HERBAGE MAGAZINE OCTOBER 2022 ISSUE 47

Hit Like A Ram

Ramshead Cannabis

By James Bridges

I was fnally able to make a trip over to witness the portrayal of supertalent and smell the fowers cultivated by Ramshead Cannabis.

Ramshead Cannabis is the brainchild of Richard Yarber and veteran musicians, who are part of the Nu-metal group, Hollywood Undead, Jorel Decker and George Ragan. Ramshead prides itself on cultivating “unique and hard hitting strains that are diffcult to fnd”.

I made my way to one of the facilities. I was fnally going to witness the creation of something that has kicked my ass once or twice, as any ram should. I was excited to say the least.

As we entered the building we were greeted by Richard. Richard instantly came across as someone that was well organized and goal oriented. This was not a game for him and his people. This was a truly fantastic facility that was designed and built from the ground up by the people that were utilizing it to create the magic which is Ramshead.

“My partner and I just hit it off instantly.” Richard was describing his relationship. “He’s very clean and OCD like me. We pick up each other’s slack and it’s like, perfect. He has more growing knowledge and education in his background than I do. I come from the construction world. I’ve had a concrete business for 20 years of my life. So I’m the building and he’s the brains on the growing. So us two put together is just, you know, we have it all right there. So it helps out.”

I couldn’t help but notice the cleanliness of the place as we walked down the frst hallway. My face must have spilled the beans.

“Anna actually is our general manager here.” Richard spoke quietly, yet with certainty in his eyes and voice. “She creates cleaning schedules too. She makes everything for everybody. So when you walk in this building, something gets done every day. The foors are mopped or swept to pick up as much as possible with as many fowers moving around. But yeah. It has become an everyday activity.”

“Me, myself, I’m pretty OCD. So, I always like everything to be perfect on the spot.”

I compared my reaction to the organization to driving by someones house with an open garage. You kind of get a feel for what kind of person they are just by peaking in. “Just like a garage, you go to my house, it’s the same way.” Richard understood my train of

thought. “I want you to walk in and respect the grow. I want you to respect the people who work here, the team. They keep it clean. I believe that if you walk into a clean facility, you’re gonna respect it more.”

“You respect everything about the plant. I understand this too. It’s not just people getting high. This is medicine. Our main focus is medical and that requires a clean facility. So we try to keep it as clean as possible. But it’s hard.

Over the last several months we have all either participated or witnessed, and some have properly navigated through, somewhat of a slow moving market. This has essentially affected everyone in the cannabis industry.

“We see it still moving slowly. It’s moving up a little, I think now with metric in place hopefully by winter, the market will boost back up. It’s still plateauing. A lot of licenses are being taken away. A lot of growers are being sold. So I think I’ll give it four to six months. It’ll be back to normal. We hope it will be.” Richard turned a corner onto the next room.

As we walked Richard talked about things that exposed his high integrity and good intentions. He spoke about Ramshead being extremely conscious of what occurs inside of that building. They know exactly what is going in and out of the doors. He said they use zero “plant growth regulators” or PGR’s. He would even go as far as sacrifcing some of the yield in order to stay true to the cleanliness of the plant.

Richard was very happy and proud to talk about their limited use of strains. They are not in this industry to become the “weedmart” of Oklahoma. They are, as they should be, very proud of the hard work and dedication by offering a select few strains and working with only some of the best growers in the world.

One of their most sought after strains, and award winning, is Tokyo Snow. Ramshead has been working on perfecting this strain, which is unique to Ramhead, utilizing 3 years of research and development. Ramshead’s cultivation process of this strain is unique and rare.

The group has decided to ride the positive pathway of which the Tokyo Snow strain has taken them and are currently developing a new and improved strain. The team should have this in full rotation sometime in 2023.

“We’re trying to focus on the brand now.” Richard shifted gears. “We wanted to wait until now. You’re seeing good fower. We wanted to wait until we had the right strains, the right setup, then we’ll push the brand. So that’s what we are doing now. So far, that’s a long haul, but it was worth it. It’s smart because there’s so many people that think they need to get the weed out fast. Sometimes it’s necessary because of fnances, but if you wait and build slowly there is a good foundation to grow from.”

“It took a while, a lot of ups and downs, a lot of failures, but it made it to what it is today. So it’s perfect. OK. That’s what we want out of it. Yeah.”

Overall I was extremely pleased with my visit. The design of the space was laid out perfectly for good fow from start to fnish. I could sense the symbiotic trust fowing from the plant to the cultivation team. It was a well oiled and smooth running machine which savored the integrity of the plant. I was happy.

