Medical cannabis is used to address a host of illnesses and ailments, from depression to chronic pain. Different strains are used to address specific ailments … Blue Dream can replace OxyContin and harmful opioids to treat chronic pain. OG Kush weed can help mitigate social anxiety. Bubba Kush is ideal for insomnia. Most patients smoke individual strains to experience full medical benefits. Referred to as the entourage effect is the synergistic effect of all cannabis compounds interacting together. Smoking itself is harmful and dosing is inconsistent. There’s a stigma attached to smoking, smoking cannabis in particular, given its skunky characteristics. Many patients ingest cannabis through edibles – cookies / brownies with cannabis baked in. Edibles make up 12.5% of the total cannabis market … demand is expected to grow by 25% annually. Unfortunately, the process that converts cannabis into an edible form causes loss of much of what makes the strains unique and hence, medicinal properties. Most edibles sold in dispensaries are typically THC/CBD only. This means from a medical standpoint if you switch from smoking Bubba Kush to treat insomnia to eating Bubba Kush edibles, it may not work. The entourage effect of the Bubba Kush strain, needed to properly treat insomnia is not present in the edible. The traditional method of making edibles uses heat to activate and infuse into oil. This method hasn’t changed in decades. The problem is heat gets rid of the hundreds of molecules that make each strain unique … Instead of a medicinal solution, the process leaves the patient with a THC/CBD only product, one-size-fits-all. That’s the problem Harvest Direct Enterprises and their LACY, a one-of-a-kind, patent-pending device, solves. LACY stands for Lossless Activation Chamber Y. As the title suggests, the process doesn’t lose any molecules that make each strain unique … it preserves unique properties of individual strains. LACY uses proprietary technology … activates and infuses … Harvest Direct does what no one else in the cannabis industry can, produce a pill that captures the full profile of the strain, not just THC or CBD. Harvest Direct was founded in 2016 by Zeyead and Ahmed Gharib. After analysing strains of cannabis and edible recipes working for a I-502 cannabis testing lab, the brothers realised activation of cannabinoids and infusion into an organic medium like oil were the only vital steps. Heat was unnecessary. “You are using a nuclear bomb where an assassin is needed” says Zeyead. Thus … specific qualities of each strain could be preserved. They embarked on development of LACY. The company’s goal is to replace many pharmaceuticals in your medicine cabinet with natural substances in pill form that preserve the healing qualities of each strain. Harvest Direct is licensing LACY to qualified companies who wish to produce their very own strain-specific edibles / products
Don’t get mad at the messenger, but let me address a few things about what you wrote that I think are egregious.
Nobody can say what varieties work for what condition. That is complete fertilizer.
For instance, we could both have a headache and we can both take aspirin and while your headache may go away, mine might not, because we have different reactions to different chemicals. So while Bubba Kush may work to give you an appetite, tt may just give me the giggles. Currently, science is nowhere near knowledgeable enough to tell which “ensemble” of cannabinoids and terpenes will have which effect.
Also, I am close friends with Dr. Lester Grinspoon of Harvard, he wrote both Marihuana Reconsidered and Marihuana: The Forbidden Medicine, you can see him interviewed in both of our documentaries, The Union: The Business Behind Getting High & The Culture High. He schooled me on the incorrect use of the term “entourage” when used to describe the synergistic effects of the various cannabinoids and terpenes. Lester pointed out that “Entourage”, has but one definition:
en·tou·rage /ˌänto͝oˈräZH/ noun
- a group of people attending or surrounding an important person.
“an entourage of bodyguards”
He feels that because this terminology was developed in Israel, that there was a miss in translation, and that what they what they were really trying to describe was an ensemble effect:
en·sem·ble /änˈsämbəl/ noun
2. 2. a group of items viewed as a whole rather than individually.
As Lester pointed out to me, “One tuba does not make a symphony”. And what people are really trying to describe is not some THC rockstar surrounded by useless hangers-on, but more like a symphony, where the terpenes along with THC, CBD, CBG and so forth, all play an important role, and a role that we are only just beginning to learn about.
And no, this is so wrong: “Harvest Direct does what no one else in the cannabis industry can, produce a pill that captures the full profile of the strain, not just THC or CBD.”
You have to know that we all can do that. I have been doing it at home for over 20 years without heat and common seed oil.
Sieved resin powder dissolves in various common oils at room temp - try it. There is your whole plant profile, cannabinoids and terpenes in total.
And I hope you realize the usefulness of both THCA and THC, as heated cannabinoids play a vital role in healing, as sometimes it is very comforting to feel the euphoric effects of cannabis during intense pain or nausea, and then again, sometimes it’s nice to be able to get through your day without the euphoric distraction of wanting to smell every flower you walk by, and THCA when eaten, can have a beneficial physiological effect, without the psychological effect that sometimes distracts us from getting things done.
