Jan. 2023 - Oregon Leaf

ABOUT THE COVER

This month’s cover shoot for our 2nd-annual Weed and Wellness Issue embodies the heart of our edition: practicing self-care through the artful use of Cannabis consumption.

On set in Seattle, a dream team of photographer

Keti Chikhladze, longtime Leaf Nation stylist Malina Lopez, Creative Director Daniel Berman, and Cannabis and yoga enthusiast Kate Higby, collaborated to showcase how Cannabis can help us to become our very best. In this special issue, our contributors bring us heartfelt articles on women’s health, alternative Cannabinoids, thebestterpenes,andhowCannabiscanenhance yourcreativity.Sparkup,enjoy,andbewell!

Props,

Art

WES ABNEY CEO & FOUNDER wes@leafmagazines.com

MIKE RICKER OPERATING PARTNER ricker@leafmagazines.com

TOM BOWERS CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER tom@leafmagazines.com

DANIEL BERMAN CREATIVE DIRECTOR daniel@leafmagazines.com

AMANDA DAY STATE CONTENT DIRECTOR amanda@leafmagazines.com

MAKANI NELSON STATE SALES DIRECTOR makani@leafmagazines.com (808) 754-4182

O’HARA SHIPE ONLINE EDITOR ohara@leafmagazines.com

MEGHAN RIDLEY COPY EDITOR meghan@leafmagazines.com

CORTNEY “BUBBLES” DONACA

COMMUNITY & BRAND ENGAGEMENT COORDINATOR bubbles@leafmagazines.com

CONTRIBUTORS

WES ABNEY, REVIEWS

DANIEL BERMAN, PHOTOS

BOBBY BLACK, DESIGN + FEATURES

JOSHUA BOULET, ILLUSTRATION

TOM BOWERS, FEATURES

KETI CHIKHLADZE, PHOTOS

KATELYN COLLINS, FEATURES

AMANDA DAY, FEATURES + PHOTOS

CORTNEY “BUBBLES” DONACA, REVIEWS

STEVE ELLIOTT, NATIONAL NEWS

RYAN HERRON, FEATURES

KATE HIGBY, MODELING

MALINA LOPEZ, STYLING

MAKANI NELSON, REVIEWS

MIKE RICKER, FEATURES

MEGHAN RIDLEY, EDITING

RYAN SANETEL, FEATURES

TONY SIMONELLI, PHOTOS

DIANA THOMPSON, PHOTOS

BRUCE WOLF, PHOTOS

LAURIE WOLF, RECIPES

Editor’s Note WES ABNEY

Thanks for picking up the Weed & Wellness Issue of the Leaf! The classic saying that health is wealth is more poignant than ever as we find ourselves in a new year of uncertainty following a global pandemic – which is why we chose to focus our first issue of 2023 on all the ways that Cannabis can help add to a healthy lifestyle.

As a child of the DARE era I was told that Cannabis was bad for you, could cause cancer, and tons of other drug war propagandized lies. But from my first toke, I’ve known that Cannabis made me and others around me feel better! This is now evident with stories told in the Leaf from people all over the world whose lives have been improved by access to our favorite plant. And now we are finding new and interesting ways to integrate Cannabis into our lives…

From pre and post workout routines to our sexual lives, Cannabis can make fun activities even more enjoyable! And those struggling with addiction to substances like alcohol, pharmaceuticals or other drugs, can find relief in Cannabis and remove the negative input by replacing it with plant powered medicine. It’s truly amazing what the right dose of terpenes and cannabinoids can do, and I hope that this issue inspires you to think about Cannabis beyond getting high – and to explore how it can help your life or those of your loved ones.

Just as a joint should be shared to be fully enjoyed, so must be the information about how Cannabis helps improve lives. By now most of America knows that smoking weed isn’t really dangerous, and a lot of people have experienced the joy of picking out a strain at a dispensary and trying it legally. But what America and our global community need to wake up to is how many pills Cannabis can replace, and how many diseases, health issues and addiction problems can be solved with the plant that was once considered the most dangerous drug of all.

But after all, the most dangerous part of Cannabis is the fact that it disrupts the pharmaceutical industry agenda, is safer than alcohol, and opens minds instead of clouding them. The scariest thing about the pay-for-play healthcare system in America is the idea that a plant grown in the backyard can replace half the medicine cabinet. Growing your own medicine and having access to it from trusted sources in medicinally oriented products is the epitome of health autonomy, and we are all blessed to live in a time where Cannabis is once again leading the pharmacological movement towards natural, safer medicines.

So the next time you smoke weed for a headache, use a topical for back pain or have a friend complaining about sleep issues, suggest a specialized Cannabis product or a strain that has helped you. That’s how we plant seeds of change and help the people we love to embrace the plant we can all benefit from!

NORTHWEST LEAF / OREGON LEAF / ALASKA LEAF / MARYLAND LEAF / CALIFORNIA LEAF / NORTHEAST LEAF

“JUST AS A JOINT SHOULD BE SHARED TO BE FULLY ENJOYED, SO MUST BE THE INFORMATION ABOUT HOW CANNABIS HELPS IMPROVE LIVES.”

Cover Photo by Keti Chikhladze @immigrantstoner

Wardrobe & Set by Malina Lopez @malinalopez Cannabis & Yoga Modeling by Kate Higby @mediiikate

Direction by Daniel Berman @bermanphotos

Oregon Leaf Budtender of the Month

TINIBRUCE

She’s experienced the wellness that topicals bring to her tendonitis, so Tini is committed to sharing the benefits of Cannabis with those around her. Whether at Love Buzz in Portland or with a group of friends over some Cards Against Humanity, her passion for the plant and for others always results in bringing the two together.

WHAT DOES WELLNESS MEAN TO YOU? It means pain-free and easy-going … you know, so you don’t freak out on everyone. It makes it [life] livable! I have tendonitis in both of my hands, so my lotions and topicals are number one, everyday, especially when it’s cold. High Desert Pure is awesome for helping my hands not cramp and be able to serve the people all day. Even though Cannabis can affect everyone so differently, I just want to make sure everybody has what they need and I want it to work for them – like my topicals do for me!