I asked Richard if he felt the same. “Yeah”. Richard smiled. “This has defnitely been a long struggle, a lot of stress, but we’ve stuck in there trying to grow the brand. So everything we’ve got, like, we try to work out every day, but for the long haul, it’ll be worth it in the end. So yeah, defnitely. I’m happy.

Herbal Heroes

By Charles “Uncle Chuck” Duncan

Ask a hundred people to name their hero and you will probably hear answers refecting one or more athletes, parents, singers, actors and frst responders. I will agree with the frst and last of those choices. Not so much the middle two. But we all look up to people for differ ent reasons, so I do not discount that certain singers and actors are heroes to some. There absolutely are many famous people who also act or sing for a living and are very kind and inspiring. The word “hero” is relative to you and your aspirations.

Since seventh grade, one of my personal as pirations has always been to have cannabis recognized and treated as a benefcial plant and not the poisonous, “gateway drug” it was wrongfully portrayed. It deserved more re spect than that. Cannabis is too often looked at like a fart in church. Everyone giggles a little bit when it’s mentioned and conversations of munchies and stoners arise. An endless supply of pot movies, novels, cartoons and music are flling the market. Serious conver sations regarding the physical and emotion al benefts of cannabis get lost in the hazy noise.

One of my heroes took steps to change the perception of cannabis and did so at great risk to himself and his freedom. During a time when people went to prison for a long, long time for even the tiniest amount of cannabis. To me, that is worthy of being called a hero. Not just because he was championing a plant that I dearly loved and wanted for others to understand. But because he wanted to show the truth, no matter the cost to him personally. The hero I am talking about is Raphael Mechoulam. An organic chemist from Bulgaria who changed our under standing of cannabis and is still doing so today.

Rapheals’ frst present to the cannabis community was isolating and identifying delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol, also known as THC. He just happens to also be responsible for the isolation and identifcation of the endocan nabinoid Anandamide. My jeep “ana” is named after this most important molecule. For more information on Endocannabinoids and THC, visit my online cannabis education portal Uncle Chuck’s Cannabis Camp at theuccc. com.

When I say that these discoveries came at great risk to Raphael, I am not exaggerating at all. He is the father of cannabis for a reason. His research and many, many scientifc articles has led to amazing advancements in how we understand cannabis. He is long overdue for a Nobel Prize, in my personal opinion. Remember, he started his research in the early 60’s. Not really a cannabis friendly time unless you were attending a rock festival or playing Jazz in the deep south. Raphael was in the middle east. Parts of the middle east carried the death penalty for possessing cannabis. Some places still do today. But Raphael had a friend. A friend in law enforcement. Long story short. Raphaels friend secured a small amount of hash for him to use in his research. This sample, having been carried back to the lab in a small container in Raphaels coat pocket. Over many bus trips and one would assume, past many offcers of the law. The story goes that once Raphael got back to the lab, his friend back at the police station called him and told him he had to return the hash. Apparently his friend didn’t have permission to release it and now they were both in hot water. Raphael returned and explained that he only wanted to research it in the lab and had no intention of selling any of it. It worked.

Now decades later, discoveries regarding cannabis in general and phyto and endo cannabinoids in specifc are for the most part due to Rapheals original research. He has brought scientifc facts and integrity to the cannabis world. Both of which are instrumental in advancing cannabis understanding and acceptance. But more impor tantly the removal of misinformation and stereotypes. As a cannabis advocate, I can think of no other person I respect more than Raphael Mechoulsm. For his risk and research, I consider him a true hero.

Holy Hail Begets Heavenly Ratios, the Rise of CBE Farms

By Jessi Lane, Patient Advocate

Heavenly ratios do not just fall from the sky like hail, or do they? Amy and Chad Bates of Edmond own and operate CBE Farms, a boutique cannabis grow buried deep in Logan County, Oklahoma. CBE specializes in cultivating the frostiest cannabis colas and produces niche medicinal ratios for patients seeking refuge in a cannabinoid profle. “We strive to eliminate opioid addiction, battle mental health and relieve everyday aches and pains,” says Amy Bates. The Bates do not have Flynt Lockwood’s FLDSMDFR from the Sony Pictures Animation movie Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. The churning out of sticky, stinky terpene-rich nugs does not just happen on its own. Lots of lemons have had to be squeezed for this delicious, Oklahoma heat-quenching lemonade. The year was 2018. That June, Oklahoma had just legalized cannabis as medicine. Amy and Chad were running Green Country’s renowned Bulldog Roofng and Restoration, serving Oklahomans since 1996. “We service the Oklahoma City Metro and surrounding areas as well as the Tulsa Metro,” says Amy. “We do residential roofng as well as smoke, fre, and mold restoration and remediation.” Chad’s meticulous attention to detail, cleanliness, and order and his deep understanding of the importance of the checks, balances, and interpretation of data proves to serve him well in future endeavors.

