A conversation today with John Friess the co-founder and CEO of Metolius Hemp Company, helping people improve their life with hemp-based products, a study has found that cannabis consumers are more empathetic than most and a story on helping ease chronic pain with cannabis. On Cultivar Corner we taste a delightful innovation from Simply Bare the double layer - Layer J pre-roll. All of that plus a chuckle or two.
A conversation today with John Friess the co-founder and CEO of Metolius Hemp Company, helping people improve their life with hemp-based products, a study has found that cannabis consumers are more empathetic than most and a story on helping ease chronic pain with cannabis. On Cultivar Corner we taste a delightful innovation from Simply Bare the double layer - Layer J pre-roll. All of that plus a chuckle or two.
Cannabis helps with chronic pain
00;00;01;22 - 00;00;04;16
Ian
From the studio high above the clouds of the Okanagan Valley.
00;00;04;16 - 00;00;06;14
Ian
This is the Cannabis Potcast.
00;00;09;01 - 00;00;10;13
Ian
Exploring the world of Canadian.
00;00;10;13 - 00;00;15;02
Ian
Cannabis culture. One toke at a time.
00;00;15;02 - 00;00;18;26
Ian
Now here's your host and budtender, Gary Johnston.
00;00;19;15 - 00;00;46;19
Gary Johnston
Let me welcome you back to the Cannabis Potcast or maybe this is your very first visit. If it is, well, an especially warm welcome for you. Ahead, 30 or 40 minutes filled with information about the plant that I happen to have a passion for, and that would be cannabis. May be why you came along for the visit. Let me remind you before we get started that this program is intended only for those 19 or older in your jurisdiction and is intended purely for entertainment and perhaps educational purposes.
00;00;47;04 - 00;01;12;29
Gary Johnston
You should always consume your cannabis responsibly. A conversation today with John Freese, the co-founder and CEO of Mattioli is Hemp Company Helping People Improve Their Lives with hemp based products. A study has found that cannabis consumers are more empathetic than most and a story on helping ease chronic pain with cannabis. On Cultivar Korner, we taste a delightful innovation from simply bare the two layer layer jay pre-roll.
00;01;13;05 - 00;01;37;03
Gary Johnston
All of that plus a chuckle or two on Episode 136 of the Cannabis Potcast. And before we get too far along, let me thank you for being a listener. I truly appreciate the fact that you're here. I also want to thank my supporters at Buy Me a Coffee Dcoms Cannabis Potcast. Thanks, Kevin and Jordana. If you feel so inclined and you like what you hear, you also can go there and buy me a doobie.
00;01;37;21 - 00;01;59;14
Gary Johnston
Also, thanks to my patrons at Patreon, Tony and Roger. Plus, with ad free episode access, Rob, engage and let me say goodbye and thanks for his support as well to Justin. Now let's get to our first story and for that, I thank my buddy David Wiley because we are going to the outdoorsy people who use cannabis are more empathetic study find.
00;01;59;14 - 00;02;31;20
Gary Johnston
Those of us who regularly use cannabis show signs of a heightened understanding of other people's emotions, also known as being more empathetic. A new study published in the Journal of Neuroscience Research says regular cannabis users are smarter at emotional intelligence than those who aren't commonly referred to as I.Q. emotional quotient or emotional intelligence. Researchers from Mexico say their study shows cannabis users have greater connectivity within a part of the brain, mainly responsible for empathy.
00;02;32;23 - 00;03;00;03
Gary Johnston
We found that cannabis users have a greater emotional comprehension, a cognitive empathy trait involving the understanding of the other emotional state, says the study. Researchers wrote that the findings are significant because cannabis use has generally been associated with negative mental health and behavioral outcomes. This study, on the other hand, is part of a growing body of evidence that shows cannabis helps people be in tune with the emotions of others.
00;03;00;24 - 00;03;34;10
Gary Johnston
Furthermore, say researchers, the anterior cingulate, a region generally affected by cannabis use and related to empathy, had stronger functional connectivity with brain regions related to sensing the emotional state of others within one's own body. These findings highlight positive effects of cannabis on interpersonal relationships and potential therapeutic applications. It builds on other research that found cannabis users are less verbally hostile and they have greater empathetic predisposition to other situations compared to non-users.
00;03;35;16 - 00;04;02;01
Gary Johnston
This latest study compared psychometric scores of empathy subscales between a group of 85 regular cannabis users and a group of 51 non consumers. Researchers suggest cannabis users brains have a greater connectivity between the anterior cingulate and the bilateral somatic motor cortex, which could be the reason for the IQ. Overall, the study says it's a good reason to continue looking into the connection between cannabis and empathy.
00;04;02;21 - 00;04;30;09
Gary Johnston
Given previous studies of the effect of cannabis on mood and emotional detection. We believe that these results contribute to open a pathway to study further. The clinical applications of the positive effect of cannabis or cannabis components could have in effect and social interactions, says the study. We believe that the difference is shown by regular cannabis users in the emotional comprehension scores and their brain functional connectivity could be related to the use of cannabis.
00;04;30;29 - 00;04;45;28
Gary Johnston
However, we could not describe that such differences were present before the user started their use of cannabis. And again, thanks to David Wiley from the outside dossier for that story, and we always knew that cannabis users are more empathetic. Don't you agree?
00;04;47;10 - 00;04;51;12
Ian
From the cannabis infused studio in the Clouds, this is the Cannabis Potcast.