DO YOU FEEL LIKE CANNABIS IS SOCIALLY ACCEPTABLE HERE, YET? I think it has become more socially acceptable, yes … being a teen mom back then, it was hard being a Cannabis smoker – thinking I could get my kid taken away from me. But now, when I go to my kids’ parent-teacher conference and they ask what I do for a living, I’m always like ‘uhhh, Cannabis’ – and they respond positively. So, yeah … definitely has become much more acceptable.

IT’S THE END OF A STRESSFUL DAY AND YOU WANT TO PARTAKE IN SOME SELF-CARE ACTIVITIES — WHAT ARE YOU DOING? Crime shows and an edible! Any murder mystery, serial killers, all of it … on an edible like the Hapy Kitchen brownie and put it in the air fryer. Also, I love any joint that is infused and dipped in oil and rolled in kief … oooh, I’ll call it good!

YOU’RE IN A ROTATION OF FIVE OF YOUR CLOSEST FRIENDS: HOW ARE YOU INDULGING AND WHAT ACTIVITY IS GOING ON? Cards Against Humanity and a joint rolled by yours truly in my roller. Also, Kings Cup kind of thing, except using our own rules … like confessions of a petty kind, where everyone confesses something petty they’ve done or has been done to them … like I had an old roommate take my shower rings off my shower curtain.

TINI FACTS | Her favorite time of the year is summer, where you’ll find her going on stoney hikes to Silver Falls.

HOW CAN CANNABIS CONTINUE TO BECOME MORE SOCIALLY ACCEPTABLE? Speaking out! You have to speak out and let people know what Cannabis can do for you and everyone. If no one speaks out, no one knows!

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON CANNABIS SOCIAL EVENTS? There’s little-to-no places that offer social consumption events. We need more places! If we can have bars out the wazoo, then we should be able to have designated Cannabis consumption places. I can also take shots until 2-2:30 a.m., yet I can’t get a joint past 10 p.m. All I want to do is smoke a joint and eat my late night pizza! Like what about the people who get off late, super early, or night-shift people? Safe spaces are so needed for all types.

From making sure the rotation is always supplied to being the best mama she can be, Tini strives to be the greatest source of help possible.

“I JUST WANT TO MAKE SURE EVERYBODY HAS WHAT THEY NEED AND I WANT IT TO WORK FOR THEM – LIKE MY TOPICALS DO FOR ME!”

ZUNI FARM

ZUNI FARM

ONLY A 10-MINUTE DRIVE FROM DOWNTOWN, Zuni upholds its farmstead name by offering fresh flowers in a rural setting right down the road from the Zuni Farm. The dispensary opened on October 8, 2022 and already has a customer base of locals that love both them and their carefully-curated flower selection.

“The farmstand concept, or part of the retail concept, was not only to be able to buy Zuni products directly, but also to create a unique consumer experience like a farmers market where people can get to know who is growing their weed,” explains owner Michael Horner. “We want to give the farmers a chance to tell their brand story to our customers and build more direct-to-consumer relationships.”

One unique attribute of Zuni Farm Stand is that it has a Feature Farm Wall to showcase its vendors. Located immediately to your right upon entering the building you’ll find it highlighting one company at a time, creating a space for producers and processors to tell their stories.

While checking out their feature wall, I learned that Jennifer, aka Zuni, is working on another section to share their story. She has pictures of herself as a young kid carrying five-gallon buckets up the side of the hill that they want to share. The wall will include pictures of her parents sitting around trimming weed and album covers from the ‘60s and ‘70s. “We WANT to tell the story. We WANT to be the heart of Cannabis and the heritage industry,” Michael exudes. When I asked if they had a motto or mantra, he instantly looked over to Sam (one of the budtenders) and asked, “Hey Sam! What’s our mantra?” She turned to me and asked, “What are you smoking on today!?” This interaction was the perfect segue to a conversation about their

flower selection, where every option they presented to me was gorgeous and bursting with terpy excellence.

“The backbone of a good dispensary is a great flower selection,” explains Michael. And with the wonderful group of lady budtenders I met while perusing their selection, there’s no doubt that they’ll help you find the perfect flower for you.

Savanna worked at Zuni Farm and always wanted to work at a dispensary, so when Zuni Farm Stand came to fruition, she took her knowledge from the farm and directed it to the storefront – where she is now the intake manager. Savanna and Sam were the first employees at Zuni Farm Stand and helped build the very store we visited.

While they don’t currently have their medical endorsement, they offer a discount to patients and are working on getting their medical endorsement from the OLCC.

“We are strong supporters of the idea that this [Cannabis] is hands down the best treatment for returning warriors with PTSD,” Michael explains. Putting their money where their mouth is, Zuni kicked off its Veteran’s Day by donating 25% of the weekend’s proceeds to the Wounded Warrior Project.

“In a world of 10-second sound bytes … people may not even know this about themselves, but we are all craving the genuine,” says Michael. “If we can be genuine and create that experience for people, then we will be successful. The caveat to that … I have to do what I said, I have to be genuine, I have to be real and care about what we are doing and the people that we are serving. If we do all of that, then success is a given.”

Zuni Farm Stand, lovingly named after the childhood nickname of the owner’s wife, is located just on the outskirts of Grant’s Pass in the Redwood area.

Do not operate a vehicle or machinery under the influence of this drug.

For use only by adults 21 years of age and older. Keep out of the reach of children.

Take care of the planet while you take care of yourself.

Our products feel different because they are made differently. We specialize in lipid infusions of cannabis. Inspired by a traditional herbalist method of steeping herbs in fats or oils, our proprietary infusion process produces a sparkling-clear, golden-colored oil that is mild tasting and highly bioavailable without using unhealthy solvents or gimmicky tech. This simple process captures the exceptional chemical diversity of Oregon’s best regenerativelygrown sungrown cannabis, preserving a full-spectrum of naturallyoccuring cannabinoids and terpenes.