A family member had just received a cancer diagnosis and Amy’s brother, Brad, was struggling with PTSD. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs website states “about 12 million adults in the U.S. have PTSD during a given year” (2022). “When I started dating Amy, Brad was nine years old,” Chad relays, wistfully recollecting his dear brother-in-law, as if lost in time - “He knows me well.” Brad Harkins, a devoted husband, father, and friend loved to play baseball, wakeboard, and snowboard, and competed in mixed martial arts. Stationed with the frst armored division in Germany upon enlistment, Brad - a heavily decorated Tanker/Driver - proudly served his country in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

“With Oklahoma passing medical marijuana, we knew we had to start growing,” Amy says. Once the license was paid for and fled, the Bates still had to fgure out how to fund their humble new venture. The lemons seemingly piled up as the PTSD medication Brad relied upon caused seizures, and in the Spring of 2019 the last seizure took Brad’s life. “On the very day we laid my brother to rest, we had a hailstorm,” recalls Amy. With all the sudden work laid out for Bulldog Roofng and Restoration, “This was how we would fund the grow.”

As is customary for the Oklahoma cannabis industry

the frst harvest was, if nothing else, a learning opportunity - and undiscovered magic waiting to happen - as they were hit with a hard blow. “Late in fower we found a male plant had seeded the entire crop,” says Amy. What is that Dr. Ian Malcolm quote from Michael Chrichton’s Jurassic Park (1990)? “Life fnds a way.” The Bates were beyond devasted and angry, however steadfast, they persisted and continued to grow their operation.

Hopeful that something good would come from their situation of unfortunate events, a few months later CBE Farms germinated some of the seeds from that hapless harvest and Brad’s Gas, previously known as Okie Blaze, was born! She is a rich, bright orange cinna-pine favor profle. Generously bathed in Limonene, b-Pinene, and Caryophyllene, with a touch of cis-Nerolidol and Linalool, she is uplifting, balanced, and an ideal digestif. Many people have found this 2:1 CBD-rich cultivar to be a life-changing blessing, according to CBE Farms. “We would love to have Brad‘s Gas available nationwide,” Amy says. “Our goal is to help as many people as we possibly can and help them live a better quality of life.” Chad has remained ever aware of the celestial encouragements he receives as CBE encounters their own Oklahoma industry ebb and fow. He says, “I think [Brad] knew if I had the right signs along the way, I would never stop trying to get his fower to patients hopefully across the country someday.”

A year ago, this past month Chad found himself having to contemplate closing the doors of CBE Farms. Chad recalls, “we just were not making enough money. I was in front of our farm just sitting there thinking, [and the] next thing I know plain as day I hear ‘DONT QUIT CHAD.’” Chad knew it was Brad giving him the push he needed in that moment. He continues, “every day I go in my farm I think about Brad and the responsibility he’s given me.” It is a big one, no doubt. CBE Farms boast many of their patients have even been able to discontinue prescription pain medication using Brad’s Gas. What a beautiful gift! That lemonade sure is beginning to taste sweet! In addition to Brad’s Gas, today CBE Farms proudly offers Oklahoma patients eight boutique cultivars- Wedding Cake, Red Hot Cookies, SFV OG, Runtz of Eden, Strawberry Blaze, Straw-nanna, Sunset Sherbet, and Tokyo Snow. What a line-up! However, upon cure this craft grow sells out quickly – within days. The only retailer lucky enough to regularly stock the full CBE Farms offerings is Yukon’s Okie Medicine Flower, located at 1701 S. Mustang Road.

With the goal being to provide Brad’s Gas to as many patients as possible, Chad fnds his

little grow stifed with the recent changes to the OMMA enforced lab requirements. As it is, Chad understands that each batch, each day it is prepped for retail sale, must have an isolated lab test associated with that date - regardless of how many hours in that day were used for actual work. With the fees charged for this many required tests, and only twenty four hours in a day, is this new fee structure sustainable for craft Oklahoma grows? Is the whole point to fush them out of the running to make way for the Whole Foods and Budweiser of cannabis who have friends in high places? Chad and Amy remain openhearted and connected to their celestial guide in Brad. They understand that timing is everything. While they currently may not have a board room of shareholders and the humble wooden kitchen table by which they hand-trim, shed tears, and strategize merely seats four, what CBE Farms provides to Oklahoma is a heavenly ratio worth repeatedly going to the mattresses for. “This is truly the defnition of lemons to lemonade,” Amy says. “We are continually amazed at how Brad’s Gas has and continues to help so many. I know my brother had his hand it.”

