb0000/cannabis-101-your-quick-guide-to-medical-marijuana) post. [HelloMD](https://www.hellomd.com/) can help you get your medical marijuana recommendation; it's easy, private and 100% online.\n","image":{"childImageSharp":{"fluid":{"base64":"data:image/jpeg;base64,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","aspectRatio":1.3793103448275863,"src":"/static/e3b930e7a020a0b8350fe059158fa6bc/14b42/0b43bbfea258d3607057bd4243b7b973.jpg","srcSet":"/static/e3b930e7a020a0b8350fe059158fa6bc/f836f/0b43bbfea258d3607057bd4243b7b973.jpg 200w,\n/static/e3b930e7a020a0b8350fe059158fa6bc/2244e/0b43bbfea258d3607057bd4243b7b973.jpg 400w,\n/static/e3b930e7a020a0b8350fe059158fa6bc/14b42/0b43bbfea258d3607057bd4243b7b973.jpg 800w,\n/static/e3b930e7a020a0b8350fe059158fa6bc/15e0c/0b43bbfea258d3607057bd4243b7b973.jpg 1160w","srcWebp":"/static/e3b930e7a020a0b8350fe059158fa6bc/58556/0b43bbfea258d3607057bd4243b7b973.webp","srcSetWebp":"/static/e3b930e7a020a0b8350fe059158fa6bc/61e93/0b43bbfea258d3607057bd4243b7b973.webp 200w,\n/static/e3b930e7a020a0b8350fe059158fa6bc/1f5c5/0b43bbfea258d3607057bd4243b7b973.webp 400w,\n/static/e3b930e7a020a0b8350fe059158fa6bc/58556/0b43bbfea258d3607057bd4243b7b973.webp 800w,\n/static/e3b930e7a020a0b8350fe059158fa6bc/66596/0b43bbfea258d3607057bd4243b7b973.webp 1160w","sizes":"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px"}}}}},{"node":{"id":"Article_2738-markdown","title":"Innovation Spotlight: Level’s New Cannabis Tablinguals","slug":"innovation-spotlight-levels-new-cannabis-tablinguals","content":"Level, a California-based extraction company, creates cannabis products with a scientific point of view. Focused on quality, Level uses advanced techniques to extract the purest medicinal value while retaining the best natural qualities of the plant.\n\nRecently, Level released a new type of product: the tablingual. It’s a fast-acting sublingual tablet, which quickly dissolves under your tongue. Ever since we tried Level’s minty marijuana tablinguals, we’ve been crazy about them. Each member of the HelloMD team has their favorite tablingual, or combination of tablinguals.\n\nFOLLOW US ON [FACEBOOK](https://www.facebook.com/pg/hellomdcompany/posts/) & [INSTAGRAM](https://www.instagram.com/hellomd_com/?hl=en)\n\nIn our interview with Chris Emerson, Ph.D., chief scientist and co-founder of Level, Chris talks to us about the cannabis-infused tablingual product line.\n\n`embed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6mcuDcoaOc`\n\n### What’s a tablingual?\n\n**Chris Emerson:** A tablingual is a sublingual formulation with a standardized dose of 3 mg of active cannabinoids. The product line, which includes six different products, has individual cannabinoids for each formulation. So, you don't get a mixture of cannabinoids; you're getting a single cannabinoid that you can use. And you can mix and match with the others.\n\nFor instance, Remedy is our cannabidiol (CBD) tablingual, which eases mental and physical stress. And Relieve is our tetrahydrocannabinolic acid (THCA) tablingual, designed to alleviate pain. We often suggest taking them together.\n\nOur tablinguals are based on single cannabinoids:\n\n* **Elevate tablingual**, which contains tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), is meant to give a classic high, uplifting both mind and body.\n\n* **Relieve tablingual**, with THCA, doesn’t produce any high and is designed to alleviate pain.\n\n* **Soothe tablingual* contains Delta-8 THC; it gives a mild high that relaxes both mind and body.\n\n* **Remedy tablingual**, with CBD, creates a barely there high, easing mental and physical stress.\n\n* **Calm tablingual** contains cannabigerol (CBG), which can help ease mental and physical stress without any accompanying high.\n\n* **Stimulate tablingual**, which has tetrahydrocannabivarin (THCV), is meant to give an energizing high and focuses the mind.\n\n### Why is it important to allow people to experiment with individual cannabinoids such as CBD and THCA? \n\n**CE:** We feel it’s important for people to experiment and understand which products and in what combinations work best for them. We all have our own individual endocannabinoid system, or ECS. This leads people to have unique experiences based on their own body composition. For instance, some people like indicas and other people may like sativas, but it's important for people on their cannabis journey to have a tool kit so they can discover what's going to work best for them. \n\nRELATED: [WHAT IS THE ENDOCANNABINOID SYSTEM?](https://hellomd.com/articles/what-is-the-endocannabinoid-system)\n\n### In your experience, do most people do well with a single cannabinoid, such as the Calm CBG tablingual, or is the power in the combination of the cannabinoids?