We are proud to be the world's first Sun+Earth Certified manufacturer. Sun+Earth certifies cannabis that is grown under the sun, in the soil of mother earth, without chemicals, by fairly-paid farmers.

Retailers, please order on Leaflink, or email: sales@luminousbotanicals.com

HIGHLY CULTIVATED

One of the oldest industrial buildings in downtown Medford houses Highly Cultivated, a Tier II indoor grow operation repurposing the historic location with a new age vibe.

Owner Jake Warshawsky had spent every day of the last 15 years with plants … but after running into issues with a previous endeavor, he decided it was time to switch things up.

It was during this time towards the end of 2021 that the “redemption grow” Highly Cultivated emerged. With a crew of 10, three owners, two managers, two salespeople and three employees, this tight-knit group has quickly made an impression on the Rogue Valley.

The building is massive and has gorgeous, healthy plants behind every door. Jake tells me there are three flowering rooms and one veg room on site. The largest room has an impressive 84 lights overhead, where young plants cover every table

With the help of good ol’ technology, Highly Cultivated keeps a very close eye on their Cannabis. Every few feet are small computer stations monitoring the plants, all of which connect to a more extensive system that tracks and data-logs information on their daily cycles – ensuring the crew at HC is always informed on the status of their cultivation.

PERFECT FLUSH

THINGS

-OWNER JAKE WARSHAWSKY

While visiting, Jake grabbed his phone and showed me the line graphs of when the plants were metabolizing water, as opposed to when they were metabolizing nutrients. He explained that they utilize precision irrigation to maintain control and “switch up nutrient profiles at the click of a phone.”

“A perfect flush is one of the most cherished things in gardening … by the end of the cycle, you can drink the water in here,” said Jake.

Having a background in amended soils and organic growing, Jake admits that this differs from how he has done things in the past. In an industry with many options for growing mediums, HC has decided to take a dirtless approach: using spun rock (or rock wool) and precision irrigation, they can monitor and control every aspect of their grow.

While perusing the facility, so many exceptional cultivars – RS 11, Glazed Apricot Gelato and Delta Diamonds – caught my eye. As HC does not use mother plants, they are constantly rotating in new genetics. Jake even spilled the beans about the latest seeds he’s popped, including some heat from Piff Coast and Wizard Trees.

As we talked more, it was clear that the HC crew has a wide circle of friends who frequently share their genetics. But when it comes to Jake’s top three, Seed Junky, Grandiflora Genetics and Lit Farms are his favorites.

“It’s tough being a breeder in Cannabis because your work isn’t finished by you,” Jake explained. “You do half the work and hand it off to someone else … The people who have made genetics that have been the most special [in terms of profiles that have changed the industry], those are the people that I look up to. When Runtz made Runtz or when Seed Junky has made any number of his strains … they changed the industry.”

“I don’t believe in dogma,” Jake concluded. “I’ve taken all of this knowledge and assimilated it with intuition (that took me 15 years of touching plants every day of my life), and put them together. So far, the result of that has been good yields, high THC, and high terpene results.”

Who could ask for more than that?

“A

IS ONE OF THE MOST CHERISHED

IN GARDENING … BY THE END OF THE CYCLE, YOU CAN DRINK THE WATER IN HERE. ”

GRAPE GAS DELTA DIAMONDS

JOKERS

luminousbotanicals

WHILE HELPING TO

CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS MORE ENVIRONMENTALLY

DEVAN ANTHONY AND SALLY ALWORTH SAW THE BENEFITS OF CANNABIS CONCENTRATES FIRSTHAND. With a tweaked back, Devan began using a powerful CBD-dominant regimen that helped tremendously and before long, the two saw the opportunity for an easy-to-dose standardized infusion. By fall of 2014, they were selling their tonics to Oregon’s burgeoning medical market. We recently visited their facility in Portland to get a glimpse behind the scenes and talk to the two business partners about what makes Luminous stand out.

What was the goal back when you started Luminous Botanicals?

DEVAN: Neither of us got into this because we thought that we were going to be fantastically wealthy. We set out to build a business that supported the lives we wanted to live while also giving back to our community in a positive way – and we ended up affecting people in really powerful ways.

SALLY: We pride ourselves on using traditional methods that come out of hundreds of years of Cannabis use. Cleaning them up for commercial distribution, and using the opportunity to spread the word about regenerative organic Cannabis.

What inspired you to take the risk and scale up?

S: The feedback when people tried our products. They say, ‘Wow, this worked in a way that I was not expecting!’ Most people who find our products, stick with them.

I think that speaks to your careful sourcing of flower for the products.

S: Entirely, until our relationship with Eastfork, we were cultivating all of the Cannabis that went into our products ourselves.

D: For me, Cannabis is a plant that opens the door to realizing, in a very intimate and powerful way, the interconnectivity of all living things. It feels better to know that the product you’re consuming was grown with respect, in a way that honors and celebrates that.

What will be the greatest challenges for Luminous in 2023?

S: Support. The reality is that consumers have all the power to support these craft businesses. We know that in Oregon especially, there are a ton of people who are shopping organic at the grocery store, and they’re spending the extra couple of bucks to get spectacular coffee or great craft beer. What excites us is that we’re finally starting to see people bring those values back into the dispensaries.

ALWORTH & DEVAN ANTHONY

“We pride ourselves on using traditional methods that come out of hundreds of years of Cannabis use,” remarked Co-founder Sally Alworth.

SALLY

MAKE NEW

FRIENDLY,

Dr. Paula Noel Macfie

DR. PAULA NOEL MACFIE is an independent researcher who has specialized in “decolonizing methodologies and indigenous science” for more than 27 years.

She has a Ph.D. in Recovery of The Indigenous Mind from the California Institute of Integral Studies, a background in research, and plenty of personal experience as a patient of the plant.