By: Pamela Jayne

“You can’t buy our buckle.” This simple statement speaks volumes about the community’s skepticism of cannabis competitions. If patients can’t trust that the winners are actually providing the best products, everybody loses. When the Cowboy Cup Cannabis Championship and Arts Festival entered the scene four years ago, they quickly became known for being an honest and fair competition that featured Oklahoma’s best cannabis. This year they have added another level of integrity to the competition by partnering with Ganjier. Herbage wanted to know more about this elite group of cannabis professionals and their involvement in Oklahoma’s most respected “cup”, so we called up the Managing Director of Ganjier, Derek Gilman, who gave us some insight into what a Ganjier is, what their Cannabis Sommelier Certifcation Program is all about, and their recent partnership with the Cowboy Cup.

“A Ganjier is a cannabis professional whose job it is to assess the quality of cannabis fower and concentrates, as well as guide consumers in their choices”, Derek Gilman, Managing Director of Ganjier, told Herbage. “There are trained professionals in every gustatory based industrywine, chocolate, cheese, coffee, cigars. Each of these industries that are based off of the interaction with the senses- the appearance, the aroma, the favor. Each of these industries has trained professionals that assess the quality and guide consumers in making their choices. Effectively, we didn’t have this in cannabis until we developed Ganjier.” Unlike in other epicurean trades, the effect of cannabis is crucial to the overall experience. It’s the whole point, really. This is why a Certifed Ganjier is also trained in how to use specifc criteria to communicate what the patient will experience physically and cerebrally when consuming cannabis. Being able to effectively convey this information to novice patients and folks who are simply curious about this beloved plant is crucial

to successful career in cannabis, and is also an important part of moving the industry even further into the mainstream.

To become a Certifed Ganjier, students must complete three steps. The frst step is taking ten rigorous, multidisciplinary online courses featuring instruction by all eighteen members of the Ganjier Council. The ten courses include 31 lessons that cover everything from cultivation and genetics to managing inventory and curating menus to developing a cannabis palate, and everything in between. (See ganjier.com for curriculum information.) These courses, a complete education in and of themselves, prepare the student for their trip into the heart of the Emerald Triangle for step two where students attend a two day live training session located on 250 acres of wilderness in legendary Humboldt County, California. As Gilman passionately explained, “Part of the magic, part of the special sauce is bringing students here to experience Humboldt for the two day live training portion of the curriculum. There is no place like it and people really need to come here to experience it.” Whereas the frst portion of training focuses on knowledge, the second portion teaches the skills necessary to be successful in the cannabis industry. The in person training emphasizes two things- service and assessment. Service is taught via the Customer Interaction Protocol (CIP) and assessment is taught via the Systematic Assessment Protocol (SAP), which will be implemented at the Cowboy Cup. The SAP was developed by the 18 members of the Ganjier Council. The SAP is made up of four categories that align with the four senses that interact with cannabis- appearance, aroma, favor, and the experience of the sample. There is also individual criteria within each of those main categories. The familiar hundred point scoring system the SAP uses to grade cannabis samples was adapted from a similar system used in the wine industry. The fnal step of the process is to pass a 100 question written exam with a score of 90% or higher, a service exam, and an assessment exam. The service exam is 20 minute role play scenario where the student will apply the Customer Interaction

LO

T U S

Letters by Kathleen Long

Cognitive Dissidence

It’s a matter of perspective

This game we play called life

Our attitude will dictate What is joy and what is strife.

We complicate life‘s issues

With doubt, mistrust, and fear And lose in the confusion

Our ability to steer.

We get caught on crazy tangents

Vectors trapped in time and space

Believing the illusion

We are competing in a race!

We fnd grooves that we ft into Roles played in society Limiting by defnition

All our fexibility.

Inside us rage the tempests Which we fght so desperately suppressing all the knowledge Which we search to set us free.

Interesting paradox

The walls we feel confne Are built and reinforced So carefully within our minds.

- written by Kathleen Long

There is a new cannabis company in Oklahoma City and it’s turning medical marijuana on its head! Bo no-Ape is a multi-state operator opening a brand new, state of the art extraction facility. The extraction facility is modeled after Bono-Ape’s state of the art indoor grow. It is clear that they are serious about bringing professionalism to the cannabis industry. The new facility is sure to be a game changer in the Oklahoma medical marijuana market, and patients have been benefting from the high quality products that they are able to produce. Bono-Ape has been a part of Oklahoma’s cannabis scene for the last year and has been in the cannabis space outside of Okla homa for the last 7 years. There is a lot of experience behind the brand and it shows in their world class cannabis. The new lab will be a much-welcomed ad dition to the medical marijuana community in Oklaho ma, and Bono-Ape is proud to be able to offer quality extracts to their patients. With their commitment to quality and affordability, they are sure to make a positive impact on the lives of many and be a valuable resource for the community and take the cannabis industry by storm.