\n\n**CE:** I think it's yes to both of those. Most people can find a single cannabinoid that does work well for them. But when you start to combine cannabinoids, that's where the synergy, the real magic, of cannabis comes together. \n\nCannabis is about polypharmacy. So it's the combination entourage effect, if you will, of different components working in concert; they give you the maximum effect so you can have an effective treatment with a single cannabinoid. But really when you start combining them, that's when you can start getting the most therapeutic benefit from cannabis. \n\n### You’ve actually created a whole new cannabis product type here. What makes the tablingual different from other marijuana products? \n\n**CE:** So, when you ingest cannabis from an extract, such as an oil, you’re taking something that's essentially an oil, and you're putting it into a water environment: your mouth. We know that oil and water don't mix. At Level, we've engineered a tablet that allows you to sublingually take a very small amount of active cannabinoid, which is taken up through your mucous membranes in your mouth and enters into your bloodstream very quickly. The onset is pretty fast, at about five to 10 minutes. It wasn’t an easy thing to achieve; it was actually quite challenging. \n\n### Would you say a tablingual or sublingual is more effective, when microdosing cannabis, than a marijuana edible that's being metabolized by the liver?\n\nIf you were to swallow an oral tablet that’s 3 mg, it takes a lot longer to get into the system, and the potential for the cannabinoids to be spread out or last within the body is much greater. When you eat an edible and swallow it, you’re putting it through an acidic stomach environment, which then has to be absorbed through the intestines and go to the liver. There are a lot of different biological processes that can happen during that time. \n\nWhen you take a tablingual, it's immediately taken up into your mucous membranes or any sublingual route of administration. And then it goes through a different pathway; it actually goes through one of the major veins that takes it right into your heart and is then distributed throughout your system. Due to this, you can have a much smaller dose, and have it be more effective, because you're not metabolizing the compounds.\n\nRELATED: [GETTING THE MOST OUT OF SUBLINGUAL CANNABIS](https://hellomd.com/articles/getting-the-most-out-of-using-sublingual-cannabis) \n\n### You’ve created a wheel that suggests how to combine cannabinoids within the tablinguals. Is this meant to show people how to take tablinguals in combination?\n\n`embed: https://www.instagram.com/p/BjlCne4BAp6/` \n\n**CE:** Yes. When people enter into cannabis consumption slowly, and they don't have any adverse events and they're not scared away, they build a lot more confidence. They can trust themselves and their own judgment. At this point, they may be willing to experiment more. Right now, we're in a place where there’s a lot of experimentation. The wheel was developed for people who have the confidence to try combining cannabinoids, and we try to give some guidance in how we might do it.\n\nFor instance, pain is one of the most common conditions. When you look at the wheel, there are many different cannabinoid combinations. So. for instance, for pain, the first thing we recommend is a THCA and CBD together. There's no psychoactivity associated with that combination, and the suggestion combines two very powerful anti-inflammatory cannabinoids together.\n\nIf someone is dealing with inflammatory pain, you actually need THC in the system as well, so adding a THC tablingual may be the right thing for that particular person. Keep in mind everyone has a slightly nuanced ECS from everybody else, so this is only a suggestion of what we think may work best.\n\nIf you’re new to cannabis and want to learn more, take a look at our [Cannabis 101](https://hellomd.com/articles/cannabis-101-your-quick-guide-to-medical-marijuana) post. [HelloMD](https://hellomd.com/) can help you get your medical marijuana recommendation; it's easy, private and 100% online.","image":{"childImageSharp":{"fluid":{"base64":"data:image/png;base64,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","aspectRatio":1.3605442176870748,"src":"/static/95ac6e60def8cb2b9a38ed9bd46d8b7f/ee604/8ca66a0dc577d72704d10f5b72bac1df.png","srcSet":"/static/95ac6e60def8cb2b9a38ed9bd46d8b7f/69585/8ca66a0dc577d72704d10f5b72bac1df.png 200w,\n/static/95ac6e60def8cb2b9a38ed9bd46d8b7f/497c6/8ca66a0dc577d72704d10f5b72bac1df.png 400w,\n/static/95ac6e60def8cb2b9a38ed9bd46d8b7f/ee604/8ca66a0dc577d72704d10f5b72bac1df.png 800w,\n/static/95ac6e60def8cb2b9a38ed9bd46d8b7f/db955/8ca66a0dc577d72704d10f5b72bac1df.png 900w","srcWebp":"/static/95ac6e60def8cb2b9a38ed9bd46d8b7f/58556/8ca66a0dc577d72704d10f5b72bac1df.webp","srcSetWebp":"/static/95ac6e60def8cb2b9a38ed9bd46d8b7f/61e93/8ca66a0dc577d72704d10f5b72bac1df.webp 200w,\n/static/95ac6e60def8cb2b9a38ed9bd46d8b7f/1f5c5/8ca66a0dc577d72704d10f5b72bac1df.webp 400w,\n/static/95ac6e60def8cb2b9a38ed9bd46d8b7f/58556/8ca66a0dc577d72704d10f5b72bac1df.webp 800w,\n/static/95ac6e60def8cb2b9a38ed9bd46d8b7f/210c1/8ca66a0dc577d72704d10f5b72bac1df.webp 900w","sizes":"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px"}}}}},{"node":{"id":"Article_2732-markdown","title":"Treatwell Health","slug":"treatwell-health","content":"HelloMD has concluded our investigation into the sad events that transpired this past weekend involving our partner Treatwell Health, and its founder and CEO Alison Ettel. \n\nThis story touched a nerve for many people, and in some ways was bigger than the people involved in the altercation that took place. Our country and our fledgling cannabis industry is changing fast. Racial injustices of the past drug war disproportionately hold people of color in prison while overwhelmingly white entrepreneurs participate in the new legal cannabis economy. Alison Ettel and this little girl became the face of that clash on Saturday morning in a very short space of time.