Her roles on the Oregon Cannabis Commission’s Patient Equity and Research Subcommittees are just the beginning of her dedication to the aforementioned causes, and through her company Back Door Medicine, LLC, she’s furthering her mission by bridging “people with Cannabis suppository knowledge, indigenous science research knowledge, and Cannabis product accessibility to low income and people with disabilities through a decolonization lens.”

a way that could combat any of his cancer. After he passed away, I gave birth and was suffering from a fissure. Nothing naturopathic or pharmaceutical was helping. I was dying and I just started thinking. I got online, started digging around, and came across an article on Tommy Chong and his use of suppositories for cancer.

Tell me about your work with the Patient Equity Subcommittee. Do you feel that there has been progress? Through my two years on the research subcommittee, I’ve brought a decolonizing framework with a bicultural research model to reframe how we research and talk about Cannabis. That includes Indigenous Science and Indigenous Mind. On the state level, the Oregon Cannabis Commission is putting it on the forefront. On the city level … I was on a team for two months and the city completely removed me on every level. They want to stay functioning in dysfunction and toxicity because they’re getting money, power and control from it. And Portland’s been functioning this way for a very long time.

“Everything that I’ve done in Cannabis has come from a place of my own suffering and my journey.”

What is your personal relationship with Cannabis? The plant is who I work for. It’s my boss. It’s a way to communicate with my creator, the natural world, and with the animal kingdom. The plant allows me to have a self-sufficiency for my health. It allows me to treat many conditions: a brain injury from a baseball bat to my forehead when I was six, a multiple sclerosis diagnosis, an ADHD diagnosis, an Asperger’s diagnosis, and some PTSD from unlawful imprisonment and abuse.

I’m a genetic anomaly. I have contraindications to almost all the drugs and pharmaceuticals that are thrown at me. Doctors don’t know what to do with me. So I solely rely on plant medicine and plant nutrition for all the conditions.

What inspired you to create and patent your own suppository mold? Everything that I’ve done in Cannabis has come from a place of my own suffering and my journey. Talking about my suffering brought me to an idea when I was at my worst. My brother had also just passed away from rectal cancer and [before he passed] I had done research and found Rick Simpson Oil. But I didn’t know how to get it in his body in

As a researcher, where do you see colonization’s effect on the Cannabis industry and its community? Just the word ‘industry.’ It’s even the language that we choose to use when we talk about Cannabis. I intentionally try not to use ‘Cannabis industry’ in the same sentence. It’s so highly colonizing of this plant medicine to industrialize the process, to package it, to dissect it too. They’re doing the same thing with psilocybin.

In what ways do you hope to see Oregon’s Cannabis Commission improve patient equity in the coming years? My personal mission is to make the [OMMP] card fee for people on disability the same as the fee for veterans or people who are on SSI. They all need to be $20. People on disability should not be paying triple the amount that a vet or person on SSI is paying. We spend more money on medical care than the average person and have very limited and fixed disability income. So that [reduced fee] is back on the table and being pushed pretty hard.

FLIGHT LOUNGE CAFÉ LEIAFLYNN &JOSHUAYOUNG

This member-only brunch hangout is happily serving the community today, despite facing the difficulties of opening weeks before the beginning of the COVID pandemic.

By offering a safe space to practice Cannabis use, these two have brought a stoner’s dream to life. Whether you’re a medical patient or a first-time tourist, Leia tells us that Flight Lounge PDX strives to create an environment that promotes “coffee and conversation.”

Being a longtime activist for Cannabis and social acceptance, Leia has always envisioned the ability for people to come together comfortably and smoke with a side of tea or some munchies (like the different types of cereal they offer at the café). Joshua has similar passions and brings a level of business acumen along with it. He helped to see this through in an effort to bring the community together.

“We knew that part of the health benefits of Cannabis is the conversations you get into because of it,” explains Joshua.

From running the front to manning the grill and tables, these two are the only friendly faces you’ll see working at the Flight Lounge Café and Flight Lounge O.C. (Oregon City). While their café only offers food, the Oregon City location provides entertainment opportunities with a stage, pool table, local art, and other fun amenities. Whether you’re looking to have a “blunch” (blunt with brunch) or a bong rip while you watch an open-mic night, one of their two locations is bound to have something for you and your crew. While both spots are B.Y.O.W., they assure that their members are provided with rolling trays, ashtrays, dab mats and all of the necessary accessories.

“Whether you’re looking to have a “blunch” (blunt with brunch) or a bong rip while you watch an open-mic night, one of their two locations is bound to have something for you and your crew.’

So, if you’re looking for a Cannabis-friendly environment in which to “experience Portland,” consider your search complete.

As Joshua says, “You’re going to find locals, tourists and the culture.” Sounds like the perfect place to say high and take flight.

A Stoner Owner is a Cannabis business owner who has a relationship with the plant. We want to buy and smoke Cannabis from companies that care about their products, employees and the plant. You wouldn’t buy food from a restaurant where the cooks don’t eat in the kitchen, so why buy corporate weed grown by a company only concerned with profits? Stoner Owner approval means a company cares, and we love weed grown with care. Let’s retake our culture and reshape a stigma by honoring those who grow, process and sell the best Cannabis possible.

IN A TIME when the world’s social connection was at its lowest, Leia Flynn and Joshua Young saw a need and opportunity for the social wellness of Cannabis to take flight. With their joint knowledge and passion, Flynn and Young opened up The Flight Lounge Café.

CULTIVATED BY FOCUS NORTH

HYPED-UP seed drops rarely deliver beyond the level of excitement they generate.

So when renowned breeders Cannarado and Compound Genetics teamed up for their Grape Gasoline line, it was going to be difficult to match the fever pitch from the fans.

But now that premier farms like Focus North have popped the seeds, we can exhale a heavy sigh of relief. When the results we’re seeing contain standouts like the Violet Fog blessing the pages of our Flower of the Month article, we know the collab was a success.