Despite its rapid growth, Bono-Ape prides itself on bringing a high level of professionalism to the can nabis industry. Every part of their grow and lab have been carefully thought out and planned way before construction began, evey machine and tool was hand selected to cultivate the best cannabis, and ev ery step in the process has been planned and engi neered to the same expectation of perfection. Visit ing the Bono-Ape grow is reminiscent of watching a Porsche engine rev. Though the location of the farm and extraction lab is a carefully guarded secret and you may not be able to visit the lab or farm in person, you can get your hands on what it’s all about at your favorite dispensary and give it the pepsi challenge and see for yourself what a difference it makes when you know every single thing that went into that smoke expected the same quality you know you can rely on from Bono-Ape.

Bono-Ape is led by Sean Suh. Meeting Sean is an ex perience all in itself. Sean is tattooed head to toe with a strong demeanor. Despite his outward appearance, there are few people as willing as Sean to share what they know and as willing to go above and beyond for his employees and the people around him. After the frst few minutes spent talking with Sean, it’s obvious that Sean is incredibly passionate about Bono-Ape’s product, patients and people. Sean’s personal life experience is a real underdog story. He went from sleeping in a bus stop to being fully fnancially pre pared to open and operate multiple businesses by 25, all through hard work and determination. Sean’s understanding of the needs of medical marijuana pa tients and his unique background led to the creation of Bono-Ape and ultimately the grand opening of the new Bono-Ape extraction lab.

Bono-Ape comes from a background and base in serving adults with autism and intellectual and developmental disabilities as a lifelong passion. Tragically, Sean’s grandmother was killed in an assisted living home. Sean made it his personal goal to change and affect the world in a positive way so as to never let something like that happen to anyone. Over the years, care home after care home opened up led by Sean based on founding principles that value the client over everything. These same principles have applied throughout the medical marijuana farm, Bo no-Ape’s new extraction lab, and for serving patients for all medical marijuana needs - growing and craft ing the most fre weed and extract on the planet!

Bono-Ape is proud to open its new extraction lab and give the best quality extracts at the most affordable prices for all of Oklahoma’s medical marijuana patients. If you or someone you know is in need of medical marijuana, be sure to check out Bono-Ape and their new extracts. Bono-Ape is a reliable compa ny that puts their patients frst. This Oklahoma-based company has built a reputation for being a top-notch operator in the cannabis industry, thanks to its com mitment to quality and affordability. The company’s newest extract laboratory blends professionalism, follow-through and consistency in a refreshing way that appeals to patients. This company’s commitment to quality has encouraged new ventures, contributed to a customer base that is rapidly growing, and solidifed its position as a leading operator in the cannabis industry. That’s why If you’re looking for remarkable cannabis products and services, look no further than Bono-Ape! The company’s dedication to its patients and its attentiveness to excellence are unmatched. Ask your favorite dispensary if they carry Bono-Ape today to get your hands on quality and excellence distilled into fower or concentrates.

The Zena Myers Story

By Michael Kinney

When I met Zena Myers for the frst time, things were not going well for her. In the Blanchard (Ok.) native’s own words, she was having a “bad day.”

On that June afternoon, Myers had just visited her doctor in Oklahoma City, and she had been in pain since she woke up that morning. When she spoke, the words came out slow and deliberate, but the pain speaking caused was obvious.

For Myers, her bad days are common. Unfortunately for her, her good days are not signifcantly better.

“When you’re as young as I am, people believe that if they see me that I’m healthy and able-bodied. But then I bring my cane out of the car and they completely change their perception of me,” Myers said. “Starting off the day was not easy. I started with both of my knees, hip not fully in place and dislocated,” Myers said. “Because at my age, you’re not supposed to have disabilities. You’re not supposed to be ill. You’re supposed to be at the top of your life and be doing the best you can, and this is probably the worst time of my life.” Myers suffers from Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, which is a group of inherited disorders that affect a person’s connective tissues. People who have Ehlers-Danlos syndrome usually have overly fexible joints and stretchy, fragile skin, according to the Mayo Clinic.

“It can cause a lot of issues within the body since it’s

affected by a malformation of collagen and the collagen affects the connective tissues and the connective tissues are all throughout the body,” Myers said. “It can affect the heart, the lungs, the skin, the muscles, the eyes, the hair, the nails, everything.”

