This article originally appeared in the March 2018 print issue of Cannabis Business Times. To subscribe, click here.

Despite the remarkable scientific and social progress we’ve seen with cannabis in recent years, the language we use to discuss its vast and varied effects is still stuck in the past. In some ways, this disconnect between common vernacular and scientific discovery is understandable. Cannabis is uniquely complex. It defies the narrow scope of conventional “single compound, single target” pharmacology. Yet the task of resetting the language of cannabis is vital. Learning to analyze, interpret and intelligently discuss this botanical powerhouse will help ensure better experiences for longtime users and newcomers alike.

Farma, a dispensary in Portland, Ore., has proven this process can be done on a small scale. Grounded in the work of the renowned neurologist and cannabis research pioneer Dr. Ethan Russo, Farma is one dispensary paving the way to cannabis curation according to chemical composition rather than plant morphology. By aggregating and analyzing reliable lab data-that is, by focusing on chemotypes rather than folklore and strain names-dispensaries can help guide patients and consumers through a spectrum of effects that more effectively target specific needs and desired experiences.

Sound Data Begets Sound Analysis

The process of analysis begins with ensuring safe access. In Oregon, this means partnering with independent, state-accredited labs capable of testing for more than potency and primary cannabinoid content, but the full spectrum of active compounds. Other states, such as California, are in the process of developing their own testing protocols.

Without solid lab data from the start, we cannot hope to generate reliable resources and experiential predictions that help folks form a lasting, positive relationship with the plant.

Curating with Chemotypes

Not everyone coming through the doors of a dispensary will have had a pleasant experience with cannabis. Maybe this is their first time; maybe they’re gun-shy after an encounter with a strong edible; maybe they’re coming for symptomatic relief without losing clarity and functionality. But that scent! It gets them every time. It is as intoxicating as it is calming, akin to some sort of urban forest bathing experience. Yet that comforting scent belies a surprising truth: the nose knows. And it is one of our greatest tools for understanding how cannabis will interact with our individual endocannabinoid systems. (For this reason, dispensaries would benefit from allowing consumers to smell and examine the product they’re buying. Pre-packaged and sealed flower is antithetical to informed consumer judgment.)

Researchers like Dr. Russo have shown how cannabinoids and those delicious scent compounds, terpenoids, work in tandem to create, mitigate and modulate our individual responses to cannabis consumption. This is commonly known as the “Entourage Effect.” This poly-pharmaceutical phenomenon suggests that the way we experience cannabis is dictated not by the plant’s morphology (indica or sativa) or even one or two isolated compounds, but through a myriad of molecules working in conjunction with one another.

To read the full article in Cannabis Business Times'  March 2018 issue, click here.

Top courtesy of Hemp Press

A recreational marijuana industry in San Luis Obispo is one vote away from becoming a reality.

On March 29, the SLO Planning Commission signed off on a set of draft cannabis regulations that allow for up to three recreational storefront dispensaries, 70,000 total square feet of indoor commercial cultivation, and a variety of other cannabis industry activities within city limits.

If given the green light by the City Council on May 1, SLO would become the first city in the county—and the only city between Salinas and Santa Barbara, other than Lompoc—to allow the establishment of recreational brick-and-mortar stores since California voters passed Proposition 64.

Hopeful cannabis businesses could then apply to the city for permits starting July 1.

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Trulieve, one of the original licensed providers of medical marijuana in Florida, is challenging the constitutionality of a 2017 state law that places "arbitrary" caps on how many retail outlets each company can have across the state.

The statute, which limits medical marijuana treatment centers to 25 dispensaries each statewide, are unfair to licensees that submitted business plans before the law changed, the lawsuit argues. The cap on dispensaries expires April 1, 2020, and has the sole purpose of suppressing competition among the treatment centers, the lawsuit contends.

Furthermore, the caps were added long after the state awarded licenses to applicants that had already submitted business plans that included the number of dispensaries they planned to open around the state.

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Josephine County is suing the state over Oregon’s laws allowing recreational and medical cannabis.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Medford, is an attempt by one of the state’s largest marijuana-producing counties to win power to regulate cannabis production as it struggles with limited public safety resources. But the case could have far wider implications.

The county is essentially asking a federal judge to delegitimize Oregon’s cannabis laws—two ballot measures approved by voters and regulatory legislation passed by state lawmakers—because they conflict with stricter federal drug laws.

The federal government regulates marijuana through the Controlled Substance Act, which lists cannabis as a schedule 1 drug and thus illegal to possess, distribute or grow. 

A spokeswoman for Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum, who is named as a defendant in the suit, says her office is still reviewing the lawsuit and won’t comment on pending litigation. But the attorney general’s office says Rosenblum “will defend the state laws of Oregon related to legal marijuana.”

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Read the lawsuit here:

Josephine County v. State of Oregon by sandydocs on Scribd

Top Image: © Alexey Novikov | Adobe Stock