The crew from Focus North put it succinctly: “Well, Cannarado and Compound are two breeders that have always held space in gardens. So when they worked together to produce genetics, it was an easy decision to test them.”

The crew found a handful of keepers but zeroed in on one particular fruit-forward profile.

“Our selected pheno is very Grape Gasoline dominant – a terp that until now was always missing in our garden,” the team told us. And let’s just confirm that they knocked this batch out of the park … giving the loudest expression of any berryleaning profile my nose has ever encountered.

Admiring the chunky nugs in the jar, Violet Fog showcases muted purples and fitting violet hues, perfectly complementing its floral and “purple” aromas. A deep inhale reveals a complex bouquet of blackberry, blueberry and grape, plus a hint of musky leather. In a joint, these scents are carried over to the taste, with an added flavor reminiscent of those chalky wafer candies. The overall experience is further enhanced by a light floral top note and a hint of berry on the exhale.

But Violet Fog isn’t just about its sophisticated flavors and aromas. This strain also offers a restful, sleepy high that’s perfect for pregaming a long bath or settling in for a short movie. The effects are well-balanced, providing a sense of relaxation without overwhelming sedation.

Overall, Violet Fog is a musttry for any Cannabis aficionado looking for a flavorful and potent experience. Its unique blend of intense grape and rich diesel are a great complement to its calming effect. A standout in any garden or dispensary shelf, this one was worth the hype.

“The effects are well-balanced, providing a sense of relaxation without overwhelming sedation.”

THCV, or Tetrohydrocannabivarin, is a rare cannabinoid that has been sought after by breeders for many years.

THCV can reduce appetite and increase energy levels. It can also heighten the entourage e ect of THC.

VIVA THCV strains have been carefully bred for many years to isolate and magnify the natural production of THCV.

VIVA is an all natural THCV product.

VIVA THCV has not been synthetically manufactured or chemically altered.

BENEFITS: THCV

THCV is an appetite suppressant and is e ective at curbing the munchies.

THCV can increase energy levels. It can be used for active daily use.

THCV can aid in relieving stressful or nervous feelings.

THCV can increase focus and promote a clear-headed state of mind.

THCV can help facilitate favorable function of the nervous system.

THCV can promote wakefulness and alertness.

This product is not approved by the FDA to treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

Find Your Flow

When it comes to Yoga and Cannabis, inhale the future and exhale the past.

you’re someone who wants to stay fit and focused without having to leave the comfort of your home, then yoga may be the option for you. Practicing yoga regularly not only increases flexibility and builds strength – it also helps manage stress by quieting the chatter of the mind, allowing us to be more present, and deepening our mind-body connection, which can improve sleep and overall mental health. Yoga can also help reduce chronic pain, which is what initially got me onto the mat and, eventually, into becoming a teacher: I have slight scoliosis and two herniated discs in my spine, and yoga has definitely helped ease that pain and strengthen my body.

Over the years, I’ve seen an array of funky yoga trends: goat, nude, aerial, underwater, and even paddleboard yoga. One trend that’s not so funky, though, is Cannabis-infused yoga. Now, I’ve been a certified yoga instructor since 2004, but I’ve been a certified stoner my entire life, so you can believe me when I tell you that Cannabis and yoga are a very complimentary combination. In the past several years, tons of online and in-person classes, teacher trainings and wellness retreats offering Cannabis-enhanced yoga have popped up – including a few of my own (I provide yoga at all of my Higher Way Travel retreats and events, and often offer my yoga clients a Cannabis option before classes).

There are several ways to incorporate Cannabis into your yoga practice. A great place to start is to apply a topical to areas on your body that might need some extra love before starting your session. You can try one with a 1:1 ratio of THC to CBD or even a CBD-only topical if you prefer. You can always take a few hits from a joint before you hit the mat as well. Or you could enjoy an edible or infused beverage beforehand … that way, the high will kick in gradually as

your practice progresses – making your savasana (the meditative relaxation time at the end of the session) extra sweet.

And if you’re feeling the burn after your practice, an infused bath bomb is always a great way to soothe sore muscles.

Does some stoney yoga sound like an enjoyable experience to you? Consider the following for getting comfortable and further enhancing your time on the mat:

– If you want to see how you feel first, try an online ganja yoga class in the comfort of your own home before attending one in person.

– You may want to adjust the type and amount of Cannabis product you use, depending on what kind of yoga you choose to do. For beginners, I recommend sticking to basic classes like Hatha or Yin yoga –two styles where you move slowly and deliberately. Think lots of floor asanas (poses), hip openers, twists and stretches. A more vigorous vinyasa (flow) style class while high could result in dizziness, a racy heart, or feeling lightheaded (so dabs and Sun Salutations may not be the best combo!).

– Remember: It all depends on the person and their individual tolerance and fitness level – everyone is different. But regardless of what/how you choose to imbibe, always follow the classic rule of thumb to go low and slow. You can always add more, but you can’t add less.

While not for everyone, a regular regimen of Cannabis and yoga can help us deal with life’s problems, make better choices in what we consume (such as news, food, negativity, mids, etc.), and lead to a better relationship with yourself, your loved ones, and the Earth. Most importantly, though, combining yoga and Cannabis should be fun – so don’t take yourself too seriously and just go with your flow.

STORY by APRIL BLACK @HIGHERWAYTRAVEL for LEAF NATION | PHOTO by KETI CHIKHLADZE

Seattle, WA-based model and Cannabis yoga enthusiast Kate Higby @mediiikate demonstrates the lotus pose. Props, Wardrobe and Set Design by Malina Lopez @artbymalina. | Art direction by Daniel Berman @bermanphotos

“There are several ways to incorporate Cannabis into your yoga practice. A great place to start is to apply a topical to areas on your body that might need some extra love before starting your session.”

Talkin’Terps

ASresearch advances and the Cannabis market matures, more brands are ditching broad decades-old classification terms like “indica vs. sativa.” Instead, today’s packaging comes with two more important words: dominant terpenes.

