Science Seeks to Unlock Marijuana’s Secrets
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2015/06/marijuana/sides-text
Terpenes
Choosing and buying your bud
http://www.thecannabist.co/2015/05/07/marijuana-edibles-vs-smoking-pot/34486/
Smoking vs. eating pot — why is the high so different?
Shellene Suemori, director of science and R&D at Dixie Elixirs & Edibles suggests production methods may actually alter the sativa, indica and strain attributes. Suemori says, “Due to many processing techniques, most of the terpenes that people associate with strain-specific attributes are largely lost before the oil is incorporated into an edible. If not lost in processing, many will be lost during the making of the edible (especially if exposed to heat).” …
Suemori describes smoking and vaping effects as having a quick onset, and the overall effects are not as long-lasting as an edible…
As a medical cannabis patient who cannot tell the difference between a sativa, indica or hybrid, it was difficult to choose strains just by these labels. When I was in the program, I was not really interested in the “kind” of high that is described between indica and sativa. I was more interested in the strength of the effect, because so many of my purchases were not strong enough for chronic pain.
For a chronic pain patient, the strength of the plant is important, especially because the medicine is used on a daily basis. If the bud you purchase isn’t strong enough, you’ll end up consuming a lot more each day, which is an expensive way to medicate.
My uneducated guess is that I need at least 20% THC to find the strength I need, but cannabis testing is a very new industry and it’s difficult to trust the labels used by dispensaries. Heck, you can’t even trust the food labels in the grocery stores (the FDA allows for a 20% error rate).
The only way to determine if the medicine will work for you is to try it. Unfortunately, that’s a very expensive way to medicate also, going from dispensary to dispensary, trying strain after strain. I think there is one dispensary in New Mexico that allows patients to try products onsite before purchasing, as long as you have a driver. I don’t have access to a driver, so whenever I’m able to afford to renew in the program, I guess I’m stuck with the expensive ways in choosing and buying my medicine.
Really, it’s a crap shoot no matter where you purchase your bud, as the production of one batch of a good strain doesn’t guarantee the same quality with the next batch. It’s so frustrating (and expensive) to purchase hundreds of dollars of what was a great strain a month ago, but is now just mediocre. And not strong enough for your pain levels.
I spent a lot of money during the year I was in New Mexico’s Medical Cannabis Program, experimenting and searching for the right medicine for me — mostly bud, with a small amount of edibles (I couldn’t afford both). I was successful only about 20% of the time. And now I’m broke (thanks also to Unum), and stuck in a beautiful state with a medical cannabis program for rich people. Is there anyone out there who wants to fund my move to Colorado, where the medicine is more affordable and the quality is better?
In all seriousness, I would love to stay in Albuquerque. I don’t want to move again. But as a chronic pain refugee, there’s only a few states where I can afford medical cannabis, and New Mexico isn’t one of them. An expensive lesson for me, but I hope other pain patients learn from my mistakes.
Don’t Be Fooled
Link found at nationalpainreport.com:
http://www.reunionpn.com/Frequently_Asked_Questions_s/52.htm
Reunion AI is a formulation of eleven therapeutic essential oils, each with specific properties to relieve symptoms. The original Reunion ISR formula contains nine oils…
Because, relief is partially dependent upon the reduction of inflammation, immediate relief may or may not be instantaneous. The user may need to apply Reunion AI several times a day before inflammation reduction is appreciated. Preliminary tests have validated the reduction of inflammation and associated pain…
Actually, massage (during application) — by itself — will reduce inflammation.
From Wikipedia:
An essential oil is a concentrated hydrophobic liquid containing volatile aroma compounds from plants. Essential oils are also known as volatile oils, ethereal oils, aetherolea, or simply as the “oil of” the plant from which they were extracted, such as oil of clove. An oil is “essential” in the sense that it contains the “essence of” the plant’s fragrance—the characteristic fragrance of the plant from which it is derived. Essential oils do not form a distinctive category for any medical, pharmacological, or culinary purpose. They are not essential for health.