00;04;51;19 - 00;05;08;27
Gary Johnston
We spend a lot of time on the Cannabis Potcasts talking about cannabis. We have not spent a lot of time on the Cannabis Potcast talking about hemp, and that of course, is the other side of cannabis. But we're going to have some conversation about hemp today. With me today is John Friess. John is the CEO and the co-founder of Materials Hemp.
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Gary Johnston
John, welcome to the Cannabis Potcast.
00;05;11;20 - 00;05;15;08
John Friess
Thanks for having me, Gary. First off, I love the name of the podcast.
00;05;15;14 - 00;05;32;29
Gary Johnston
There's a story behind that, and I'm glad I chose it because I think it was the right, right move. Absolutely. So let's talk about you a bit, John. So now you're with me totally as hemp, which I'm going to suggest the focus is on hemp. Yes. Did you start your cannabis journey with hemp or did you start it with with cannabis?
00;05;33;14 - 00;06;00;20
John Friess
With hemp? We began here in central Oregon. We're located in Bend, Oregon. Farming almost six years ago, Gary. And so like many, we sort of follow the green rush. And my cousin actually had gotten a land lease to grow some industrial hemp on a friend's farm. We started with one farm next year, went to and then eventually up to seven farms.
00;06;01;20 - 00;06;14;14
John Friess
And our peak year we had 84 acres on those seven farms and produced about two and a half million dollars worth of CBD and CBG flower. But that's where we started about five and half years ago.
00;06;14;20 - 00;06;22;27
Gary Johnston
You mentioned both CBD and CBG. So give me a sense, John, of where you started, why you started, and how all has got to where you are today.
00;06;23;03 - 00;06;51;14
John Friess
Yeah, so we were farming for those, those three seasons, Gary, and as you probably well know, what was the product that you were developing back then was either flower or biomass. And the flower, you know, ultimately baked in and cured and trimmed, was sold to brokers and wholesalers who would then distribute the flower all throughout the country and in states where they were distributing CBD predominantly.
00;06;51;14 - 00;07;18;29
John Friess
Or you would grind up the plant and sell biomass which would often be utilized to produce crude oil or distill it or isolate. And it was a decent business to be in if there weren't so many shysters involved. And so what we came to find was that about 50 to 60% of the revenue we generated through contract with the wholesale of our flower and biomass never came through.
00;07;19;24 - 00;07;42;01
John Friess
And so, for example, in that last year we did about 2.4 million in flower and biomass sales. We collected on about 1.3 million of it. And at that point, myself and the co-founders of Matola sat down and said, Hey, I think we could go direct to consumer with the plant based medicine that is inherently all throughout the industrial hemp plant.
00;07;42;19 - 00;08;04;05
John Friess
And we could produce products that not only serve the needs of consumers, but that no longer put us in a position of being sort of taken advantage of and all of a sudden we had to produce dramatically less product off of the farm, and we could start making products that we thought would service the various health needs of consumers throughout the country.
00;08;04;05 - 00;08;31;12
John Friess
So we stopped farming. We continue to farm, but we stopped farming at scale and ratchet it down to one farm and just started growing about four acres a year. And we use that, that CBD, CBG, CBD, all of the various strains we produce. And we started making pre-rolls and then categories and contracts and then eventually producing crude oil and distillate and sort of producing our, our non smokable products as well.
00;08;31;20 - 00;08;37;27
Gary Johnston
Very cool. I, I'm intrigued about the the CBG. So you have been growing CBG for for how long now?
00;08;38;12 - 00;09;08;06
John Friess
We've been growing CBG for four plus years. We were fortunate because we were one of 11 farms in the United States that had a one year head start on all of their farms with specific form of genetics from CBD seed company called Oregon CBD, which is considered one of the preeminent genetics genetics companies in the country. And so we got the CBG seeds a year before anybody else and it made a humongous difference.
00;09;08;17 - 00;09;31;10
John Friess
It's an unbelievable version of the cannabis plant. I think as most of your listeners may know, when a plant is planted, specifically cannabis, it always starts out as CBG and then as the plant matures, right, it converts into CBD, THC and all the other cannabinoids. This particular set of genetics grows to be a very sort of stringy looking, almost.
00;09;31;10 - 00;09;56;15
John Friess
I mean, it's somewhat full. But plant and what's interesting about it is there's almost no oil in the flower. And so this particular strain was called Snow White or just white. And what it was, was is super crystallized flowers of almost no oil. And when we took it to third party testing for labs, you would truly get non detect levels of THC very, very low levels of CBD and very, very high levels of CBG.
00;09;57;10 - 00;10;22;08
John Friess
And for those that don't know CBD or they what they call the STEM cell cannabinoid or mother cannabinoid has two primary purposes. One, it tends to clean out the receptors throughout the human body that the endocannabinoid system communicates through and to it. It looks to increase bioavailability or receipt of all forms of cannabinoids. So we use it to do two things.
00;10;22;08 - 00;10;45;22
John Friess
One is help people keep their endocannabinoid system sort of more cleansed. And two, to increase the efficacy of all of our products that have CBD or CBN or any other cannabinoids in them. So it's a pretty, pretty amazing cannabinoid CBG. And there's no question we get a ton of questions about it at all the events we do and on our site and from our customers and distributors.
00;10;46;01 - 00;11;06;10
Gary Johnston
Yeah, I bet. And as you say, the mother of all cannabinoids and that's a really good description of the value of CBG that you provide, cleaning out the receptors and allowing it to be more fluid to receive all the other cannabinoids. I'm going to share that with my staff, but people can get together and that was an excellent description.