While more seasoned smokers may understand these scientific terms and their meaning, talking terpenes isn’t always an easy language to become fluent in. This type of higher education takes expert help and can quickly overwhelm rookie rollers or the newly canna-curious.

To get advice on how consumers can conquer these complexities, we linked up with Jamila Owens-Todd – a Naturopathic Doctor, Adjunct Professor of Cannabis Pharmacology, and Chief Science Officer of a medical Cannabis manufacturer.

The answer involves using aromatherapy to experience the wellness benefits of terpenes, and you only need one tool: your nose.

Aromatherapy is the practice of using chemical compounds called aromatics for therapeutic benefit. This link between scent and mood explains why a fresh pot of coffee brewing can wake you up in the morning or how the soothing smell

MYRCENE

Aroma: musky and earthy

Feels: soothing and sedative Found in: Granddaddy Purple, Grape Ape, OG Kush

LIMONENE

Aroma: citrusy and clean

Feels: uplifting and euphoric Found in: Do-Si-Dos, MAC, Sundae Driver

of lavender before bed makes you sleepy.

In the Cannabis plant, terpenes are one of the elements that impact not only a strain’s fragrance and flavor, but also the way it makes you feel.

“Terpenes are essential oils. They’re aromatic, volatile molecules, and the way we receive many of their benefits is through inhalation,” explains Jamila. “So I would just start there and let the nose lead you. The fact that you’re able to inhale, ignite those nasal passageways, and get the nervous system engaged simply from smelling the flower is really all you need. If you have five different types of strains in front of you, smell each one. The one that resonates with you the most, that is your flower.”

But what if you live in a state or shop at a dispensary that doesn’t allow you to smell the product before purchasing it? Jamila went on to explain how you can take the power of scent a step further to elevate your smoking experience once you’ve taken your haul home. By understanding the connection between scent and terpenes, you can actually guide your Cannabis consumption throughout the day based on mood, environment and desired effects.

Let’s say you wake up with a long list of tasks looming over

your head. You may want to start the day with a strain that immediately makes you feel uplifted and euphoric after taking a big whiff – this likely tingles the nostrils and is high in limonene. After powering through a few productive hours of work, you take another smoke break, this time with a cultivar high in pinene such as OG Kush. It smells fresh and crisp, and in turn helps you feel focused, cerebral and ready to crush the afternoon – much like a mental walk through the woods. After you finally look up from the laptop, the day has already turned to dusk and it’s time to unwind with a high-linalool strain like Lavender Diesel that is soothing, herbaceous and gentle on the exhale before hitting the hay.

Listening to our nose is a huge part of connecting your mind, body and spirit through Cannabis. This approach gives us a deeper relationship with the plant, allowing us to welcome all the wellness benefits it can provide. As Jamila put it, “Before you even start to spark up your flower, just take a good whiff. … Let the nose lead you … is the plant selecting you, or are you selecting the plant? If you allow yourself to be vulnerable in that way and just take that smell in, you’ve already engaged in terpene medicine. And then, once you ignite the flower, you get even more benefits of that aroma and those terpenes.”

LINALOOL

Aroma: floral and fresh Feels: relaxing and restful Found in: Lavender Kush, Amnesia Haze, Tropicanna Punch

CARYOPHYLLENE

Aroma: black pepper, cinnamon

Feels: calming and tranquil Found in: GG#4, Sour Diesel, Slurricane

PINENE

Aroma: sharp and woodsy

Feels: energizing and focused Found in: Critical Mass, Dutch Treat, Larry OG

STORY by KATHERINE WOLF

OCIMENE

Aroma: minty and zesty

Feels: refreshing and creative Found in: Green Crack, Golden Goat, Strawberry Cough

“In the Cannabis plant, terpenes are one of the elements that impact not only a strain’s fragrance and flavor, but also the way it makes you feel.”

Unlocking the Wellness Benefits of Terpenes Through Aromatherapy

On Your Grind

The unique terpenoids, terpenes and cannabinoids in Cannabis genetics impact how they will taste, smell and make us feel. Strains with bright, uplifting aromas such as lemon or mint have energizing effects that can help refresh the brain in between tasks on your to-do list. On the flip side, smoking a strain that is heavy and gassy on the nose will likely have you dozing off during your next meeting.

We sat down with the “Beerded Krakin,” co-founder of Krakin Seeds and partner at the legendary Washington brand PNW Roots, to get more insight into how particular Cannabis genetics can be used throughout the workday to give your brain a boost. “I smoke morning, noon and night,” he tells us. “On the farm, we work for about two or three hours, then will take a smoke break. That’s definitely part of my regimen.”

When asked if there are any particular genetic profiles or traits of certain Cannabis strains that lend themselves to creativity, he had this to say:

Using Cannabis to Infuse Your Workday With Creativity

MARY JANE HAS BEEN A MUSE

to a whole slew of creative geniuses –from Paul McCartney admitting “Got to Get You Into My Life” was written about weed rather than a woman, to Seth Rogen saying he smokes during script writing, to Steve Jobs claiming that hashish made him feel more “relaxed and creative” in the ’70s.

While Cannabis has had a reputation for being a creative juicer amongst musicians, artists and inventors since basically the beginning of time, modern professionals in a variety of roles and industries are now using weed to get through the everyday workday.

Move on over, software platforms and high-tech devices – ganja is the latest gadget to hit the workplace. This mainstream movement of working with weed can be attributed to changes in both how we work and how Cannabis is perceived. The physical office went digital and this shift to remote work

also shifted our mindsets about work/life balance, giving us more flexibility and freedom throughout our workdays. Paired with the fact that nearly half of Americans now live in a state where Cannabis is legal in some capacity, more people than ever are exploring its relationship to their careers.

Whether you’re trying to bust through a case of writer’s block, come up with an attention-grabbing marketing campaign, or find an out-of-the-box solution to an old problem, getting a little stoned has been known to help get the ideas flowing.