\n\nAt HelloMD, we value inclusiveness, tolerance and nondiscrimination, yet we also understand that creating a successful cannabis brand in this quasi-legal environment is exceedingly difficult. Treatwell has worked tirelessly for years to create a product line that helps thousands of patients with their medical issues. The company’s products are valued for both their quality ingredients and their affordability. It’s sad to see a company destroyed in just a short few hours. \n\nHelloMD carries Treatwell products on our menu, and we don’t feel that adding our name to the list of retailers boycotting the brand does anything to move the conversation forward in a positive way. Nor does it help the many thousands of patients that depend on Treatwell for their daily medication. For this reason, we intend to sell the remaining stock of Treatwell products we have in inventory, and donate any profits derived from these sales to a nonprofit focusing on social justice.\n\nWe hope that our cannabis community of patients, retailers and brands can find peace and compassion for one another in the future. \n\n[Image Credit](https://www.flickr.com/photos/raygun/2609215125/in/photolist-4YyUKF-4YCWUJ-4YyzXx-4YyyJr-4YBJrW-oiWgeV-4YyMPP-4Yx1MF-aK9m6R-4Yz3Ep-4YxfiT-4YDcqA-4YyEje-4YPGFA-4YBxAm-aK9hvK-4YKqb6-4YBA6q-4YxMXc-4YxfWH-nZGMsa-4YCHwb-4YBLUJ-4Yyib2-6JCaB8-4YCLSQ-nZGMLM-4YDfNY-4YwS1D-78jE4s-GgKL2S-4YyPJP-oiWhtD-aK9jtF-4YCMjq-KRUTw-4YBQ83-4YBcK9-4YBtu3-ogTCi4-6Wx3ED-5MVqP-SDfQQ-pXDfk-8E6MCQ-71g7LZ-93UAVk-2p6YP7-SDioY-3UHHu9) \n","image":{"childImageSharp":{"fluid":{"base64":"data:image/png;base64,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","aspectRatio":1.5151515151515151,"src":"/static/62044701a440232b97a52053d71c938c/ee604/091f4c34449db09844edf3daef91e63f.png","srcSet":"/static/62044701a440232b97a52053d71c938c/69585/091f4c34449db09844edf3daef91e63f.png 200w,\n/static/62044701a440232b97a52053d71c938c/497c6/091f4c34449db09844edf3daef91e63f.png 400w,\n/static/62044701a440232b97a52053d71c938c/ee604/091f4c34449db09844edf3daef91e63f.png 800w,\n/static/62044701a440232b97a52053d71c938c/00f5e/091f4c34449db09844edf3daef91e63f.png 1006w","srcWebp":"/static/62044701a440232b97a52053d71c938c/58556/091f4c34449db09844edf3daef91e63f.webp","srcSetWebp":"/static/62044701a440232b97a52053d71c938c/61e93/091f4c34449db09844edf3daef91e63f.webp 200w,\n/static/62044701a440232b97a52053d71c938c/1f5c5/091f4c34449db09844edf3daef91e63f.webp 400w,\n/static/62044701a440232b97a52053d71c938c/58556/091f4c34449db09844edf3daef91e63f.webp 800w,\n/static/62044701a440232b97a52053d71c938c/7f866/091f4c34449db09844edf3daef91e63f.webp 1006w","sizes":"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px"}}}}},{"node":{"id":"Article_2696-markdown","title":"Cannabis for Athletes? VapeXhale’s Founder Says Yes","slug":"cannabis-for-athletes-vapexhales-founder-says-yes","content":"Consuming cannabis for athletic performance may seem contradictory, especially if your experience has been that marijuana slows you down or makes you sleepy. But one person who absolutely believes that marijuana can help athletes is [Seibo Shen](https://www.hellomd.com/people/569c5569aadede0008000012/seiboshen). Seibo is a jiu-jitsu fighter who founded Cannathlete, a company that develops products and training programs for athletes. Cannathlete uses cannabis as part of regimented and custom-made training programs to bring competitors’ performances to the next level. He also founded VapeXhale, maker of high-quality, hand-blown glass cannabis vaporizers that feature precise temperature controls for a truly efficient vaping experience. \n\nSeibo is passionate about marijuana and its use in sports and athletic endeavors for those who tolerate the plant well. He was kind enough to answer questions from the HelloMD community about how cannabis could fit into sports performance and recovery programs. And he shared how he personally consumes cannabis for focus, endurance and healing. \n\nFOLLOW US ON [FACEBOOK](https://www.facebook.com/pg/hellomdcompany/posts/) & [INSTAGRAM](https://www.instagram.com/hellomd_com/?hl=en)\n\n### Q: With jiu-jitsu, can you use cannabis in order to enhance your sports performance?\n\nI grew up playing many different sports, but currently I do Brazilian jiu-jitsu, which is a form of submission grappling. I compete professionally. There is a masters and executives division for people over the age of 40, but I currently compete in the 18–30 bracket.\n\nBefore a competition, I will typically take about 250 milligrams of some form of THC edible about 90 minutes prior to the competition. The competitions usually last anywhere from four to eight hours, so I like to take an edible because it lasts throughout the competition. And once the competition is over, I'll take a CBD tincture to help with the injuries\n\nWith THC, the focus side of things, obviously you can overdo it, so we at CannAthlete have come up with some new language. So we have medication; we have intoxication; and for athletic performance, we want activation.