And really? Hundreds of chemicals that are lost when you heat up cannabis? Do you mean cannabinoids or terpenes or both? As that sounds like marketing BS more than science. I would like to see that list of lost chemicals.
Also, are you familiar with 11-Hydroxy-THC? If not, it is produced when THC passes through your liver and is called in science, the “first pass” effect. Dr. Mahmoud ElSohly estimates that the 11-Hydroxy-THC molecule is 2 to 5 times more psychoactive than THC. And If I remember correctly from what I’ve read, the THC has to be heated in order for it to have the full effect of turning into 11 hydroxy. Science is just learning the effects 11-Hydroxy-THC has on people; which could be sometimes why a brownie works, and sometimes why a brownie doesn’t work.
I would also loose the quote about “assassin is needed”: as in marketing you paint a picture with words, and when selling something for health you don’t want the next to last line the reader reads to be negative. Using a metaphor containing a nuclear bomb and an assassin is horrible, and it’s so far off the point of what you’re trying to describe, which Is something that is healing and helpful, and my suggestion would be to come up with about a metaphor.
This was from a website. thats why i posted this. it didnt sit right with me. idk seems a little off.
source: https://www.ozhemp.rocks/best-of-social-media/16-facebook/13260-facebook-id-94315569790-10156366003434791
I am so glad that you had nothing to do with any of that nonsense.
What were your thoughts on it?
I mean Todd you are such a huge asset here. You litterly covered most if not all of it. Im not big on these type of productions. So it was all a little strange sounding. I know a few things. But this just didnt make sense to me.
I totally appreciate you saying that and I wish I had more time to spend commenting in the forum.
One thing I will say is that it pains me to see so much intentional disinformation being circulated by the new cannabis industry in hopes of marketing their BS.
For a long time all the movement was really about was one thing: the truth about cannabis.
The problem is. It wasnt the advocates, protesters, medical. None of that brought us here. The mighty dollar did. Soon growers like myself will be outlaws yet omce again. After big cannabis strips away every ounce and grower not under thier umbrella. For years i begged people to not push the legal button. The writting was on the wall so to speak. Look at where we were say thirty years ago. Things didnt look so good. However we had a better community. Looking forward things look far worse. Maybe its just my perspective, but not all good things are good.
I could not disagree with you more wholeheartedly. There were good and bad players going all the way back in the cannabis community for all too long.
I spent 5 of the last 20 years in a Federal prison cell for simply growing cannabis and you could not be more wrong about how things were better during prohibition, and that we should not have pushed the “legal button” as you put it.
To put it politely, I don’t give a pile of fertilizer for how your profits have dropped or your ability to stay some lone producer making money, in the face of people getting out of prison and getting access to a medicine that can help so many more than just the few brave people who used to grow 30 years ago.
The truth is that the only thing that brought us here has been the advocates, protesters and medical patients who had nothing to lose speaking up and out. As for sure it was not the greedy growers who wanted to protect their imaginary idyllic community, and keep the price of organic raw cannabis artificially high so that they could continue their lifestyle making money, only because it was illegal.
30 years ago an ounce of kind bud cannabis cost more than an ounce of gold on a Dead lot. An ounce of cannabis takes me under three months to go from clone to harvest, and it takes mother nature how long to make an ounce of gold? That kind of ridiculous price juxtaposition is a result of cannabis being illegal, not the worth of the flower, and it sure did nothing to help put cannabis in the hands of the poor who certainly could have used it.
The two reasons that I was an activist and potentially working to put myself out of business as a grower, was to get the powers that be to stop locking up people for cannabis, and to get it into the hands of the people who need it; which is everybody. As no one on this planet today is walking the earth without an endocannabinoid system.
Todd your not the pnly person who has been locked up for weed. Please understand you arent unique. In fact i still have certain states i cant come with in three hundred miles of. None of the voices made a difference in the end The Cash is all that was heard. Not you, not me, not any of us. If you dont see that im sorry. The war is far from over. Some battles are still bieng fought for causes already lost. You have your perspective on your life. I have mine. i dont think we are that far off. maybe you chose to not see certain things. Are we better off now that we can “legally” grow. Millions and millions everyday going into the hands of people who already had it. This Culture has been stripped away. He husk of culture has been transformed into this quasi legal world. There is good and bad people for sure. Just make sure you know who you are. Because at the end of the day im not blind or selectivly seeing what i want. The picture is pretty clear. In thirty years from now where do you see this going? Free weed for all? No legal growing? People umable to afford meds? Personally i hope the feds come in and start dropping pounds at 20 bucks. crushing the black market, and taking dispensaries with it. This is unlikely as the dollar calls the shots. lets not forget that.
Ever wonder why I don’t live in the south any more.
I agree about the corruption of profits over principals, as that is what bugs me about the people who grow and profit off cannabis, yet do not want to see a legal market. The dollar ruled prohibition as it is legalization, plenty of big companies pooled their resources to keep guys like us criminals. I do not see it much different now, as look at the lobbying some LP’s are doing in Canada against home growers. It’s disheartening to say the least.