Essential oils are generally extracted by distillation, often by using steam. Other processes include expression or solvent extraction. They are used in perfumes, cosmetics, soaps and other products, for flavoring food and drink, and for adding scents to incense and household cleaning products.
Essential oils have been used medicinally in history. Medical applications proposed by those who sell medicinal oils range from skin treatments to remedies for cancer and often are based solely on historical accounts of use of essential oils for these purposes. Claims for the efficacy of medical treatments, and treatment of cancers in particular, are now subject to regulation in most countries…
Interest in essential oils has revived in recent decades with the popularity of aromatherapy, a branch of alternative medicine that claims that essential oils and other aromatic compounds have curative effects…
http://www.bizjournals.com/prnewswire/press_releases/2011/07/12/SF33057
7/12/2011, Neuropathy Treatment Cited for Efficacy, Convenience, Economy
Cited by who?
Intense Spot Relief oil is a formulation of nine tropical oils each selected for its unique benefits and extracted using state of art processes for absolute purity and efficacy. The daily usage products utilize a nano-technology delivery system for encapsulation of the active ingredients and quick transdermal penetration.
I don’t know what a “nano-technology delivery system” is, but please be careful when you buy topical products, as some toxic (and banned) chemicals (like DMSO) are used to make absorption happen quicker. This is from a New Mexican dispensary website (2014):
“We offer 4 different salve formualas working with cannabis in conjunction with a dozen other medicinal pain-relieving anti-inflammatory herbs, DMSO for deep penetration, 4 healing oils and a dozen essential oils.”
http://forum.nmcannabisreview.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=27
Due to the groundswell of 5-Star Customer Reviews, Pure Biomed was asked to participate in PAINWeek 2011. Reunion products are the only botanical pain relief products included in the Conference and are exhibited at the request of Aventineco management. PAINWeek is the National Conference on Pain for the Frontline Practitioner…
How many of those reviews were posted by Pure Biomed?
kdouglass
16 weeks 4 days ago
Chiro.org reports 70% of back operations are NOT successful and leave the patient with considerable pain. Much of that is due to inflammation, pinched nerves, etc.
I suggest you try Reunion AI … a topical pain reliever so you don’t metabolize any meds into your system. Many Chiros are using Reunion AI and several of the Reviews are posted with their names.
http://www.ReunionPN.com
I realize you posted this several years ago, but perhaps recent readers can benefit.
Good Luck!
Karl Douglass, Pres.
Pure Biomed, LLC
kdouglass@purebiomed.com
_____________________
I’m just gonna call it like I see it, and the product being advertised on the National Pain Foundation website appears to be cosmetic in nature. Aromatherapy is great, because things that smell good are, well, great; but it’s not medicine. Take it from me, I use tons of fragrance oils, and they haven’t alleviated any of my pain. Sure, many people use other essential oils derived from plants, not just fragrance oils… and these products may help mild pain, but…
And while I believe that great-smelling terpenes in cannabis have some medicinal effects, which I’ve experienced, I don’t believe the same for fragrance oils. Which is probably one of the reasons why Reunion products are not that expensive.
In other words, purchase at your own risk.
Holy Water
Everyone loves a concentrate that tastes like the original flowers that it was made with. The latest and greatest thing to happen for some discerning patients is known as “live resin” extracts or also coined as “holy water.”
Typically an extract has around 4-5% total terpenoid content, however live resin or holy water extracts are often tested to be 20% total or greater…
See the confiscated weed at the Colorado-Nebraska border
In January of this year, Nebraska authorities booked 23 possession of marijuana cases coming from Colorado…
Oh no! Let’s call in the National Guard! Were these people guilty of anything other than possession? Did they rob a pharmacy? Beat someone up? Get drunk and wreck their car?
And the photo of what’s been confiscated is just, plain, sad.
Sheriff Hayward says most drivers who are caught with weed are pulled over for basic traffic violations like speeding or failing to signal a lane change.
Please, we know the truth about law enforcement and traffic stops, especially close to dispensaries and border towns. How much cash did ya’ll steal from these drivers?