00;11;06;10 - 00;11;21;06
Gary Johnston
John So let's talk about metallurgy. So you have a a whole line of products. I'm assuming that because we are CBD, CBG and CBN and all those other cannabinoids related, that these are things that are going to help people improve their lives, correct?
00;11;21;27 - 00;11;54;16
John Friess
Correct. Yeah, we have we have an approach, Gary, that we've taken since day one. And our vision was what we call the exit act and exit to to to reduce or remove or leave. And then PACT is an acronym we use. And the PACT and that stands for exiting pharmaceutical drugs, alcohol, caffeine and tobacco. And so every single product we've produced has the driver behind it to help you reduce or replace, again, pharmaceutical drugs, alcohol, caffeine or tobacco.
00;11;55;00 - 00;12;14;17
John Friess
So every time we produce a product and bring it to market and do R&D, we say, okay, is this going to reduce or replace an existing vise or an existing modality that people are using to deal with predominantly the symptoms of a particular condition? And can we can we match it? And so we start with the exit pact.
00;12;15;04 - 00;12;39;10
John Friess
Those are the four categories we're trying to provide plant based medicine as alternatives in. And then we try to do three things, Gary, to make it really work for the consumer. Now, first and foremost, we match the form factor. So our contracts being a perfect example, they look exactly like Cigarets, but they only have two organic ingredients CBD and CBG flower and they come in packs of ten or 20, and so they match the form factor.
00;12;39;10 - 00;12;59;21
John Friess
So when you toke one of our contracts versus smoke a cigaret, you're having the same overall experience and the ritual and the habit feels very consistent. It's similar to what you're used to. Number two, we try to match the price, and so we know it's difficult for consumers to have behavioral change if something is going to be more costly for them.
00;13;00;04 - 00;13;17;07
John Friess
So all of our products are our direct to consumer. We have subscriptions on all of our products. And so you can actually get our contracts for about the same price as you can get a pack of American spirit. So number two is we match the price. And then number three is we try and have the exact opposite health impact.
00;13;17;07 - 00;13;47;01
John Friess
And so our contracts versus a cigaret again two organic ingredients. As you know, there are five primary ways in which cannabis has been proven in studies over the last about 35 years to have the five main properties of being anti-cancer, whether that be angiogenesis, hip hop, topic, etc. and so what you've got is in comparison to a cigaret that has 260 to 270 chemicals and additives, the vast majority of which are carcinogen.
00;13;47;01 - 00;13;55;09
John Friess
And we just want to say the opposite health impact. So those are a big three match, the form factor, match the price and then have the exact opposite health impact.
00;13;55;11 - 00;14;12;00
Gary Johnston
Very cool. And I'm taking a look at your website. And as you were talking about the tobacco replacement and you've you say you've matched the form factor and you've matched the form factor on your packaging as well. I see. They, they look like a little pack of cigarets. Yes, that's really cool what you're doing, John. So let's talk a some of the other pieces.
00;14;12;00 - 00;14;27;17
Gary Johnston
So if there's one thing, if there's one question I get asked multiple times a day in our store, it's I need help with sleep. Can you help me with my sleep? What kind of things are you doing? It mentally is to to help with that.
00;14;27;26 - 00;15;03;27
John Friess
Yes. So we it's great question, Gary. We get that a lot as well. I mean, it's one of the big three, right? It's it's sleep anxiety and pain are the big three we hear and so asleep. We've launched a product with a pretty unbelievable and notable individual, Dr. Nicole Upwelling, and she is a world renowned author. TV celebrity was on the TV show alone for two seasons and is has been producing tinctures for nearly a decade now under the brand, Dr. Nicole's Apothecary.
00;15;03;27 - 00;15;25;19
John Friess
And she is very, very successful with that business. And she has been studying plant based medicine and herbal medicine and has published a number of books on it as well. And so she is a close personal friend and we were able to collaborate with her and we just launched our product called River Source, which is a series of natural botanicals as well as CBD and CBG.
00;15;25;19 - 00;15;55;15
John Friess
And it is just an unbelievable formulation that is in tincture format that leverages her existing sleep tincture and then adds in the cannabinoids of CBD and CBG. I will just add this because I think it's poignant for your listeners now. When we initially launched this product just last month in October of or excuse me, September of of 2023, what we ended up having, Gary, was a version that was CBD, CBG and CBN, plus all of the botanicals and herbs that were in the sleep tincture.
00;15;55;15 - 00;16;20;09
John Friess
In Oregon. Like many states, CBD, MN has now been prohibited for us to sell as an industrial hemp company. So they call it a chemically derived cannabinoid meaning, right? That whether utilize CO2 or some other extraction process, they feel as though that the level of CBN it is in the industrial hemp plant is not high enough that you would naturally be able to extract it.
00;16;20;09 - 00;16;50;04
John Friess
So in Oregon and in many states they only allow recreational cannabis companies to now manufacture and distribute CBN. So for the last three years we've had a CBN sleep powder that was a mix of CBD, CBN and magnesium, and it was our second bestseller as a company. So we've been selling a sleep solution for three years. It was our second bestseller and truly on October 30th, actually, we had to remove all of our CBM products from our site just recently and fortunately we were launching this new product.
00;16;50;04 - 00;17;08;20
John Friess
So we're hopeful with time we can bring it back because CBN's and Unbelief viable cannabinoid especially for sleep but what we've initial feedback is the efficacy of our of our what we call river source sleep tincture is as good if not better than what we used to call our river dream sleep powder. So it's just been an interesting process.
