a chew with 25 mg of THC would need to be divided into 1/8s for marijuana microdosing

If Toking Makes You Choke, Try Edible Marijuana Options

Not everyone likes to smoke cannabis. The act of smoking—taking an irritating substance into delicate lung tissue is one of the more unhealthy aspects of marijuana use. It also makes it difficult for physicians to embrace marijuana as medicine. People with asthma or other lung issues are sensitive to any kind of smoke and smoking is problematic for children who need cannabis medicine. So, when the Bureau of Medical Marijuana Regulation threatened to close Michigan’s dispensaries earlier this fall, people were alarmed.

Michigan’s caregiver model, falls short when it comes to highly targeted patient needs. Not all caregivers have the ability to grow multiple strains or to create non-smokable products that meet the needs of patients. At present, there are over six times more patients than caregivers in our state—38,000 caregivers and 218,000 patients.

The availability of a variety of cannabis products is vital to patients in Michigan. Whether it is topical ointments and creams, edible marijuana, tinctures, capsules, vaporized concentrates and other items that aren’t smoked, patients need choices.

Just like any other medication, marijuana comes in different potencies, strains, and methods of ingestion. It takes experimentation to get the medicine to work right.

a candy bar with THCEdibles marijuana or “medibles” are a popular option for cannabis patients, they tend to be a bit less expensive than flower and the effects are longer-lasting. They can be easily dosed, too. The packaging on these products provides the THC potency and that’s where experimentation begins. It’s important to keep two things in mind if you are testing an edible for the first time—a little goes a long way and it takes time to affect your system.

Before you TRY EDIBLE marijuana, read the label and do your math.

Novice nibblers need to look at something around 5 mg, so if you have 100 mg THC potency bar, cut it into 20 pieces. This isn’t always easy, and there is the temptation to eat a little more. Who eats 1/10 of a brownie? Resist the temptation—too much marijuana will make you feel odd, heavy or fluttery in the chest all the way down to your legs and perhaps you’ll have a hard time focusing with an overactive mind.  Eating too much won’t kill you, but it might give you a couch-locked experience (as in, you can’t get off of the couch). It also might negatively affect your opinion and ideas about cannabis, so don’t go there if you are just starting out. 

an edible marijuana chocolate with 125 mg of THC
There’s 120 mg of THC in this little chocolate bar.

If you’ve been smoking or vaping marijuana regularly, try something in the 10-15 mg range. Again, you’ll need to do some math, and we suggest using a calculator to save yourself from too much or using too little.  This lovely mint chocolate (right) has 120 mg in an ounce, which if you are shooting for a 15 mg dose, you’ll need to cut it into 1/8s.  

edible marijuana in a chew with 25 mg of THC
One inch, 25 mg of THC

For the chew (above) you’d need to cut it in 1/3s or in half for this mid-range dose. 

If you’re a long time card holder (yay, you) then know how to dose. You’re probably a 25 mg to 40 mg user, so you’ll get a nice size bite of the Magic Bar (below) with 165 mg of THC, you’ll eat about 1/4 of this tasty treat. 

edible marijuana from the detroit fudge company
There’s 165 mg of THC in the Magic Bar. We cut it into 12ths.

Edibles take longer to kick in, sometimes an hour or more, so resist the temptation to have another bite, no matter how tasty the treat. They last longer too—up to eight hours—depending on your metabolism and body structure. With practice and correct dosing, they’re great for long-haul activities like a hike, bike ride or even a long airline flight.

If you don’t like thinking about this when you’re ready to say goodbye to pain or anxiety, cut up your edible up in advance and repackage it for the future.

Microdosing is another way of dosing your cannabis medicine. Many patients have had success with small doses—5 mg of a product can give people help with their anxiety, create a sense of well-being or help with relaxation. With a tiny dose, the psychoactive aspect cannabis is diminished, but not completely gone away.

thankful graphic because we are thankful for cannabis legalization in Michigan

This Thanksgiving: Ten Things to be Thankful For if You’re Into Cannabis

 

Happy Thanksgiving week, friends! As you think about all the things in your life that you’re thankful for, here are ten cannabis-related nuggets to add to your list.