\n\nCannabis activation means being the best version of yourself. And to be the best version of yourself, you have to be present. So whether you're a CEO like myself or a professional athlete, many times while we're working out or competing, we're thinking about all the various things that we have to do, whether it's picking up the kids, a shopping list. \n\n`embed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYGFEGk9nzU`\n\n### Q: If someone is looking to enhance their sports performance with cannabis, what should they do?\n\nAnswer: I always like to use words that rhyme, so it's easy for people to remember. So, I say start slow and low. So slow and low is utilizing low dosages and having longer periods of time in between doses.\n\nSo, one great way to start off is with a low dosage at nighttime. If your body agrees with it, and you like the way you feel with that dosage, then you should try it during the daytime with the sport of choice that you're trying to enhance your performance in. And by utilizing a methodology like that, you could slowly up the amount of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabinoids that you're ingesting until you are at that perfect level where you think that you will be present and in the zone.\n\n`embed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxiLJuNr848`\n\n### Q: Is there a mind-body connection when it comes to sports performance and cannabis?\n\nAnswer: One of the things that I learned that may surprise a lot of people by utilizing cannabis with my training regimen is just being able to listen to my body a bit more closely. I think a lot of the sports that we play, a lot of the coaches that teach us how to play these sports, they always tell you to push through the pain. And many times, by pushing through the pain, you will get a lot of great results.\n\nBut as you get older, understanding when you are just feeling pain versus when you’re injured is a very, very good skill to learn. And by utilizing cannabis, I noticed that the mind-body connection is much stronger, and I could start realizing when I'm actually injured versus when I need to push through the pain. And I think being able to delineate the two was a huge barrier for me to break through. Because many times when you are playing combat sports, you don't want to look like the weakest person on the team. But if you are really injured, you need to pull yourself out.\n\n`embed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9eI4Hvf5os`\n\n### Q: Is it appropriate to introduce cannabis into a workout regime such as yoga?\n\nAnswer: That's a really great question. And if we go back to cannabis helping athletes improve their focus, I know that for, let's just say myself. When I first started doing yoga—I'm a highly competitive person, I would look at everybody else and go, “Oh, she's lower than me or she's doing this stretch better than me,” and I would often find myself comparing myself to other students or just thinking about all the other tasks that I have to do after the yoga class.\n\nSo, for someone like yourself, by consuming cannabis before going to yoga, it could help you improve your focus, really have that stronger mind-body connection so that you could really feel the stretch. And I also found that because breathing is such a big part of yoga, I am very conscious and aware of my breath when I'm breathing too quickly or too slowly, and by being conscious of my breath I am able to utilize that to further relax myself. And that's how I think you could really incorporate cannabis into your yoga routine.\n\n`embed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdVGnicrpac`\n\n\nRELATED: [HOW CANNABIS AFFECTS SPORTS PERFORMANCE & RECOVERY](https://www.hellomd.com/health-wellness/5a1df0f2eea891000897e273/how-cannabis-affects-sports-performance-and-recovery)\n\n### Q: In terms of sports recovery, is there any evidence that cannabis actually works?\n\nAnswer: Yeah, absolutely. So, there's many studies that have shown that cannabinoids are a strong anti-inflammatory. On top of that, there's a lot of emotional well-being that you get from consuming cannabis that helps with sports recovery. But for our athletes, the anti-inflammatory properties are so strong—much better than Advil, acetaminophen. And we found that the side effects are so much less for cannabinoids that it's something that they could use consistently and throughout the day as well.\n\nPeople have said THC with the rest of the cannabinoids have an entourage effect. But I recently heard that the cannabinoids have more of an ensemble effect where there's not one main lead but it's all the cannabinoids working in concert with each other. So just like whole foods are better than taking a multivitamin, we always recommend that when you're consuming cannabis, get a full spectrum of the cannabinoids.