Myers says there are 13 different types of Ehlers-Danlos, which can affect people in a variety of ways. Myers has the type called hypermobile or type 3. It’s considered the most common and the least severe form.

However, that is very little consolation for Myers, who has to deal with its effects daily.

“I used to do theater dance. I was in college taking 18 hours every semester. I was in productions in rehearsals. I was doing video production for my college. All of that stopped overnight pretty much because my health fared up so aggressively that I went from doing all of those things to pretty much being bed bound because it hurts too much to sit upright. I pass out daily from pain because my pain levels are just out of control. I have days where I wake up and things are dislocated, and I can’t go about my day until I relocate things.”

Myers, who has a large tattoo on her leg that reads ‘Be Strong and Courageous,’ was offcially diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome in 2021. Up until then, she had no name for what was causing her problems and neither did her doctors.

“We’ve known that this has been something in our family for at least four generations,” Myers said. “It’s something that I’ve seen symptoms within myself from the age of 14. It takes on average about 10 to 20 years to get diagnosed. It’s taken my mom her entire lifetime. I’ve been the frst one in our family to know what’s going on. I knew before my mom, I knew before my grandmother who has passed on. It runs on both sides of her family. We just thought that we had bad joints. Now we know there’s a name for this.”

According to the Mayo Clinic, those who have hypermobility Ehlers-Danos Syndrome have a 50 percent of passing the gene down to each of their children. Myers said her grandmother died from complications due to the disease, but she was never diagnosed.

What upsets Myers is that many times when she or her mother would tell doctors about the pain they were in, they were often told it was just in their heads.

“Knowing that I could have been diagnosed and gotten help eight years sooner is so frustrating. And I want to save someone else that heartache because it’s so hard knowing there’s something wrong with you and not being believed,” Myers said. “That’s one of the hardest parts of our condition is that we’re not believed when we say we hurt so badly. We’re not believed when we say my bones are moving around and I can feel it in my body and I can feel my ribs moving. And I’m told that’s impossible, but I feel it in my body. And I know I’m not crazy because I can feel that same feeling multiple times and I can pinpoint where it is and how it’s moving. And I don’t think that’s just in my head, right? It’s a real condition. It’s been hard because so often you deal with medical gas lighting.”

Despite having a name attached to her condition, there is not a lot the medical profession can do to alleviate her symptoms.

“I’ve tried 10 different medications. I’ve tried steroidal, spinal injections, and none of them have helped,” Myers said. “None of them have made my pain any better. None of them have taken away any of the infammation. None of them have controlled the aggressive spasms that I have throughout my body. They don’t know what to do with me. I’m a medical mystery.” While resuming her dance career is not an option, Myers is hoping she will be able to enroll back in college and complete her degree. She dropped out one year shy of graduating.

“My school was only 30 minutes away from my house and I couldn’t sit upright long enough to get myself to my classes much less, sit upright and attend them and retain the information,” Myers said. “I had to take my summer classes from my bed because I hurt too bad to sit upright and to do my schooling. My joint instability was so bad in my legs that I couldn’t even think about doing dance or theater because walking was so unstable. I can’t walk 20 feet without stability. If fve, 10 years down the road, I have that stability back, I would feel so blessed.” Myers created a GoFundMe page (gofund.me/9534b8d5) and a Facebook page (Zena EDS Warrior) to raise money to purchase a service dog to help her move around and resume parts of her life, including returning to school to get her degree.

“I would love to have a service dog. My goal is under two years, but that’s a $20 to $30,000 investment,” Myers

said. “But they’d be able to help me with mobility-aid. I faint because of my pain.

They would be able to brace me when I walk and when my knees give out for me, they could catch me and press against me and provide that stability that my legs don’t always have. And a service dog would be able to be trained to help with that. And they would be able to call family or emergency services if need be.”

Currently, there is no cure for Ehlers-Danlos syndrome.

The only relief Myers fnds is through the use of medical cannabis. She got her card more than a year ago to help deal with her PTSD and found it can help minimize some of the pain she endures daily.

“Medical cannabis has been the only thing I’ve found that has helped. It’s been an absolute game changer for me,” Myers said. “It’s been the only thing that’s helped.” Myers researched terpenes and other oils and found they have helped her the most. That includes CBG and CBC.

“I’ve found that through topicals, edibles, smoking, it’s made it to where I can actually live my life somewhat,” Myers said. “I can tell when I’m not medicated enough. I can feel it in my body. I can feel when my body’s using the cannabis in my system, I can feel when I’ve used up all of the cannabis that I had in my system.”