00;17;08;20 - 00;17;10;20
John Friess
Yeah, that, that's what we have.
00;17;10;20 - 00;17;24;08
Gary Johnston
And as you mentioned as well, pain is another thing that we are always getting requests for some help to relieve their pain, that chronic pain that so many people are dealing with. And I see on your site you've got a number of our roller states which are becoming more popular as well.
00;17;24;15 - 00;17;53;13
John Friess
Yeah, many of our products, if I'm completely transparent, have been these unbelievable collaborations. The one I mentioned with Dr. Nikola Pelion a minute ago, the pain roller in pain sick and pain lotion we have is in collaboration with an amazing company here in Oregon that it's it's about a ten year old recipe and it has CBD and CBD from our flower triple extracted with no chemicals as the base oil set.
00;17;53;13 - 00;18;15;29
John Friess
And then you've got avocado oil and they're got global oil in their comfrey camp for arnica it's it's just it's got a myriad of elements in it. And so that's one of our big things too, is cannabis, we believe is the most medicinally rich plant on on planet Earth. I think the only thing that could even potentially compete with it would be would be all forms of fungi.
00;18;16;22 - 00;18;35;26
John Friess
But with that being stated, I think the overall impact, because the endocannabinoid system is in the body of every mammal and the only way to augment it is with cannabinoids that are in about 25 plants on planet Earth, but they're not available at that level and at that density. They are in cannabis. But because of that, we think that's the starting point.
00;18;35;26 - 00;18;57;25
John Friess
But if you can add in other herbs, other oils, other botanicals as well as mushrooms, which we try to do in all of our products, make them premium and enhance, add in every proven, scientifically backed, peer reviewed, additional plant based solution to augment the product. We think that's why they are so effective for our customers. It's not just cannabis.
00;18;57;25 - 00;19;03;08
John Friess
So CBD, CBG, all of them are amazing, but there are a number of other plants out there that can only make them better.
00;19;03;22 - 00;19;17;21
Gary Johnston
I'm judging by the picture that you also offer some support for our dogs specifically, and that's another request we often get. And there's just a few products that I think we're appropriate for, for serving to your pets, is that correct? Yeah.
00;19;17;26 - 00;19;40;27
John Friess
Yeah. We at this point, we've got two tinctures specific for specifically designed for for dogs and cats. And we are looking to augment that line with perhaps some treats as well. But that has become one of our top five sellers. And as you well know, Gary, A, people sometimes tend to spend more on the well-being of their pets than they do themselves, and especially with with quality of life.
00;19;40;27 - 00;20;03;25
John Friess
I think what's kind of amazing is us as humans will walk around and all of a sudden we've got a little bit of a limp, we've got some back pain, or all of a sudden our cognition is decreased or whatever our anxiety has increased, and we'll sort of tackle it when it gets to be overwhelming. Whereas we find with with the family members that are four legged, people are willing to make moves early on and improve the quality of life for them.
00;20;03;25 - 00;20;25;16
John Friess
And that's where I think it's undeniable when you when you talk to humans and people say, oh, that's a placebo effect, or maybe this must be something else that's that's improving their anxiety or decreasing their pain or improving their sleep. But when you provide an animal with a tincture and you see the results same day, often within minutes, it's undeniable they can't fake the placebo effect.
00;20;25;16 - 00;20;29;05
John Friess
And that's what I think is so beautiful about providing solutions to pets.
00;20;29;21 - 00;20;46;07
Gary Johnston
Yeah, absolutely. And that's a very good point. It's hard for a dog to fake the fact that that they feel real good. Some good stuff. No, I'm curious, John, just from a personal perspective, running this hemp company from Notorious, do you consume cannabis at all yourself?
00;20;47;01 - 00;21;33;11
John Friess
Oh, yes, absolutely. Every single day. And so, you know, for me, I think, like a lot of people, was a big recreational cannabis user, you know, in college and the years after and then completely went away from it for about 15 years. And then the real precursor, Gary, for reentry, if you will, and to cannabis both on the recreational side as well as the non recreational side was we, we have an autistic son and started doing research into what Professor Rafael had been doing in Israel for, for many, many years, which was studying the obviously he's the godfather of cannabis and discovering the endocannabinoid system and THC and CBD and all the likes.
00;21;33;11 - 00;22;00;13
John Friess
But Israel is as a nation and most sort of leniency in regards to studying cannabis. And the most peer reviewed studies have been done there in the most clinical trials have been done there. And with our son having autism, we were looking into CBD tincture as a solution for him at the time he was approximately seven years old and what we found was that it was effective for him probably.
00;22;00;13 - 00;22;20;05
John Friess
I would argue it was about a 30% improvement in overall mood behavior and sleep patterns improving. But what we had to do, like many parents, have to do is, you know, sort of get over that stigma and then next find a way to deliver it. For him in particular, like many kids on the spectrum, a relatively limited diet and is only willing to eat certain things.
00;22;20;12 - 00;22;40;11
John Friess
So we would mix it in with his cream cheese and then place it on on on a bagel, for example. And with time, we tried to get him to utilize tincture that had better flavors as flavors improve. But we also ultimately wanted really, really efficacious tincture that was directly produced from the plant. So that was actually the impetus for us launching those dips.
00;22;40;11 - 00;23;05;16
John Friess
That product was actually invented for my son, and so he was taking a product called Calm that you may be familiar with. It's a magnesium drink that a lot of kids on the spectrum take. It's it's it increases the level of magnesium available in their system, which has been proven to improve mood, decrease anxiety and improved sleep. And he was taking it as a mixed drink, but he wouldn't always finish it.