I am not sure where you are, but in California we have legal personal grow laws, you don’t even need make up some medical excuse, you can be perfectly healthy and happy and still legally grow the ganja, it ain’t worth much anymore, but you can legally grow and possess it. I see that right only growing more liberal as more people come to understand the many benefits that cannabis plays in their entire being.
I agree the fight is far from over, but I feel we have different goals: you want what? High prices to justify small yields? No competition from your fellow neighbor who can easily grow as much or more than you? Some kinda prohibition to keep the profit margins high? That’s not building a community brother, that’s just keeping the few brave souls who do grow in a lucrative business with limited competition, in fact, I would pool the small growers in with the LP’s when it comes to not wanting competition and home-grow legalization.
I simply want the freedom to grow my own cannabis and experiment with different genetics. I want to see cannabis sold for only a couple times it’s true cost of production so that everyone can experience the benefits as have I. I really do not care that the cannabis I still grow is no longer worth more than gold.
I know a CA farm that is licensed and legally selling organically grown (yet not organically certified) high CBD whole plant material by the pound for $25.- ea., (500 lb min) and in my opinion, nothing will get cannabinoids into the hands of more people than realistic prices.
And you are 100% right, I am by far not the only person who has been locked up, been arrested or otherwise harassed over cannabis. Which is really the whole point of legalization. I see legalization as protecting the minorities who have had cannabis laws used against them for decades, and I don’t feel bad for the majority of small growers who can now legally grow it, but can’t make any money off of growing it. Nobody promised them prohibition era profits in a legal environment.
Not pushing the legal button for so long was ruining lives, allowing bigoted cops to selectively prosecute, detain or otherwise harass your fellow community members, over a flower.
That harrassment and oppression that many of us endured, does not help or strengthen your cannabis community my friend.
Todd you know i live in LA. I have been born and raised in this state. Aswell in this community. While you were doing time. i was facing 99 years. Ive seen my family and friends lose everything. Through all of this im still true to my roots.
Everything I do in terms of cannabis is in my view for the right reason. While you might consider us being miles apart. When we spoke on the phone I told you I believe we feel the same way.
Im not a huge fan of Cash Croppers. My grows are small and yes high quality. Growing this plant isnt the end all of my existance. Its a huge part considering I have more time with cannabis then without. Thirty years to be exact. So I do understand a thing or two. I am not against competion. Nor am I for profit. In fact and you know this. im pretty generous with everything I have. I hate the money aspect of the biz. I do understand that it is part of it. I dont really sell my weed. I grow so i dont pay someone else. I grow so I know what in it. I grpw because I love it.
Todd I appologize if i have offended you in any way. Much like a diamond this life has many facets. You opinion matter to me. I value the experience you share with us. Just because your vision (Might) differ from mine. I still believe we have the same vision and values.
At the end of the day my moral compass is clear. I look at myself everyday and Im good with what i see.
Much love to you brother, I look forward to us smoking together in 2019!
Tom,
This is what good small growers do. They share. Even big growers need to relearn sharing. Sharing is caring. Corny but true.
The best breeders I knew, where rarely in it for the money. They breed new plants because they wanted something in there garden that they didn’t have.
David Von Gause grew bamboo and only made enough money to cover his costs. He gave away a lot of bamboo to friends. You know when a grower gives you a plant you say. “I will not say thank you, but nice plant. Should be fun to grow”
New growers would be given a Myers Lemon tree for there greenhouse by the other greenhouse owners as a welcome gift. It was kind of a professional tradition. The new grower would have finger food and drinks for everyone. It was a big celibration.
Bodger seed would give me seed for new verities each year as trials for my grow. We order all our sweet pea seed from them. We had about 1 twentith of our sweet pea in New winter verities. Some would make it into the following year’s production.
Happy new year
From the voices in my head.
Ethan.
I watched Murder Mountain lasr night. and it reaffirms my actions and beliefs. Sometimes getting everything you want is a bad idea. Maybe just maybe we were better off in prohibition. The Greed is strong now. Stronger then ever. Thats why i do what i do. My personal business. has never turned a profit. I have always funded my projects. Aswell as others projects. As for Humbodlt. I am there very often. And the Humboldt I knew and love Is also long long gone. The quality of the product is down. And the people claiming it as theirs are just laughable wannabes. Possibly I will return to a place i should have always been. My mother in her wisdom. Gave me up, and sent me away. She didnt want this life for me. However it was too late. Nowadays i supply genetics to the region. If you hear of any Aftangistani up there. it came from my lab. I truly wish things were different. I do. But it isnt. We are who we are.
Tom,
I will have to watch, just added to my Netflix Queue.
I promise to give away anything I learn for free. Knowledge is power and should be freely available.
From the voices in my head
Ethan
It was a great watch. and shows a lot of things people dont want you to know.
You coming down next month yeah?