So, can Cannabis actually boost your creativity? Well, research shows that employees who take frequent breaks are consistently more productive than those who don’t. This is because the human brain works in bursts of high activity before switching to low activity to rest and recoup for a while.

This is when it’s the best time to take a break and toke up … but it’s important to be strategic about which strain you’re choosing.

“You don’t want anything too heavy, so something on the fruit side, say with a tangerine, lemon or blueberry flavor profile. That has always helped me with my creative juices, whether it’s work or play. Our Tangelo Sno (Tangerine Power x Sno Cap) is my go-to strain in the morning. It’s got this great haziness and strong citrus flavor, which really wakes me up and is perfect for getting the workday going.”

There’s another hazy hitter in the Beerded Krakin’s creative lineup that their team has been smoking a lot of lately: Ghost Train Haze.

“It really keeps everyone awake and not burned out at all,” he explains.“

So I would say that’s my number one pick right now for getting the creative juices flowing versus a more couchlock effect. I would definitely go for anything on the Haze route if I was looking for motivation or creativity.”

“Ganja is the latest gadget to hit the workplace.”

ADOBE STOCK

Mary Jane, Medicine Woman

Exploring the ancient relationship between weed and women’s health with Dr. Celeste Saenz.

What inspired you to specialize in holistic women’s health care? My great grandmother was a midwife and a healer from Mexico City. She got her gynecology medical degree, but in Mexican culture it’s all about what I would call ‘kitchen medicine,’ because there’s not very much money or access. She would babysit me until I was about 10 or 12, and I was exposed to her way. She did the kind of midwifery thing: birthing children and stuff in her home, which is really cool. I know it was just a blessing to be exposed there. She would see her patients and always had food going … After seeing to their needs, she would sit her patients down and they would have a meal. She would take a couple of notes, and so it would almost just look like a traditional visit.

What gaps in women’s healthcare do you see in conventional or mainstream medicine? I think the most fundamental gap is the time that we spend with our patients. In women’s health especially, it is kind of detective work and very individualized care … every woman’s body is uniquely experiencing her hormonal shifts, or things like sleep and diet.

Have you had experience with pregnant patients using Cannabis? Most of my pregnant patients – I would say those that are Cannabis users – continue to use throughout their pregnancy in different ways and forms, especially CBD topicals. When I prescribe something to my pregnant patients, it’s mostly CBD topicals used on their hips, knees or back, or something to help them sleep. I have a lot of colleagues that are CBD advocates or marijuana advocates – and have been pregnant – and they use marijuana all the time throughout pregnancy.

WOMEN’S HEALTH holds a host of wonder and woe. You can wash these words down with a glass of confidence, knowing they’ve been penned by a person of the uterus-possessing persuasion – one writer that (ripening into her 30s and the pressures of modern society) is increasingly surrounded by the mysteries of Mary Jane and the female body. So, we sat down with Dr. Celeste Saenz of Vitalis Naturopathic Centre in Seattle – a primary care physician and naturopath with a doctorate from Seattle’s renowned Bastyr University and 15 years of experience – for a little perspective.

For the last five years, Dr. Saenz has seen 20-40 patients per week at her clinic Vitalis. While she welcomes all clients, her specialty is in women’s health with a focus on “foundational medicine like food, sleep, nutrition and counseling.” Her day-to-day practice involves bloodwork, functional analysis, homeopathic and energetic medicine, but as we learned quickly, Dr. Saenz draws from a rich history of holistic and matriarchal medicine.

VITALIS NATUROPATHIC CENTRE, INC. 5020 MERIDIAN AVE N SEATTLE, WA VITALISINC.COM | @SHELLESTE

What women’s wellness issue needs more attention? I think the sleep issue is getting pretty bad these days: sleep, detox and stress management. Rounding out stress needs to be addressed on a kind of spiritual and personal level. I think women have, in some ways, lost the artform of de-stressing. I think the rounding out of the stress, or the lack of valuing that, has really made a huge difference in women’s PMS, menstrual cycles, sleep and weight. It changes the rhythm of a woman’s body. Sleep is the first thing that a lot of my new patients are coming in to talk about. They come in like, ‘How do I get to sleep? I’m so stressed out!’ It’s sort of common right now. Biochemically, their cortisol levels are too high.

Do you incorporate Cannabis into any of your practices or treatments? Most people, especially in Seattle, come in and Cannabis is a part of their repertoire, so I’ll sort of help to tweak that or communicate to optimize their experience. And the old school treatments of putting marijuana in some alcohol and using it as muscle rub is something I used to prescribe for many years. But now we’ve got so many amazing local topical products, it’s incredible!

Cannabis use and pregnancy still stir up some controversy, but the plant has been a tool in ‘kitchen medicine’ kits like your great grandmother’s for ages. Why do you think that is? It’s the most ancient medicine. This is an old herb. This is a female ovary plant and we’re using this medicine with lots of oils – it’s almost like a milk (laughs) and we’ve been using it as pain relief and emotional support for so long. It’s old and so is mothering! They’ve been evolving together for a while and go hand in hand. My great grandmother was using that [Cannabis] topically, and I’m pretty sure she would use some of it internally when necessary with nausea or even psychosis. Pregnancy can bring a lot of emotional components out. So a little bit of internal use is valid when necessary. Again, it’s so individualized but I’m not shy about that. It’s a taboo topic for some, so I don’t start there unless the patient is already there. Then I help triage that further.

“When I prescribe something to my pregnant patients, it’s mostly CBD topicals used on their hips, knees or back, or something to help them sleep.”

Replacing The Ritual

How Cannabis can be a healthier alternative to regularly consuming alcohol.

For many people, Cannabis helps with everyday issues. It can ease social anxiety, spark creativity, fight pain, calm nausea. For others, Cannabis can be a literal life saver. Sean Scott is in the latter camp.

A few years back, the New York-based photographer found himself facing a tough truth about his lifestyle. While working at a tech company, what started with casual drinks after work developed into a self-destructive spiral.