00;23;06;11 - 00;23;23;08
John Friess
And, you know, you have to make it for him. And if he wasn't thirsty. And so I was like, Huh, you won't keep the tincture under his tongue. He won't always drink this drink. I wonder if we can put it in something that he would just place in his mouth. And even if he just chewed on it or left it in there for a second, we would get sublingual or buckle absorption.
00;23;23;08 - 00;23;47;03
John Friess
And so the true story is went and bought some nicotine pouches, cut them open, blew them out with compressed air, filled them up with magnesium and CBD, isolate and a little bit of citric nitrate flavor it from like an emergency pack that the flavored vitamin packs and then reheat sealed it and I took it and I was like this tastes pretty amazing.
00;23;47;03 - 00;24;03;03
John Friess
And you know, whether you put it under your tongue or threw it in between your cheek and your gums, you felt the impact within 5 to 10 minutes. And then I handed him one and he took it and he left it in his cheek for a second. And then a little bit longer, he's like, Oh, it's bubbling, it's bubbling.
00;24;03;03 - 00;24;25;21
John Friess
And then he would chew on it regardless. That was getting 100 milligrams of CBD, either via sublingual or buckle absorption, which is exponentially better than the bioavailability of eating something that's an adjustable. And obviously he's not smoking. But that was the driver. Sorry I went off on a tangent there, but that was a driver for that particular product and it has become our best selling.
00;24;25;21 - 00;24;27;28
John Friess
There's families all over the country that use it for their kids.
00;24;29;03 - 00;24;42;28
Gary Johnston
Well, that was it was a I'm glad you went off on a tangent. It was a nice story. So thanks for sharing that, John. And since the Cannabis Potcast is headquartered in Canada, do you have any, any plans to to move your way up north?
00;24;43;17 - 00;25;16;05
John Friess
We would love to. We've been in discussions for the last about two and a half years with various opportunities to export product to either the EU as well as to South America. They have not come to fruition as of yet. Our hope is that obviously, as you're probably aware in your listeners are aware, industrial hemp is legal in the United States on a federal level and recreational cannabis is legal on a state by state basis.
00;25;16;05 - 00;25;48;12
John Friess
But our hope is that internationally the markets open up because I do think like any other realm of of supplementation or if you will, plant based medicine, you and I can garner supplements from Europe, Australia, etc., Japan that we can order and receive at our home, especially if they're unique and differentiated and the prime source. So I'll give a great example, Sheila, as yet, which has become, I think, relatively popular over the last year or so as a product that wasn't available in the United States until recently.
00;25;48;12 - 00;26;08;13
John Friess
And Sheila, it has now become mainstream in the United States. It's you know, this is a product that was out of Asia, that it's been used for centuries or millennia as an additive to hot water that has all these minerals and vitamins. You're seeing this now the same thing with CMOs. Not that CMOs wasn't available in the United States, but it wasn't prevalent.
00;26;09;01 - 00;26;29;12
John Friess
And so we're hopeful that the laws open up and that will be able to help people all over the world with their products. There's no question customers have have purchased our products in the United States and taken to them internationally, which is often fine for them to do because they do not have levels of THC that would be prohibitive in their countries that they're flying to.
00;26;29;12 - 00;26;47;21
John Friess
But they'll often ask us for the loft and ask us for a copy of our license and sometimes even a certificate of analysis on the product in case, say, you know, because our sleep powder in particular, if you're flying from here to South America and you've got a big jar of white powder, might have some paperwork.
00;26;47;21 - 00;26;54;22
Gary Johnston
Associated with it that will raise any eyebrows.
00;26;54;22 - 00;26;57;01
John Friess
It's got a label on the outside, I'm sure.
00;26;57;27 - 00;27;10;23
Gary Johnston
Well, great story, John. They told me this is it sounds like you're thriving and in all 50 states and who knows, maybe eventually we'll be able to get your products in Canada. Any last words for the listeners? The Cannabis Potcast today?
00;27;10;23 - 00;27;32;02
John Friess
John I just want to say thanks for what you do. Gary I think it's individuals like yourself that is building awareness around the plant and its impact on all of its forms and just appreciate you have an US on here. If people want to check us out, obviously they can check out material sent on any search engine and we would love to serve anybody that's dealing with something they haven't found a solution for yet.
00;27;32;14 - 00;27;43;05
John Friess
We're just going to keep driving forward until this becomes as mainstream as well, hopefully more mainstream than a lot of the over-the-counter drugs that are out there today. So just appreciate you and appreciate you having us on.
00;27;43;06 - 00;27;47;16
Gary Johnston
Well, thanks very much, John. I really appreciate your comments, your thoughts and enjoy the rest of your night.
00;27;47;26 - 00;27;52;23
John Friess
Too, Gary. Thank you, sir.
00;27;52;23 - 00;28;18;06
Gary Johnston
And we are heading to Enigma dot com for our next story. And this is a story that I know affects a lot of people. And a lot of people have questions about it. Can cannabis help with chronic pain? I myself have experienced some support and some success with cannabis for my chronic pain. But here's the story written by glib oleinik chronic pain is the most common reason people turn to medical marijuana.
00;28;18;19 - 00;28;50;21
Gary Johnston
According to a 2019 study, two thirds of medical cannabis patients in the US listed pain as their qualifying condition. Thanks to the lifting of cannabis prohibitions and advances in medical research, we now have a solid body of clinical evidence that medical marijuana preparations work for various types of chronic pain. Many of those medical studies demonstrate that cannabis is an effective treatment for chronic pain from cancer, neuropathy, fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis, arthritis, migraine and others.