\n\n[Read more answers to this question](https://www.hellomd.com/answers/5ab044178bf343000746a831/in-terms-of-sports-recovery-is-there-any-evidence-that-cannabis-actually-works)\n\n`embed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Byn_CDaN2n0`\n\nPhoto credit: [Bradley Wentzel](https://unsplash.com/@bradleywentzel)\n\nIf you’re new to cannabis and want to learn more, take a look at our [Cannabis 101]( https://www.hellomd.com/health-wellness/56201c206430320006bb0000/cannabis-101-your-quick-guide-to-medical-marijuana) post. [HelloMD](https://www.hellomd.com/) can help you get your medical marijuana recommendation; it's easy, private and 100% online.  \n","image":{"childImageSharp":{"fluid":{"base64":"data:image/jpeg;base64,/9j/2wBDABALDA4MChAODQ4SERATGCgaGBYWGDEjJR0oOjM9PDkzODdASFxOQERXRTc4UG1RV19iZ2hnPk1xeXBkeFxlZ2P/2wBDARESEhgVGC8aGi9jQjhCY2NjY2NjY2NjY2NjY2NjY2NjY2NjY2NjY2NjY2NjY2NjY2NjY2NjY2NjY2NjY2NjY2P/wgARCAAOABQDASIAAhEBAxEB/8QAFwAAAwEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMEAv/EABYBAQEBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIAAf/aAAwDAQACEAMQAAABeuHOVBEI/wD/xAAXEAADAQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAQIR/9oACAEBAAEFAlEmQ05kVSajT//EABcRAQADAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABESH/2gAIAQMBAT8BqGP/xAAXEQEAAwAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAREh/9oACAECAQE/Ablr/8QAFxABAQEBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAADERMv/aAAgBAQAGPwJuq5RH/8QAGBAAAwEBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAERMdH/2gAIAQEAAT8hg1ENEjKMEXQ80WlH/9oADAMBAAIAAwAAABCzz//EABgRAAIDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARAdHw/9oACAEDAQE/EJTqEP/EABgRAAIDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARAdHw/9oACAECAQE/EIbrGP/EABoQAAMBAQEBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABESExUbH/2gAIAQEAAT8QetTXdMBhVcZf+47Da+qBOwK4rw5yH//Z","aspectRatio":1.3793103448275863,"src":"/static/4d65e74ab7686d6720218339e66ab82b/14b42/b0b49da302c1d4c3e73807af6bf192d9.jpg","srcSet":"/static/4d65e74ab7686d6720218339e66ab82b/f836f/b0b49da302c1d4c3e73807af6bf192d9.jpg 200w,\n/static/4d65e74ab7686d6720218339e66ab82b/2244e/b0b49da302c1d4c3e73807af6bf192d9.jpg 400w,\n/static/4d65e74ab7686d6720218339e66ab82b/14b42/b0b49da302c1d4c3e73807af6bf192d9.jpg 800w,\n/static/4d65e74ab7686d6720218339e66ab82b/47498/b0b49da302c1d4c3e73807af6bf192d9.jpg 1200w,\n/static/4d65e74ab7686d6720218339e66ab82b/0e329/b0b49da302c1d4c3e73807af6bf192d9.jpg 1600w,\n/static/4d65e74ab7686d6720218339e66ab82b/e0e30/b0b49da302c1d4c3e73807af6bf192d9.jpg 3660w","srcWebp":"/static/4d65e74ab7686d6720218339e66ab82b/58556/b0b49da302c1d4c3e73807af6bf192d9.webp","srcSetWebp":"/static/4d65e74ab7686d6720218339e66ab82b/61e93/b0b49da302c1d4c3e73807af6bf192d9.webp 200w,\n/static/4d65e74ab7686d6720218339e66ab82b/1f5c5/b0b49da302c1d4c3e73807af6bf192d9.webp 400w,\n/static/4d65e74ab7686d6720218339e66ab82b/58556/b0b49da302c1d4c3e73807af6bf192d9.webp 800w,\n/static/4d65e74ab7686d6720218339e66ab82b/99238/b0b49da302c1d4c3e73807af6bf192d9.webp 1200w,\n/static/4d65e74ab7686d6720218339e66ab82b/7c22d/b0b49da302c1d4c3e73807af6bf192d9.webp 1600w,\n/static/4d65e74ab7686d6720218339e66ab82b/46196/b0b49da302c1d4c3e73807af6bf192d9.webp 3660w","sizes":"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px"}}}}},{"node":{"id":"Article_2676-markdown","title":"BeKind Cannabis Flowers Focus on Sustainability & Community","slug":"bekind-cannabis-flowers-focus-on-sustainability-and-community","content":"BeKind, a cannabis flower brand based in Sonoma County, CA, was started with the idea of well, being kind. When fires devastated the county in October 2017, the company ended up donating its entire first batch of product to medical marijuana patients in the area. \n\n“We do everything we can to make the best product from cultivation, all the way down to the actual patient,” says Noelle Peterson, a brand manager for BeKind. She adds that in creating its product, BeKind sought to combine convenience, sustainability and community. \n\nFOLLOW US ON [FACEBOOK](https://www.facebook.com/pg/hellomdcompany/posts/) & [INSTAGRAM](https://www.instagram.com/hellomd_com/?hl=en)\n\nThe company’s flower boasts a unique packaging process: once trimmed and cured properly, the flower is flushed with liquid nitrogen and then immediately sealed in an airtight can, preserving taste and freshness. This nitrogen canning process creates an odorless package and gives the flower a shelf life of two years. And in keeping with its philosophy, BeKind’s cans are also recyclable. \n\nBeKind’s commitment to sustainability might just set it apart [in an industry where growing practices often have a negative impact on the local environment](https://www.hellomd.com/health-wellness/5ad50b4d049b4f000a64e870/unsafe-growing-practices-harm-the-environment-and-your-health). “We want to take the time to sustainably grow our flower,” says Noelle. “[We think about] how we can support our local cultivators and make the best experience for them as well as for our patients.” \n\nRELATED: [BEYOND ORGANIC: HOW TO SHOP FOR SUSTAINABLE CANNABIS](https://www.hellomd.com/health-wellness/5ad7cd30049b4f000a64e89c/beyond-organic-how-to-shop-for-sustainable-cannabis)\n\nBeKind’s flower offerings change with the seasons, but customers can always be sure that they’re getting flower at its peak quality from a company that’s committed to community and sustainability. \n\nBeKind currently offers four cannabis