  1.     If you live in Michigan, join us in giving thanks that the MI Legalize petition drive was successful. It will still be a few months, maybe more, to see if Michigan’s adult-use marijuana legalization measure makes it to the ballot in 2018. When polled at the beginning of 2017, a majority of Michigan voters were in favor of ending prohibition.
  2.     More broadly across the country, in 2016 the Gallup polling organization, which has been asking Americans about marijuana legalization since 1969, reported its highest favorability number ever—60 percent of Americans are interested in seeing marijuana legalized. It compares these views to same-sex marriage before legalization.
  3.     Citizens of California and Nevada approved recreational adult-use marijuana legalization during the 2017 election.  If the saying is true, “as California goes, so goes the nation” then the rest of the U.S. isn’t far behind.  At present 29 states and Washington DC have marijuana-use laws on the books and more are following the lead of the Golden State.
  4.     Justin Trudeau made recreational adult-use marijuana legal in Canada. About a year and a half after he took office, the Canadian a plate of poutinePrime Minister made good on a campaign promise to legalize cannabis. The law takes effect in July 2018. We expect to see poutine sales to soar, too!
  5. It’s hard to believe that Colorado has had adult-use legalization for five years now, and it seems like everything is pretty much ok. Use of marijuana by young people didn’t increase, arrests are down (unless you are a person of color), traffic fatalities didn’t increase nor did violent crime, opioid use declined, and communities used marijuana tax revenue to improve schools and build healthier communities.
  6.     The American Legion is pushing the federal government to remove marijuana from a Schedule I drug. They’re seeing great progress in helping veterans with PTSD and traumatic brain injuries with medical cannabis. They’re advocating for more research and allowing VA physicians to discuss the plant with their patients.
  7.     Keeping close attention to public opinion in the state and nationally, five Michigan gubernatorial candidates are pro-cannabis.  At a recent candidate forum, four Democrats and one Republican voiced support for legalization. Dr. Abdul El-Sayed said, “This has become a civil rights issue,” referring to statistics showing criminal enforcement has had a greater negative impact on low-income people and communities of color. “We have an opportunity here in Michigan to rethink marijuana,” he added.
  8.     Michigan medical marijuana patients were threatened and then protected from dispensary closures. In a crazy move, two members of the Michigan Medical Marijuana Facilities Licensing Board suggested the closure of all operating dispensaries in September. The dispensaries were operating in Michigan’s gray area of the law until new licenses could be handed out in December. This move would have left thousands of patients without medicine. Thanks to a bi-partisan group of state legislators and public pressure the board members backed off and dispensaries have (mostly) remained open.
  9.     Orrin Hatch, an 83-year old Mormon Republican Senator came out for medical marijuana with a dozen or so puns. All joking aside, he introduced a bill that would remove restrictions on marijuana research. He was moved to do so because of a friend who suffers from severe seizures.
  10. Forward-looking women are taking significant leadership roles in cannabis. Women make up roughly 36 percent of the leaders in the cannabis industry, including 63 percent of top management positions, according to Marijuana Business Daily. When compared to the rest of American businesses, this is significant.  Women hold just 5 percent of the CEO positions and 25 percent of the leadership roles. Because the industry is so young, traditional barriers to entry don’t exist.

Enjoy your Thanksgiving, and don’t forget all the great cannabis-infused recipes available! Here’s a few from our friends at Leafly.

 

Marijuana is NOT a Gateway Drug. Period.

Cannabis isn’t a Gateway to Other Drugs.

Throughout the 60s, 70s, 80s and even now, people have used the phrase, “Marijuana is a gateway drug.” Meaning that using cannabis will lead to other drugs like cocaine, LSD and heroin. This is unsubstantiated and based on conjecture, anecdotal stories and myths, not facts.

While some people do go onto other drugs after using cannabis; so do people who abuse alcohol or use tobacco. The National Institute on Drug Abuse, a government agency concludes, “An alternative to the gateway drug hypothesis is that people who are more vulnerable to drug-taking are simply more likely to start with readily available substances such as marijuana, tobacco, or alcohol, and their subsequent social interactions with others who use drugs increases their chances of trying a collection of cannabis stickersother drugs.”

In the 1940s—there was a report from the La Guardia Committee and the New York Academy of Medicine, which questioned cannabis prohibition. The committee found marijuana not physically addictive, not a gateway drug and that it did not lead to crime. Further, The Shafer Commission, another government agency determined in 1972 that cannabis was as safe as alcohol, and suggested an end to prohibition.

These are Gateways.

There are a number of factors that we know lead to drug use and cannabis isn’t one of them. History and research tell us that poverty and poor social conditions; access to people who have hard drugs to sell; as well as some types of mental illness lead to drug use. Cannabis prohibition and its criminalization lead to more other addictive substances than does marijuana use alone.