00;28;51;19 - 00;29;16;12
Gary Johnston
That research is welcome news for sufferers of for several reasons. Firstly, chronic pain conditions don't always respond to standard treatment. Secondly, marijuana has less serious side effects than many prescription pain medications, including a much lower risk of addiction and almost zero risk of fatal overdose. Scientists and doctors only really started to understand how cannabis interacts with the human body in the 1990s.
00;29;17;10 - 00;29;42;23
Gary Johnston
It was then that researchers discovered that cannabinoids chemical compounds like THC and CBD found in the cannabis plant are also produced naturally by the human body. Soon thereafter, scientists mapped out an entire system of receptors in the body the endocannabinoid system that reacts only to cannabinoids but those produced by the plant, fatal cannabinoids and those produced by the body endocannabinoid.
00;29;43;22 - 00;30;14;09
Gary Johnston
In the years since, medical researchers discovered that the endocannabinoid system plays a major role in regulating key functions of the body, including mood, metabolism, learning and memory, sleep immunity and pain. Today, we know that the endocannabinoid system receptors are involved in regulating two of the major types of pain and how our bodies perceive them. Those deceptive pain caused by actual harm to the body, such as the burn and neuropathic pain caused by damage to nerves that relay pain signals.
00;30;14;26 - 00;30;38;04
Gary Johnston
Endocannabinoid receptors have been discovered in various parts of the peripheral and central nervous system and in almost every aspect of the pain pathway. Other endocannabinoid receptors have been found to play a role in reducing and regulating inflammatory pain. Dozens of studies have been conducted on how and whether cannabis in cannabinoids is an effective treatment for pain, including chronic pain.
00;30;38;04 - 00;31;05;13
Gary Johnston
2015 A systematic review of 28. Such studies concluded that there was moderate quality evidence to support the use of cannabinoids in the treatment of chronic pain. A 2010 study on cancer pain that wasn't responding to regular opioid medications found that a treatment which combined CBD and THC resulted in a significant reduction of pain. In that study, 43% of subjects reported a 30% or greater improvement.
00;31;06;05 - 00;31;37;13
Gary Johnston
This is an especially notable finding because it indicates that drugs containing multiple cannabinoids may be more effective than isolated active ingredients. Another highly cited study from 2008 examining the effects of smoking cannabis for neuropathic pain, found that using resulted in significant pain relief. A 26 study by British researchers examining the effects of Sativex, a cannabis based drug, found that it led to significant improvement on pain associated with rheumatoid arthritis.
00;31;37;13 - 00;32;04;02
Gary Johnston
Another highly cited study from 2008 examined the effect of NAB alone, a THC based drug on fibromyalgia patients. It found that the treatment resulted in significant improvement in pain and quality of life. A 2016 study looked at the benefits of medical cannabis in people with various kinds of treatment resistant chronic pain. Researchers found that marijuana not only reduced pain, but also significantly reduced the use of prescription opioid medications.
00;32;05;04 - 00;32;32;17
Gary Johnston
Another 2016 study looked at the use of medically prescribed cannabis in patients with chronic migraine headaches. Over 85% of the patients reported having fewer migraines per month, on average of 10.4 down to 4.6. In conclusion, more clinical trials should still be done, but there is solid scientific evidence that cannabis is effective in the treatment of chronic pain. Its low side effect profile makes it an attractive option.
00;32;33;18 - 00;33;02;08
Gary Johnston
While cannabis has been found to be ineffective treatment option for chronic pain, especially in cases that don't respond to conventional medicine, it's not without downsides. Most notably THC, one of the active therapeutic ingredients is psychotropic and can lead to cognitive side effects such as impaired memory, anxiety and euphoria. It can also trigger psychosis in some individuals. CBD rich preparations such as CBD oil, however, are not intoxicating.
00;33;03;06 - 00;33;33;10
Gary Johnston
Cannabis based treatments can also cause other side effects, including drowsiness, fatigue, dry mouth and changes in appetite. All and all. However, these side effects are minor and marijuana is a remarkably safe substance, especially when compared to the pharmaceutical drugs normally prescribed to treat pain. There have been no verified cases of death caused by cannabis. When considering the use of cannabis for chronic pain or any other medical condition, it's important to consult with your doctor before initiating any therapy.
00;33;33;20 - 00;33;41;06
Gary Johnston
And there again a story from Comicbook.com that cannabis can indeed help with chronic pain. And I hope that helps you.
00;33;41;09 - 00;33;54;07
Ian
To see CBD giving proof of what's in me. Oh please explain to me. Go to the cover to cover.
00;33;54;07 - 00;33;57;06
Speaker 3
Oh yeah. Go to the counter.
00;33;57;06 - 00;33;59;27
Ian
Please explain this stuff to me.
00;34;01;21 - 00;34;29;13
Gary Johnston
Over the course of time of doing cultivar corner, I have expressed concerns about Pre-Rolls simply for the cost involved with them, and I'm kind of throwing that out the window today because I'm doing a cultivar corner on simply Bayer's layer. J Now talk about innovation in the industry. This is really innovative. So innovative that I have to be honest.
00;34;29;26 - 00;34;51;17
Gary Johnston
I did give this a try and when I tried it the first time, I couldn't get it to fire. I lit the joint like I lay all my joints and I just couldn't get any draw out of it. Really frustrated, but had a chat with Shawn at Simply Beer and with Jen, the rep who serves us for Simply Beer.