strains. They include: \n\n### 1. Chemdawg\n\n![Chemdawg](https://hellomd-development.s3.amazonaws.com/markdown-image-injector-6eb1cb3b-b7b3-40b2-9a21-d30235b2b211/original.png)\n\n[Chemdawg](https://www.hellomd.com/strains/5a7cc81ad520d60009f4f4a7/chemdawg) is a mysterious, stinky hybrid that packs a punch mentally and physically. BeKind’s Chemdawg flowers clock in at 23.7% tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), so beginners and those who are sensitive to THC should practice caution. More experienced users are in for a ride—expect stimulating conversations, heightened senses and tingling body sensations. The Chemdawg high can last for quite some time. But as it winds down, consumers are in for a good night’s sleep or a rejuvenating afternoon nap. \n\nMedical marijuana patients looking for relief from pain, PTSD, anxiety or depression could benefit from this strain’s powerful effects on the body and mind. \n\n### 2. OG Kush\n\n![OG Kush](https://hellomd-development.s3.amazonaws.com/markdown-image-injector-468d7829-e5bf-4d9d-b7cf-eec6fef987b4/original.png)\n\nA California classic, [OG Kush](https://www.hellomd.com/strains/5a7cce66d520d60009f4f4ab/og-kush) combines a heavy, yet blissful cerebral high with body-melting physical effects that often lead to couch lock. BeKind’s OG Kush flowers test at 22.1%. Overall, OG Kush is great option if you’re looking for a way to unwind for the night. A favorite in the medical marijuana community, OG Kush is often used to combat nausea, gastrointestinal distress, pain and loss of appetite, to name a few. \n\n### 3. Blue Dream\n\n![Blue Dream](https://hellomd-development.s3.amazonaws.com/markdown-image-injector-aaf20841-9e78-4402-a8db-5c22b5b2c4fc/original.png)\n\nArguably one of the most popular strains in existence today, [Blue Dream]( https://www.hellomd.com/strains/5a70be4e6c30440008cafd14/blue-dream) is an ideal hybrid and a modern classic. Equal parts relaxing and stimulating, consumers can expect a long-lasting high from this well-balanced strain, which combines the mellow effects of Blueberry and cerebral qualities of Haze. BeKind’s Blue Dream flowers test at 23.8%, so while this cannabis strain is often touted as a good option for newbies, those sensitive to THC should temper their dosing when using this particular flower.\n\nBlue Dream is crowd-pleaser among both the recreational and medical marijuana community. It’s a suitable strain for many daytime activities, like socializing with friends, but can also be used to combat many types of pain like those stemming from fibromyalgia, arthritis and menstrual issues. \n\n### 4. Sour Diesel\n\n![Sour Diesel](https://hellomd-development.s3.amazonaws.com/markdown-image-injector-d5321c54-6a7d-4b37-9938-531c44f4e367/original.png)\n\nAn easily recognizable strain—even to those unfamiliar with cannabis, [Sour Diesel]( https://www.hellomd.com/strains/5a7cd299d520d60009f4f4ae/sour-diesel) boasts a slew of pop-culture references and even its own Wikipedia page. This stinky sativa hybrid has a pungent, fuel-like aroma and is often compared to strong cup of coffee. BeKind’s Sour Diesel flowers clock in at 20.7% THC—consumers can expect cerebral effects that may spark conversation and creativity. \n\nMedical marijuana consumers enjoy this strain for the calm mental focus it provides, making it an appropriate choice for those seeking relief from depression, anxiety, stress and ADD/ADHD. Sour Diesel’s effects tend to be more mentally inclined, so those looking for pain relief may want to seek out a different strain. \n\nMain photo credit: [Daria Lipova](https://www.flickr.com/people/daria_lipova/)\n\nIf you’re new to cannabis and want to learn more, take a look at our [Cannabis 101](https://www.hellomd.com/health-wellness/cannabis-101-your-quick-guide-to-medical-marijuana) post. [HelloMD](https://www.hellomd.com/) can help you get your medical marijuana recommendation; it's easy, private and 100% online.  \n","image":{"childImageSharp":{"fluid":{"base64":"data:image/jpeg;base64,/9j/2wBDABALDA4MChAODQ4SERATGCgaGBYWGDEjJR0oOjM9PDkzODdASFxOQERXRTc4UG1RV19iZ2hnPk1xeXBkeFxlZ2P/2wBDARESEhgVGC8aGi9jQjhCY2NjY2NjY2NjY2NjY2NjY2NjY2NjY2NjY2NjY2NjY2NjY2NjY2NjY2NjY2NjY2NjY2P/wgARCAAOABQDASIAAhEBAxEB/8QAFwABAQEBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAwACBP/EABYBAQEBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACA//aAAwDAQACEAMQAAAB0XKmUpBH/8QAGhAAAgMBAQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAECAyERMf/aAAgBAQABBQJSH5yTK5sVuO3f/8QAFBEBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAEP/aAAgBAwEBPwE//8QAFBEBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAEP/aAAgBAgEBPwE//8QAGhAAAgIDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAEQESFBcf/aAAgBAQAGPwLg2tGC4Z//xAAcEAACAwADAQAAAAAAAAAAAAABEQAhMUFhscH/2gAIAQEAAT8hKRY+upcmbNKIPPkCY7BMUWCyshqhzP/aAAwDAQACAAMAAAAQDy//xAAVEQEBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAQEf/aAAgBAwEBPxCH/8QAFREBAQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABH/2gAIAQIBAT8QiP/EAB4QAQACAgEFAAAAAAAAAAAAAAERIQBBMVFhcbHx/9oACAEBAAE/EI+CcouFae8aqNiQn5gQBLV26VlFziKTb24w0eMVFejXjAEICIiYz//Z","aspectRatio":1.3793103448275863,"src":"/static/d7a44f54cf8dcced486ec95930059b5c/14b42/042cd115420ecc9aee5596a41decc673.jpg","srcSet":"/static/d7a44f54cf8dcced486ec95930059b5c/f836f/042cd115420ecc9aee5596a41decc673.jpg 