This is an Exit.

Research recently conducted at the University of British Columbia suggests that marijuana is one medicine that can help people ease off of opioids and other highly addictive substances. There are other studies that indicate this as well, including one in June 2017 at the University of California at Berkley, where 2,897 patients were surveyed and of the sample, 97 percent “strongly agreed/agreed” that they are able to decrease the amount of opioids they consume when they also use cannabis. With opioid overdose deaths on the increase (59,000 in 2016), it only makes sense for patients to manage their pain with medical marijuana, which according to the DEA and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime hasn’t been used to the point of death.

Perhaps, it is prudent to think of cannabis as an exit, not an entry point.

image of marijuana which is part of any new marijuana business

How Marijuana Prohibition Came to Be

GEE, ThankS, Richard Nixon

As much as we love science, we love history and the history of cannabis’ complete federal prohibition is quite new. Listing of cannabis as a Schedule I Drug was a 1972 political action from Richard Nixon who, among other things found the resistance to his policies and the Vietnam War, especially from people of color, women and young people, to be so galling that he thought the best way to fight back was to take away something people enjoyed. In brief, this is how marijuana became illegal.

When Congress passed the Controlled Substances Act in 1970, it temporarily made marijuana a Schedule I substance an illegal drug with no approved medical purposes. It also acknowledged there was not enough information about marijuana to permanently keep it as Schedule I, they created a presidential commission to conduct research and make recommendations.

A Political Plan Gone Bad

President Nixon had some fairly strong opinions about the evils of marijuana. He believed that if he could appoint a commission with all the right people, he could prove the dangers of the plant and upend his opposition. Nixon appointed a Republican, Raymond Shafer, the former conservative Governor of Pennsylvania, as chair. The rest of the commission was stacked with law and order personalities from local, state and federal positions.

The Shafer Commission didn’t slack on its task. It created fifty research projects, conducted public polling; interviewed law enforcement and criminal justice experts and took reams of testimony. It still stands as the most comprehensive report ever written about cannabis.

The Truth Comes Out

The commission found that marijuana did not cause crime or aggression, nor did it lead to harder drug use or create significant mental or physical health issues. “Marihuana’s relative potential for harm to the vast majority of individual users and its actual impact on society does not justify a social policy designed to seek out and firmly punish those who use it.”

And it favored complete marijuana decriminalization.

A furious Nixon denounced the commission, shelved the report and made a permanent place for cannabis as a Schedule I substance.

Recently, John Ehrlichman (Nixon’s domestic policy chief) spoke to Harper’s magazine. “We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or blacks, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin. And then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.”

image of marijuana which is part of any new marijuana business

Legalization 101: Marijuana is Medicine

Across the state of Michigan, petitions are circulating for adult-use marijuana and we know that having a persuasive argument and accurate information about the plant are critical to success. Presenting facts, data and stories are necessary for moving people from “on the fence” to signing–and voting yes–for ending prohibition.

This is the first in a series of posts to help you talk the talk about cannabis.

First and foremost, marijuana is a medicinal plant

Throughout history, cannabis has been used in world cultures as medicine. It is difficult to find extensive modern American research about the efficacy of the plant because of its Schedule 1 status. Even for medical research, it is federally illegal to possess the plant.

But, there has been some recent research work in marijuana-legal states that will help with building the depth of clinical trials. Recently, the American Legion wrote to the President asking him to de-schedule cannabis so it can be further tested for use by veterans.

Different States Endorse different uses

Even popular health sites like WebMD acknowledge that cannabis shows promise for a variety of health ailments. These include slowing the growth of some cancers, relaxing the muscles of Parkinson’s Disease patients, helping people with digestive disorders like Crohn’s Disease and managing chronic pain.

Each of the 29 states that allow medical marijuana have different guidelines for what kinds of conditions the medicine can be prescribed to help. We’ve heard positive anecdotal stories about cannabis and difficult health situations like self-harming autism, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Multiple Sclerosis. For many cancer patients, the only medicine that gets them through chemotherapy is cannabis.

we support your right to choose

While cannabis is available to citizens in Michigan with a doctor’s recommendation, we think that adults, regardless of reason and without the intervention of a physician, should be able to access marijuana, as they might any over-the-counter medicine or health supplement.

image of marijuana which is part of any new marijuana business

Cannabis Taxes Are Improving Communities

“Taxes are what we pay for a civilized society.”

Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. is credited for saying this in an opinion he wrote nearly 100 years ago.

We’ve been reflecting on this quote since our trip to Colorado on 4/20.

A Closer Look at Where the Money Goes

Consider this receipt from downtown Denver dispensary Native Roots. We found the tax details to be so interesting!  For $48 in products we paid over 20% in taxes—that amounted to nearly an additional $10 on the transaction.

Frankly, we were delighted to pay it. In fact, we might even say that we felt altruistic seeing that we were supporting cultural facilities and RTD (Denver’s bus and rail service provider), in addition to paying the state and municipality taxes.

During our visits to dispensaries (at which there was always a healthy line of customers) we didn’t hear anyone whining over the seemingly hefty cannabis taxes. For us, this was a small price to pay for the chance to legally obtain marijuana products for recreational, adult-use. Cheers to Colorado for tapping into this vast new stream of tax revenue.

Let’s be honest, “stream” seems like an insignificant word to describe what this is really doing for Colorado. Tax flood, perhaps?

It has been reported that cannabis sales in Colorado last year easily topped $1 BILLION.  From that, the state took in nearly $200 million in cannabis tax revenue. Data shows that this amount has been steadily increasingly over the past 3 years.

To be fair, cannabis taxes in Colorado are not (yet) enough to solve all societal woes there. This point was well covered last summer in this story from Colorado’s 9 News. Utopia,no. Better than nothing, for sure!

And the state has not yet reached its full potential when it comes to tax revenue. Not only are sales steadily increasing year-over-year, but now legislators are considering maxing out the recreational marijuana special sales tax to fix the budget. For our receipt above, this could equate to an additional $2.40. Would we pay it? In a heartbeat.

Adult Use Coming to Michigan?

While Colorado is an awesome state, we are really excited for what this could all mean for Michigan, with twice the population of Colorado and an active tourism industry, we could finally solve a few issues here (the pothole-riddled roads). Our enthusiasm elevated last week when our Board of State Canvassers approved the petition to put recreational, adult-use marijuana on the ballot in 2018, assuming the petitioners can garner enough (250,000) signatures with the 180-day time frame.

Help the cause and find a location near you to sign the petition today!

Cannabis by Any Other Name

Marijuana. Weed. Pot. Ganja. Kind. Mary Jane. Grass. Reefer. Dank. Smoke. Dope. Bud. Chronic. Flower.

Everyone has a favorite word for cannabis. A word choice might come from your generation, your culture or from the point in time that you first enjoyed, or heard someone else refer to it.

At Canna Communication, we’ve purposefully selected cannabis as our word of choice, for our company and in our communication on social media. While slang is a part of our common language, and we use any or all of the words in conversation or when partaking—for work—we stick to cannabis. We do this to be clear about the business we’re in; we purposefully do this to elevate the plant by its most scientific name. Cannabis is the genus for the flowering plant in the family of Cannabacae, by the way!

Cannabis as Serious Medicine

We believe that it is important to dignify the plant with a scientific name—it gives the appropriate importance to its vital healing power. Cannabis has amazing properties that the general public is just now beginning to understand. CBDs have healing and behavior health properties that are changing people lives. Children with autism who are chronically engaged in self-harm are finding relief and calm where no other medicine could help. A growing number of cancer patients use cannabis to help relieve nausea and increase their appetite, though the traditional medical cancer sources all call for more science on efficacy. Though with cancer at at the top of the checklist for most medical applications, there is a growing body of anecdotal evidence of its use. Across the country in 29 states, physicians are recommending it for a variety of symptoms and conditions—and each state varies widely on what they recommend it for.

Cannabis for Wellness

People consume cannabis for relaxation, to help them be more social, to reduce anxiety, to unlock creativity and just because it makes them happy. In the end, isn’t being a happy person reason enough? We wear certain clothes, travel to special places, eat favorite foods and surround ourselves with special people because it makes us happy. Enjoying cannabis is no different. That’s why we believe the end of prohibition of cannabis will be good for all people who choose to use it.

Perhaps as a culture, we need to “get over” the idea the being happy isn’t something we all deserve and sometimes we need a boost, from a plant to make it happen. That’s what wellness is all about.

We heard cannabis pioneer Steven DeAngelo speak recently via Green Flower Media and we couldn’t help but cheer his wise words. Like him, we believe that cannabis has the power to change the world for the better—no matter the reason you use it or what name you give it.