00;34;52;05 - 00;35;17;23
Gary Johnston
And they gave me some instructions which I didn't realize I ever needed for, but I did. And I have to admit that having their instructions, it was a whole lot better experience. So what we're doing today is the simply beer layer. J Now, what's so innovative about this? Well, first of all, I probably shouldn't be doing this by myself because this is a big fat weight.
00;35;18;09 - 00;35;43;28
Gary Johnston
It's a gram and a half. So I suspect that could be a little loaded by the time I'm done today. And I may, in fact, have to do this in two parts so that I can get through both parts of the joint. So I say both parts of the joint. What the heck does he mean? Well, he means that the layer j is literally that the bottom layer of this 1.4 to 1.5 gram joint is C organic.
00;35;43;28 - 00;36;16;16
Gary Johnston
Cleopatra, flour and hash. And the lineage for Cleopatra is Julius Caesar and Triple Burger. And on top of that, the very first thing I'm going to smoke in this big fat joint is B.C. organic white rainbow flour and hash rosin. And that was the problem with me getting it going. So in order to do the Layer J properly, you got to give it a nice bit of flame at the end and let it heat up and let it glow before you even start drawing.
00;36;16;16 - 00;36;35;22
Gary Johnston
And that was the mistake I made. So I've got the flame at the end of my layer. J She's a firing up. I'm just going to let that burn for a little bit. Get nice and hot to the rosin, starts to heat up and starts to flow. And then the trick is, once you've got all that heat, nice, tiny little.
00;36;38;13 - 00;36;38;24
Gary Johnston
Chance.
00;36;41;15 - 00;37;16;02
Gary Johnston
To get it going and then you can do a full on and there we go. Oh, and what a lovely taste. So the first layer here is the white rainbow flour and hash rosin. Oh, I got it going nicely. Now that is really key. Getting that front part really, really hot before you even start to draw and then take a couple of nice even draws and then you're into a full born take as much toke as you want.
00;37;16;26 - 00;37;52;03
Gary Johnston
Oh, the taste delicious that flour makes with the hash wasn't. Oh, my goodness sakes. And as I try to do with Cultivar Corner, this is the first one of a day. And after a couple of those little hits, I've already got some happiness going on. I got some euphoria happening. I got a little head high opinion of yes.
00;37;52;03 - 00;38;17;19
Gary Johnston
Now, as I expressed before we began, this is a big mother of a joint and I suspected me as a single individual might have trouble smoking the entire thing in one setting. So we may find that this cult of our corner is split into two parts so that I get that transition down into the bottom half. But we'll see.
00;38;17;19 - 00;38;46;08
Gary Johnston
Oh, really nice taste. Just love in that taste. So this would be a really good party. This would be a good one to share with a bunch of friends. If you are into sharing joints like we once did, those nasty years of COVID might have stopped a few people from sharing joint, but this would definitely be one you could share because it's big enough, it's fat enough.
00;38;46;22 - 00;39;13;00
Gary Johnston
Now let's talk a little bit about simply beer and their approach to Pre-Rolls. So their approach to Pre-Rolls is pretty simple. They take their pre-rolls from the same raw nugs that packaged in the jars. They start by grinding the logs to a fine consistency and then they screen and remove the twigs and stems. They load the mix into pre-rolled hemp paper cones, then shake things up in a machine to help settle the mixture and remove air pockets.
00;39;13;19 - 00;39;30;02
Gary Johnston
Then they are finished by hand. Once the joints are field and weighed, the team gently taps down the contents of each one to make sure each is neither too tight or too loose. And finally, the joints make it down the line to where two of our experts twist the tips and cut off any excess paper to create the perfect joint.
00;39;30;13 - 00;39;49;27
Gary Johnston
And I got to say, it's packed pretty well. My layer, Jay The issues for me, being able to draw it were not that it was packed too tight. It was that I didn't start it with the proper amount of heat. And now that I have cheese, a nice smooth joint.
00;39;49;27 - 00;39;50;06
Gary Johnston
Hmm.
00;39;51;16 - 00;40;13;02
Gary Johnston
So I'm in my top layer, which, as we've already described as B.S. Organic White Rainbow with some hash rosin. Now, I have given you the details, the other details of what's in here. My total THC is sitting at 35.4%. And that's why we had rosin to weed, isn't it, to get those. Oh, my goodness sakes. I'm just getting blasted here.
00;40;13;24 - 00;40;34;18
Gary Johnston
And then the total terpenes are sitting at 2.87%. Now on the package, there isn't a breakdown of the terpenes. And that was, if I have a little bit of a disappointment, is that I go to these simply bare site and I see nothing above the layer. J So I can't get you any more details other than what I can find from one of our retail sites.
00;40;34;18 - 00;40;58;04
Gary Johnston
And this is from okay cannabis. And their description is the simply bare layer. J is a new infused pre-roll. Two cultivars collide in this pre-roll where the bottom is filled with milled whole flower and hash of one cultivar. Well, the top is filled with the rosin and built whole flower of another. They're hand-selected each cultivar to create a smoke that melt in your mouth.
00;40;58;04 - 00;41;20;01
Gary Johnston
That's an interesting term, and I guess I'm going to agree with that term right now. My goodness, I am just getting zipped here and I'm still just in the first layer. It hasn't found its way into that transition point yet. It looks to me like I probably got about another interview on the joint really well rolled, nicely packed.
