There once was a time, before Covid-19, when Northern New York and Vermont folks would travel to Montreal to soak in the big city vibe. We miss those times and visiting beautiful Canada. Canada one day will open back up to us, and leisure travel will resume. One question people ask: can I travel to Canada with CBD? I would advise against it. CBD and THC products are legal in… Read More »Can you travel to Canada with CBD?
What is a Certificate of Analysis? What is a third party lab report? How to read a COA? These several blogs will dive into analysis and how understanding the results is important for the cannabinoid consumer. We discussed the most important analysis in the previous post: Cannabinoid profile. There are several other tests that are done on edible CBD extracts that we’ll now go over. Luckily, these are easy to… Read More »How to Read a COA Part 2
What is a CBD Certificate of Analysis? How does one read a third-party lab report? Over the next several blogs I will dive into analysis and how understanding the results is important for the CBD oil consumer. To begin, every consumable CBD (edible) product should have a certificate of analysis from an independent third-party lab. The most informative part of the analysis is the cannabinoid profile, a copy is shown… Read More »CBD Certificate of Analysis – How to Understand
As you all know, CBD is a non-psychoactive cannabinoid (most cannabinoids aren’t, with the notable exception of the THC isomers). That means CBD does not activate the cannabinoid receptors CB1 or CB2 which are part of the endocannabinoid system. In fact, CBD acts as an antagonist for the CB receptors. This is why mixtures of THC and CBD do not provide the typical “high” experienced by consuming THC alone: the… Read More »Endocannabinoid System and CBD
So, what are terpenes, and why are they important in the hemp and cannabis space? Well, technically, a terpene contains multiples of 5 carbon units joined together. Thus, it contains 5, 10, 15 or more carbons. The basic building block is the isoprene molecule, which has 5 carbons and is the smallest true terpene. The many ways the isoprene unit can combine leads to the huge variety found in nature.… Read More »What are Terpenes?
Does smoking cannabis have an effect on the course of Covid-19 disease? Does smoking make one more susceptible to infection? Anecdotal reports suggest smokers of tobacco have some protection from the virus, and studies are underway to determine if nicotine patches afford the same protection as smoking. Since it is well known that cannabis smoke is much less harmful than tobacco smoke, can a study be done to see if… Read More »Cannabis and Covid-19: a study proposal
Many folks take CBD for anxiety and wonder what are the anti-anxiety effects of CBD? A newly published paper in the Journal of Clinical Medical Research (doi: https://www.jocmr.org/index.php/JOCMR/article/view/4090) adds more positive evidence for this use. In this review article, not only is there good news on the anxiety front, but also supports CBD use for psychosis and substance abuse disorders: “From the controlled trials, we identified anxiolytic effects with acute CBD… Read More »Anti-anxiety effects of CBD
Chronic inflammation is one of the harbingers of disease. From gum disease to coronary heart disease, inflammation plays a large role. Does CBD reduce inflammation? Well, the jury is still out, but from a chemist’s point of view, it has potential. Let’s first discuss inflammation. Inflammation can be thought of as tissue swelling. This is brought about by our immune system releasing cytokines in response to injury or illness. Cytokines… Read More »CBD and Inflammation
Many people have tried CBD on depression. Does it work and are their studies done? A new report from researchers in Vienna ( https://doi.org/10.1007/s40211-020-00334-0 ) shows the effectiveness of CBD in a patient with multiple psychiatric issues. I quote from the article, published last week in Neuropsychiatrie: Abstract In this report, we present a case of a 16,9-year-old patient with multiple substance use disorder (cannabis, MDMA, cocaine, ecstasy), severe depression,… Read More »Effectiveness of CBD on Depression
Without a doubt, the popularity of CBD products is exploding. Many people may wonder: what are the possible side effects? Is CBD addictive? Should one be concerned using CBD? Reasonable questions. Although safety data on cannabinoids is sorely lacking due to the ridiculous Drug War, some studies are now being done. In the March 2020 issue of Epilepsy and Behavior ( https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yebeh.2020.106938 ) one such study was just published. The… Read More »Is CBD addictive?