200w,\n/static/d7a44f54cf8dcced486ec95930059b5c/2244e/042cd115420ecc9aee5596a41decc673.jpg 400w,\n/static/d7a44f54cf8dcced486ec95930059b5c/14b42/042cd115420ecc9aee5596a41decc673.jpg 800w,\n/static/d7a44f54cf8dcced486ec95930059b5c/35d50/042cd115420ecc9aee5596a41decc673.jpg 909w","srcWebp":"/static/d7a44f54cf8dcced486ec95930059b5c/58556/042cd115420ecc9aee5596a41decc673.webp","srcSetWebp":"/static/d7a44f54cf8dcced486ec95930059b5c/61e93/042cd115420ecc9aee5596a41decc673.webp 200w,\n/static/d7a44f54cf8dcced486ec95930059b5c/1f5c5/042cd115420ecc9aee5596a41decc673.webp 400w,\n/static/d7a44f54cf8dcced486ec95930059b5c/58556/042cd115420ecc9aee5596a41decc673.webp 800w,\n/static/d7a44f54cf8dcced486ec95930059b5c/a5a5e/042cd115420ecc9aee5596a41decc673.webp 909w","sizes":"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px"}}}}},{"node":{"id":"Article_2664-markdown","title":"Dabbing Marijuana for Good Health","slug":"dabbing-marijuana-for-good-health","content":"Guild Extracts disrupted the cannabis concentrates market in 2015 when it created the holy grail of marijuana extracts—a 100% pure concentrate of tetrahydrocannabinolic acid (THCA). The team at Guild Extracts knew that a cannabis product with complete purity would offer uncontaminated, concentrated medicine to consumers, so it took an inductive, scientific approach to the process by isolating the compounds of interest.\n\nMike Clemmons, president and chief scientist at Guild Extracts says, “Part of it was to be disruptive. The other part was to usher in the next step [in cannabis consumption]. We really believe the next step [in what patients are looking for in their medical marijuana] is function.”  \n\nFOLLOW US ON [FACEBOOK](https://www.facebook.com/pg/hellomdcompany/posts/) & [INSTAGRAM](https://www.instagram.com/hellomd_com/?hl=en)\n\nAs we collect more scientific research and anecdotal evidence on specific cannabinoids and terpenes, we’re learning more about each compound’s benefits. Guild Extracts is using that information and leading the charge on dabbing for health. The company uses analytical chemistry to bring isolated cannabinoids to consumers in a form that’s pure, trustworthy and effective. It’s proving the point that dabbing isn’t just for recreational marijuana consumers, but rather that dabbing pure concentrates can be beneficial for medical marijuana patients, too.\n\n### Is Dabbing Cannabis Healthy?\n\nMost people think of dabbing as solely for recreational use and for people who want to get as high as possible. But the high potency of [dabs can be a useful tool for medical marijuana patients](https://www.hellomd.com/health-wellness/5a4fd8fc100a820006562f52/why-do-some-patients-dab-medical-marijuana). Some medical marijuana patients experience higher tolerance levels as they consume more cannabis. If you have to keep increasing the frequency and size of your cannabis doses to get relief, then you might be ready to try dabbing.\n\nRELATED: [WHY DO SOME PATIENTS DAB MARIJUANA?](https://www.hellomd.com/health-wellness/5a4fd8fc100a820006562f52/why-do-some-patients-dab-medical-marijuana)\n\nBesides providing access to a higher concentration of cannabinoids, people also argue that dabbing is healthy because at lower temperatures it’s akin to vaping. That said, dabbing can become dangerous when temperatures on a dab rig are set too high. In that case, you’re combusting the cannabis instead of vaporizing it. And as we all know, smoking cannabis does expose you to carcinogens and other unhealthy compounds. \n\nAs Mike describes, “There are over 400 compounds of interest in cannabis. When you light those on fire, it turns into more than 4,000 compounds. And many of those actually have negative health consequences.” Among these compounds are:\n\n* Carbon monoxide\n* Cyanides \n* Carcinogens\n\nThese dangerous compounds can compromise your immune system, trigger inflammation and affect many other tissues throughout your body.\n\nPatients who are consuming cannabis for therapeutic value will want to take as proactive an approach as possible to choosing a healthy marijuana consumption method. And this is where Guild Extracts advocates the following ways to consume cannabis:\n\n* Vaporization\n* Dabbing\n* Vape cartridges, provided you know the source of the oils and other ingredients\n\n### Patients Use Isolated Cannabinoids to Treat Various Health Conditions\n\nOne of the biggest benefits of Guild Extracts’ unique product offerings is the ability to target specific symptoms with isolates like crystalline cannabidiol (CBD) and raw THCA. Patients who are eager to further their cannabis health education come to Guild when they’re seeking out specific cannabinoids. \n\nMost of Guild’s customers are cancer patients as well as folks seeking relief from chronic pain and inflammation. “We’re seeing a lot of older people,” says Mike, “who are treating sleep troubles, appetite issues, chronic pain, inflammation and cancer.”