Ehlers-Danlos has completely transformed Myer’s life. The former theatre arts major once had dreams of dancing on Broadway. Now she wants to just raise awareness about the disease and help people understand its effects.

Cannabis is the only thing that makes that possible.

“I’d love to see more research with cannabis because I know personally that it has been life-changing. It’s been what has kept me able to do things,” Myers said. “It’s been the difference between friends, between staying home and being in pain and not being able to do things that I love and being able to go out and meet people, make connections, have a social life and do the things that normal people take for granted every day.”

Heirloom Tomato Smoky Bacon Fat Mayo Cannabis Leaf Toasts

Chef Sebastian Carosi

total thc/cbd: depends on the potency of the products

status: downright delicious stoner snack from the cannabis pantry: cannabis bacon fat, cannabis hot sauce, cannabis butter chef’s strain recommendation: blue cheese

medium stainless-steel mixing bowl, whisk, chef’s knife, cutting board, food processor, serrated knife, serving

5 slices of your favorite artisan sourdough bread (cut ¾

¼ cup cannabis infused butter (made in the mb2e) 3-4 medium misc.organic heirloom tomatoes

½ - 1 cup smoky cannabis bacon fat mayo

1 cup fresh young cannabis or hemp leaves

1 tbsp jacobsen sea salt fakes

1 tsp fresh cracked pepper

2 tsp fresh green coriander seeds (optional)

smoky cannabis bacon fat mayo

½ cup of cannabis infused applewood smoked bacon fat (at room temp) (made in the mb2e)

1 tbsp chipotle adobo (contents of the can pureed

1 ½ cups of mayonnaise (if you don’t use dukes mayon naise, you are going to hellmann)

1 tsp cannabis hot sauce (made in the mb2e)

½ cup fresh cooked bacon bits (very small + crispy)

how to make it for the mayoput all the ingredients in the bowl of a food processor and mix well. add a ¼ cup of super crispy bacon bits to the mayo. mix well, place the mayo into an airtight con tainer, refrigerate. use liberally. to assemble the toaststoast the bread slices to your liking, butter each slice with a little cannabis butter. slice the heirloom tomatoes as thick as you’d like them. slather each piece of the toasted sourdough bread with as much smoky bacon fat mayo as you’d like. then sprinkle a nice amount of hemp or cannabis greens on each toast. top the greens with three or four various sized tomato slices on each toast as well. then season each toast with salt and pepper. garnish each toast with a sprinkle of fresh green coriander seeds and a little more sea salt. serve and enjoy with udder delight.

botanical extractor)

kosher sea salt)

The Cultivation Corner

Brought to you by Smokey Okies Cannabis

By Travis Smith

Welcome back to the Cultivation Corner, where we discuss all things related to growing goodganja! Last time, we discussed the two different growing phases of cannabis (the Vegetative and Flowering stages) and how to mimic those phases indoors by switching your light cycles.

In this month’s column, I am going to discuss the frst of the two stages, the Vegetative Stage. I will cover how to get started, what to do once you’re deep into veggin, and when to make the switch to fower.

Starting your vegetative cycle: Should you use seeds or clones?

When you decide to start growing weed, you will need to either plant seeds or plant a clone. But which is the better option? You may have guessed the answer: “it depends.”

The advantages and disadvantages of Seeds

Let’s start with seeds. One beneft of starting with seeds is the availability of so many good options through online seed banks. If you go this route, I recommend using a reputable seed bank that is endorsed by the breeder of the strain you want.

Your seeds should come in packaging that came from the breeder and have a seal or other insignia verifying authenticity. You want to make sure that these seeds are what they purport to be, and actually came from the breeder, and are not just seeds put into random packaging by a middleman seed bank.

Now, here is the downside: unless you purchased an older strain that has been stabilized for many, many years, there is going to be a lot of variation in characteristics for each seedling that ends up sprouting. Why?

Think of it this way: if your mom and dad kept having kids, each kid would share some family traits, while also being a bit different and unique. So if you plant 10 seeds, expect 10 different versions of that strain. (The way around this is to continue in-breeding, stabilizing the genetic, so that each additional “brother and sister” is more and more alike; this is a deeper topic for a future article).

Conclusion: Seeds are great, but be prepared for a lot of different mixed results.

Pro tip: Plant many seeds of the same strain, knowing that only a few are going to be worth keeping. Save the best one, and start cloning it.

The Pros and Cons of Buying Clones

So if you don’t want to “pheno hunt” a bunch of seeds, you can instead buy clones.