00;41;20;13 - 00;41;38;09
Gary Johnston
Not too tight, not too loose. Nothing's falling out on me. I find sometimes with these big joints that that big piece of hot burning ember can fall out of the joint if you're not careful that it hasn't happened to me so far. Oh, yeah.
00;41;38;09 - 00;41;38;16
Gary Johnston
It's.
00;41;38;29 - 00;42;13;24
Gary Johnston
Really, really nice. Oh, and have I ever told you I just love being high? Well, I need to express that thought again, because here I am. It's another day, another cultivar quarter and more high for Gary. So because I'm fairly deep into this cultivar. Oh, my goodness. Oh, hi. Just keeps getting better. Nice little rush down my back at that point.
00;42;14;03 - 00;42;38;15
Gary Johnston
This is the top layer. This is still the white rainbow and hash rosin of white rainbow. It's really a nice surprise, but I think just simply due to time and the fact that I don't want my cultivar cornered to be 35 minutes long, I am going to do part two. Okay. I messed it up the first time. I got it the second time.
00;42;38;22 - 00;43;06;04
Gary Johnston
The layer j from simply bear really enjoying the first half and I'll be back soon to talk about the bottom half. All right. It's back in flame. And I believe we are approaching the transition area of my layer j I had to put it out. I just got super, super high, which is never a bad thing when you're smoking a joint and that's your goal.
00;43;06;04 - 00;43;49;26
Gary Johnston
So as I say, I think I'm close to moving into the second half of this layered joint. Moving into the bottom layer, I'm probably about a quarter inch away from it, so I'm still dealing with the white rainbow and hash rosin, really nice and tasty, really smooth. Now, will it be a distinctive change that I will notice? I hope so.
00;43;49;26 - 00;43;57;14
Gary Johnston
I think I'm into that space now.
00;43;57;14 - 00;43;57;21
Gary Johnston
Oh.
00;43;58;23 - 00;44;04;02
Gary Johnston
Still really smooth, still delightful taste.
00;44;04;02 - 00;44;11;24
Gary Johnston
Mm hmm.
00;44;11;24 - 00;44;34;00
Gary Johnston
Okay. So now less of the hash rosin. I can kind of feel that when I can't feel a place since it. And now we are moving into the c organic Cleopatra and.
00;44;34;00 - 00;44;34;16
Gary Johnston
Hash.
00;44;35;05 - 00;45;16;16
Gary Johnston
Made from Cleopatra. Yeah, very, very smooth. Really, really enjoying this. And based on the taste, I think I have made the transition a very smooth transition. It was at this point I'm getting a little bit uneven burn on my joint. I got one section that's kind of sticking out and I'm wondering if that may be where the hashes or the hash was and was.
00;45;17;11 - 00;45;24;28
Gary Johnston
I don't know. Hard to say. A nice grayish on that, though.
00;45;24;28 - 00;45;25;16
Gary Johnston
Oh, wow.
00;45;27;13 - 00;45;42;09
Gary Johnston
This weed is really good. I'm just into it now. And once again, I am high.
00;45;43;03 - 00;45;45;21
Gary Johnston
Mm hmm.
00;45;45;21 - 00;45;57;10
Gary Johnston
Very, very high. I must say. Oh, yeah. Nice and smooth. I love the taste of both ends of this.
00;45;58;06 - 00;46;03;21
Gary Johnston
Mm hmm.
00;46;03;21 - 00;46;28;27
Gary Johnston
And right now, I am just euphoric. Got my happy eyes feeling really good, feeling really positive. And I still probably got about a third of the joint to go. So, like I did before, I think I may put this out and utilize it later because I don't need any more now. So if you're looking for a real treat and as I say, I probably shouldn't have smoked this by myself, this should be something you do with a group of people.
00;46;28;27 - 00;46;51;00
Gary Johnston
It's a one and a half grams of the layered j. The top half is again white rainbow flour with hash and the bottom half. No, sorry. That's the nice top layer. And the bottom layer is Cleopatra flour with hash. And as you can probably tell, I'm a little bit stoned the layer J from simply bare.
00;46;51;18 - 00;46;52;20
Gary Johnston
Mm mm mm.
00;46;53;06 - 00;47;18;23
Gary Johnston
Delicious. And again when I am want to after the cannabinoids have been rolling around in my endocannabinoid system I am really really I really really enjoying this it's really giving me a buzz. It's kind of a smiley high I got going right now, really enjoying the energy from Simply Bear. It's amazing the innovation that's happening in this industry, sharing stories about.
00;47;18;23 - 00;47;24;02
Ian
Good weed while trying good weed. This is the Cannabis Potcast.
00;47;24;23 - 00;47;48;03
Gary Johnston
And where I thank you once again for being a listener. I truly appreciate the fact that you're here. And I was given some thought this week that I don't really have a good close to the podcast. So I thought I'd change that and come up with something that is repeatable. I can kind of do every episode, and I thought it'd be interesting to finish with a chuckle, which is something we've been doing at the store lately, putting up various weed jokes and quotes.
00;47;48;23 - 00;48;12;00
Gary Johnston
And so here is how we're going to finish off Episode 136. What's the difference between alcohol and cannabis? Well, alcohol, five guys get drunk, they're likely to start a fight. Cannabis, five guys get stoned. More likely to start a band. And that is episode 136 of the Cannabis Potcast from the cannabis.
00;48;12;00 - 00;48;12;17
Ian
Infused.
00;48;12;17 - 00;48;21;14
Ian
Studio high above the Okanagan Valley. This was the Cannabis Potcast.