\n\n### The Cannabinoids Reported to Be Effective Cancer Treatments\n\nCBD can be an effective treatment for a variety of conditions including:\n\n* Cancer\n* Epilepsy\n* Pain\n* Mood disorders\n* Multiple sclerosis\n* Muscle spasticity\n\nWith more and more CBD products on the market, it can be challenging to discern what brands are trustworthy. Cancer patients come to Guild as a trusted source of CBD because Guild’s CBD crystalline is 100% pure. This high quality alleviates concerns for patients who use CBD to treat more serious conditions—and whose health would be affected by other ingredients or additives. \n\nCancer patients also look to Guild for its delta-8 tetrahydrocannabinol (delta-8 THC) extract. Delta-8 THC, which is different from the delta-9 THC that people talk about when they say THC, is helpful for cancer patients because, according to the National Cancer Institute (NCI) it has “[anti-emetic, anxiolytic, appetite-stimulating, analgesic and neuroprotective properties](https://www.cancer.gov/publications/dictionaries/cancer-drug/def/delta-8-tetrahydrocannabinol).” Dabbing delta-8 THC can alleviate nausea and pain, and increase appetite, without the paranoia sometimes associated with large doses of THC. \n\n### How Folks Treat Chronic Pain & Inflammation With THCA\n\nAnother group of patients using Guild’s products are those seeking relief from chronic pain and inflammation. These patients gravitate towards the THC products, including the raw THCA powder, which has no psychoactive effects when taken orally. \n\nRELATED: [THE MEDICINAL BENEFITS OF THCA](https://www.hellomd.com/health-wellness/584f78817f091000089c44a4/the-medicinal-benefits-of-thca)\n\nTHCA has been proven to possess powerful anti-inflammatory benefits without the toxicity and negative health consequences of traditional steroid medications. This cannabinoid can be hard to find in a consumable form because [THCA turns into THC when heated](https://www.hellomd.com/health-wellness/5a90bb3ef24d1300077ccb60/how-to-make-the-most-of-non-psychoactive-thca); this means many cannabis consumption methods, such as smoking, vaping or cooking with the plant, automatically turn the THCA into THC. This is one of the reasons why Guild’s 100% pure THCA powder made history when it launched in 2015. \n\n### Guild & the Future of Medical Marijuana\n\nGuild Extracts is pushing the medical marijuana industry into the future with its analytical approach to extraction and focus on patient results. As we continue to learn more about the endocannabinoid system and the effects of different cannabinoids on our bodies, Guild will be a company to watch. \n\nPhoto credit: [Guild Extracts](http://www.guildextracts.com/)\n\nIf you’re new to cannabis and want to learn more, take a look at our [Cannabis 101](https://www.hellomd.com/health-wellness/cannabis-101-your-quick-guide-to-medical-marijuana) post. [HelloMD](https://www.hellomd.com/) can help you get your medical marijuana recommendation; it's easy, private and 100% online.  \n","image":{"childImageSharp":{"fluid":{"base64":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAABQAAAAOCAIAAACgpqunAAAACXBIWXMAAAsTAAALEwEAmpwYAAADYUlEQVQozwFWA6n8ANbItIFYOpNxU4xaM45cNZhxUZJfOXtFHIZNKaVmS3pVOrh+Wp5nSIpXO2E6KUMnGkEpHDIgFisaDykZDADNsZOUXDGVbU6ic0yTYTaYbk2HWDdsPRx8UDOMWEB9WTySXUFpQS5WNyZILB9RLiF6SzU9KxwxJhk2JhYAwKJ/qYRflXhXqJFzmH9juqOFfWtSTUAua1lAZz4pQSgcSTIjNBwURzknTDspSzIkVzwqVEUwQTssNjElAJuFZqGNbq+dfsWxkKuZdrWmipeMdmleSX9vU0Y2JzEmHTooHDQhFzMrIDUvIjkxJDsxIlRELzUtITIsIgCfjW+lkW21on/d1L/e076wooeOgWhZUUI2LyMvKB4wKSBMPSpENydLPiwxKh4tJBsgGhU1LiQ5MCRFPjAAkIRoiHldh3dZi35jrqOOdWdRb2JJQDcqNCsgMy0iOjMmRTsrQTUkMScbIRwXGxgUFxMRNzEmZVdAdGFIAJmPdo2AZmhcRWdaQ15QOIV0WH5xWEE2Jkk8K0A2J1xJMkQ3Jy8oHSIeGB4bFh4bFhwZFDw1KIBtUHJfRQCPgWSqmHWHd1iRf16nlHGJel1IQC9uX0eZh2qah2lmWUE0LyMqJR0gHRcdGhYfHBcdGhZKQC9yY0pMQDAAxrWUyrmXr59+k4NifW9VgXRbt6uQyreXwKd9v6yJhndcJyMZKiYcMSwhMCshLyogLCcdMiwgQTsvLCYeAKKWfLOqkamegq2egce3l97Qs9S7ja92JKRyLqOUdrCdepCBZj84Kj44Kjw2KTw2KTUuJCohHTEpITUsIwC9rpHPv5/YxqXYx6bUxqnCoWSpZgSxbxXBo3HHtpTEso3ItJCRgmc7NCc8Nik7NSciGxlHOS5sWTxKOy0A2smp0sKgz8Gjz7+dvYk4rF8AsnAUrmgDwZ1lyrybxbKOv66KxrSOjX9jPDUoOzUnIBwYNCsiPjEnIhobANHBodDDpc24kLqGM7JqCcKWWcKaWrJvD8auhse3lMSzj7+uir2siMGuioV2XTw1KCcjGxcVERMRDhIPCQDLuJLClkm3dAquZQCwbg62gjKsawS1gCzLu5vItZLCsIzBr4u9rIm6qoe/rIl/clg7NScvKiAjHxgiHhbTBD1gzbnLwAAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","aspectRatio":1.3793103448275863,"src":"/static/6c5903c0128a40f4ba6244e73187f4b0/223a6/46275918f69223d57f016b1fb37a5724.png","srcSet":"/static/6c5903c0128a40f4ba6244e73187f4b0/69585/46275918f69223d57f016b1fb37a5724.png 200w,\n/static/6c5903c0128a40f4ba6244e73187f4b0/497c6/46275918f69223d57f016b1fb37a5724.png 400w,\n/static/6c5903c0128a40f4ba6244e73187f4b0/223a6/46275918f69223d57f016b1fb37a5724.png 544w","srcWebp":"/static/6c5903c0128a40f4ba6244e73187f4b0/c3624/46275918f69223d57f016b1fb37a5724.webp","srcSetWebp":"/static/6c5903c0128a40f4ba6244e73187f4b0/61e93/46275918f69223d57f016b1fb37a5724.webp 200w,\n/static/6c5903c0128a40f4ba6244e73187f4b0/1f5c5/46275918f69223d57f016b1fb37a5724.webp 400w,\n/static/6c5903c0128a40f4ba6244e73187f4b0/c3624/46275918f69223d57f016b1fb37a5724.webp 544w","sizes":"(max-width: 544px) 100vw, 544px"}}}}}]}},"pageContext":{"limit":12,"skip":0,"numPages":6,"currentPage":1,"id":5383,"name":"Industry Spotlight","slug":"industry-spotlight","country":"US"}},"staticQueryHashes":["3949754563","4179947113","4202924991"]}