But when he walks up to the vehicle, “the smell is just overwhelming when they roll the window down,” he said.
What you’re smelling, officer, is terpenes. You should try some.
During a recent traffic stop, Sheriff Hayward confiscated four large plastic bags with six pounds of marijuana. The driver, who Hayward said purchased the cannabis from a Colorado dispensary and planned to sell it in Nebraska, was convicted on felony charges.
Another life ruined by the drug war. (Along with the victim’s family and community being adversely affected, too.)
Sheriff Hayward says the profile of drivers caught with pot runs the gamut: teens making weekend runs to Denver; a 67-year-old grandmother; and an Iowan driving with a pound of marijuana and edibles.
Feel proud about putting a grandmother in jail, do you?
And increasingly, these drivers are being found guilty of driving under the influence of drugs, which Sheriff Hayward says is worrisome trend…
A trend, huh? A year after Colorado has legalized, you’ve discovered a trend? Why, have car accidents increased in your neck of the woods, Sheriff? I believe the actual trend is that people are drinking less since legalization, which shows up in the decrease in car accidents in these states. (Legalization also decreases the suicide rate.)
My advice to law enforcement: Let go, dudes, just let it go. You’ve lost the drug war. Leave bud in peace.
1/16/2015, Essential Oils Might Be the New Antibiotics
Their potency isn’t surprising when you consider that the plant compounds that make up essential oils exist in the first place to help plants protect themselves from infection, endure temperature variations, heal from damage, and repel pests. Still, skepticism is likely in a culture like ours that is used to lab-created synthetic medicines (not to mention the bad reputation essential oils may have gained from being frequently touted as miracle cures for everything), even though some of our most important and common pharmaceuticals originated from plants...
Why Maple Syrup Is So Damn Expensive (And So Delicious)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/15/intersting-maple-syrup-facts_n_6471346.html
Around 300 different natural flavor compounds have been found in pure maple syrup. And that’s why imitations will never do. Not all 300 compounds are found in every batch of syrup — it varies in amount between producer and time of year — but nonetheless, maple syrup is one complex flavor.
You can pour maple syrup on snow and EAT IT. It’s called maple taffy and it’s one of the best things that happens in the winter in the North East. Maple taffy is made by boiling maple sap past the point of syrup, but not so long that it becomes maple butter. Then, it’s poured onto snow where it hardens to be eaten.
The person who makes the maple syrup is called a sugarmaker. Not a bad title if you ask us. Native Americans were the first sugarmakers and they taught Europeans the process.
1/24/2012, What the Funk? Terpenes Take off in Labs, Drug Companies, and Dispensaries
Drug companies are researching the therapeutic properties of these simple organic molecules, and at least two California medical cannabis labs have begun testing for their presence in dispensary weed.
9/28/2014, This Curry Spice Might Help the Brain Heal Itself
http://time.com/3442195/this-curry-spice-might-help-the-brain-heal-itself/
Researchers at the Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine in Julich, Germany found that rats injected with aromatic-turmerone, a compound found naturally in turmeric, showed increased activity in parts of the brain associated with nerve cell growth.
7/25/2014, HolyWater… and… Terpene-Rich Cannabis Concentrates
Addison DeMoura, COO of Steep Hill Halent Labs, is a self-proclaimed concentrate lover and has seemingly made it his mission to help improve the community’s knowledge on the topic. As he explains, the aroma from a one-gram container of HolyWater is comparable to that of “a whole bag of weed.”
DeMoura goes on to say that most samples of concentrate clock-in with around 4% percent total terpenoid content. HolyWater, on the other hand, has routinely been tested with 20% terps or more.
As explained to me by Kenneth “K” Morrow, founder of Trichome Technologies, the Handbook of Essential Oils reports that as much of 60% of a plant’s terpene content is lost during the drying process. Compound that with the terpenes that are lost in the midst of your typical extraction and we’re left with just a fraction of the terpenes found in the resin of a live cannabis plant.
All Things Chronic 