The advantage of buying a clone is that the clone has already been hunted and selected. However, this advantage is premised on the assumption that the person selling the clone has already hunted a bunch of variations of this strain, and has selected the ideal version and is now selling it.

Here, the operative term is “assumption.” When you buy a clone, you are assuming it is a good pheno. Therefore, you are relying on the credibility of the seller.

As you are now starting to see, sourcing genetics is all about

the credibility of the source, whether a seed bank or a clone seller. Buying clones is great as long as you know that the grower selling the clones is reputable.

Another advantage of starting with a clone is that you start 2-3 weeks ahead of schedule than if you had to wait on the seed to sprout and grow to a similar size.

Conclusion: Buy clones if you trust the seller, and the clone is free of pests.

Pro tip: ask the seller to explain how she sourced the genetics

Vegging your seedlings and Clones

Now that you have selected your genetics, let’s get them growing! As we discussed in last issue, you will want to use a light schedule of 18 hours on, six hours off for this initial stage of growth.

The choice of medium is up to you. You can grow in soil, rockwool cubes, or our preferred medium: coco coir. Whichever route you choose to go, you will adopt a cultivation style that suits your choice.

It All Starts in Veg

The Veg stage is where you conceive of your end result and then take action with weekly tasks that get you closer to that end result.

First, start with a vision. Do you want a large plant? A multitopped bush? A tall and skinny plant? Do you want to harvest frequently, and therefore want as many runs in a year as possible? Or are you fne with less frequent harvests, you want more yield each time?

Figure out what you want. It’s okay for your goals to change over time. But once you can conceive of the end result, you can put a plan into place. It all starts in veg.

Veg is where you train your plant to become the end result you have in your mind. You can start topping early, or you can wait to top until it has been in veg for 3 or 4 weeks. You can use low stress training or high stress training.

If you are brand new to cultivation, and you don’t know you want, that is okay too. Here are some guidelines to keep in mind:

• When you switch to the 12/12 light cycle to begin the fowering phase, your plant will double or triple in height and size;

• Keep this in mind when vegging your plant(s)

• Veg is when you can bend branches and train a plant; you lose this ability as you get into fower, when the branches frm up and lose their elasticity

• Use the vegetative phase to shape your plant. It will be on steroids during fower, so get it under control now.

That should get you started for now. If you don’t know what any of these terms mean, check out our blog at Smokey-Okies.com and use the search bar to search any of these terms. Next month, we will continue this journey of growing your own weed!

That should get you started for now. If you don’t know what any of these terms mean, check out our blog at Smokey-Okies.com and use the search bar to search any of these terms. Next month, we will continue this journey of growing your own weed!

HALLOWEED CRAWL CHECK IN

Starts anytime after 5:30pm

To start the crawl you will need to check in at any of the participating dispensaries locations, listed below. During the check-in you will receive your Crawl pack. Crawl pack will contain an important HalloWEED pass. This pass must be carried with you and stamped at each location.

RULES

Active OMMA patient card required!

Costumes optional but encouraged. Best costume awards will be given.

You must make a min $5 purchase at each location in order to have access to HalloWEED penny/dollar deals, exclusive specials, and have your HalloWEED Pass stamped. Each location will have limited quantities of penny/dollar deals, so don’t miss out!

You are not required to visit each dispensary, but you must participate and receive a minimum of 10 HalloWEED pass stamps to be entered into our big end of the Crawl giveaways.

Final stop will be Brickhouse Dispensary, this is where you will need to turn your card in.

10 HalloWEED pass stamps will also grant you exclusive access to a VIP AFTER PARTY experience with Herbage Magazine’s Halloween Bash at Brickhouse Saloon. Info below.

HALLO-WEED CRAWL

This HalloWEED Crawl is a “Make Your our Adventure” meaning there is no set order to visit each dispensary, with exception of Brickhouse being the fnal stop. This allows us to divide up the activities and fow of trafc. Hopefully, this will help eliminate wait times but remember to be friendly and patient regardless. This is to be a fun, interactive event with friends, other patients, Brand Reps, and dispensaries. With exclusive deals it will be a good opportunity to stock up for all your Halloween festivities. This Crawl gives dispos opportunities to see new faces and patients see new places.

AFTER PARTY By Herbage Magazine

9PM-2AM

Herbage Magazine is hosting a free Halloween Bash at Brickhouse Saloon.

Don’t forget your friends, Costumes, and don’t forget to plan a safe and sober way home!

CRAWL MAP

Click the Google map link below for a list/map of participating dispensary and after party locations. You can also fnd the list by searching in Google maps for “Mitties HalloWEED Crawl 2022”

Stay tuned to www.MittiesMedicinals.com & Herbage Magazine for details.