“It was a great social lubricant,” Scott said. “It wasn’t a problem until it was. I always showed up to work, I didn’t drink on the job, I didn’t get into a fistfight. There were all these things that made me actually believe that it isn’t as bad as it actually is.”

He started experiencing blackouts. Still, he continued to tell himself that he was fine, and that he was able to maintain. Then a roommate showed him a video of himself that changed his life.

“I’d gone down to the bar, had about five or six cocktails, cashed out, came home, fell asleep on the couch,” he said. “I remember being really proud of myself [for not drinking that much].”

Later, he found out he’d woken up, blacked out.

“My roommate caught video of me screaming my head off, about what I have no idea, because I had a great week. … Then I take a right turn and try to launch myself out of a 40-story window like an Avenger. No memory of it. … Luckily the windows are hurricane proof.”

Seeing that video woke Scott up to the stark realization that he needed to change his habits. He adopted a lifestyle that an increasingly large number of people are calling “California sober” – utilizing Cannabis and microdoses of psilocybin to help reprogram his mind, leaving alcohol behind.

“It’s not enough to create a psychedelic effect, but what it did do, was that it allowed me to deal with the issues of alcohol addiction in real time, rather than becoming a victim to this state of despair,” he said. “Alcohol really trains the brain to look at all the negatives. … Poor me, poor me, pour me another drink. [Psilocybin] especially allowed me to peel back the onion layers of what was going on with me internally that was driving me to go and drink. I’m talking about the ritual of going down to the bar to have just one.”

For Scott, it wasn’t only about consumption of Cannabis and psilocybin and the physical effects they provided. It was about transference of attention. It was about replacing the ritual.

“If you’re doing the ritual of going to the bar after work, and you’re drinking, over a period of time the neurons in your brain – that whole pathway – is getting stronger,” he said. “It’s like building a bicep. What will eventually happen is that you will find yourself saying, ‘I don’t want to go to the bar, and I don’t want to drink.’ But then five o’clock on Friday comes around, and now I have the pull of that ritual, because it’s five o’clock on Friday, that’s where everybody is. … Having a ritual to come home to – cleaning out the bowl, washing the bong – that’s a way to interrupt that whole cycle of going out to the bars.”

Because the Alcoholics Anonymous program would not allow for Cannabis consumption – they only allow for sugar, caffeine and nicotine – Scott turned to Instagram, posting his “Days Count” and started building a support network there.

Scott also took his interest in the bar life and poured it into a love for Cannabis photography and cultivation.

“For Scott, it wasn’t only about the consumption of Cannabis and psilocybin, and the physical effects they provided. It was about transference of attention. It was about replacing the ritual. ”

“Growing Cannabis was the thing that kept me sober,” he said. “Hand in soil.”

The act of caring for plants kept him steady. So did the fear of blacking out while caring for Cannabis plants then waking up in a holding cell.

Now, more than three years later, Scott is more than three years sober. He’s rediscovered a profound love for the plant that has only deepened after decades of being a Cannabis consumer. His love for life has been renewed. He’s able to go to bars with his friends without considering a drink. He’s found a Cannabis-assisted sobriety community online.

“There have been hundreds of Cannabis cultivators from around the country who have reached out to me and said, ‘You know what? I had a problem with alcohol, too. Cannabis helped me stay sober, and I’m celebrating 25 years this month,’” he said. “Hundreds. I don’t know what it is about growing the plant. I don’t know. All I know, from my personal experience, is that maybe it’s plant therapy. Maybe it’s keeping something alive. Maybe it’s the routine. Maybe it’s a combination of all of that. All I can say is that it’s made me a better person.”

Sean Scott, left, and one of the detailed bud shots he’s known for, right.

Clear The Chaos

In a University of Chicago study in May of 2022, scientists tested brain function while under the influence of Cannabis and it showed that there was increased activity of alpha and theta waves after consuming THC. So, when you’re meditating on Cannabis, you’re activating both of those brain waves simultaneously, heightening the experience.

Motion. Can you hear it? It’s everywhere. Everything we know is in constant movement … and movement creates noise. This is part of modern living, and without it, you become suspicious.

If you ask just about anyone, their Shangri La is somewhere quiet, devoid of distraction – a place where they can escape the rigors of life’s constant activity. At home, even if you turn off the television, draw the curtains and attempt to remove anything in your immediate vicinity that makes a sound, the HVAC unit will unexpectedly break the moment.

As you stay on point with the daily patterns that equate to your survival and growth, the basic human need for serenity, on some level – a place to center your existence – gets lost in the shuffle.

There is a solution. As much as your activities equate to a lifestyle that is filled with distractions demanding your attention, it’s not as much about relocating to somewhere you can hide from it all. It’s about a change in mindset. It’s about identifying your sanctuary, a place where you can recalibrate and begin again with a fresh outlook.

Because when it’s finally “me” time, you want to maximize the reward you’ve earned that equates to healing and improving your overall mental health. It’s not necessarily about entirely changing your vibration – it’s about tapping into a different frequency.

According to Nina Wasankari – a Certified Meditation Teacher, in addition to being Marketing Director at Canna West Seattle retail shop – the best way of getting to that place where you can clear the chaos starts with improving your ethos. And that begins with finding a way to create balance in your hectic life: balance within yourself and the over stimulation, tapping into a personal sense of calm.

“It’s about achieving stillness,” she says, “we all want it, and we all need it.”

For many it is so difficult to shut out the racing thoughts. So how can Cannabis be a factor in finding your own little sliver of nirvana?

“The word meditation is a Latin word that means ‘to ponder,’” says Wasankari. “And the practice of meditation goes back 6,000 years. The purpose was and still is, to alleviate suffering and to attain spiritual enlightenment. Cannabis has been around for 12,000 years for medicinal and spiritual purposes. The two combined can be a very effective combination.”

Coincidentally, when you’re meditating, alpha and theta brain waves are increased. The alpha waves put you in a mentally and physically relaxed state. Theta waves bring about inner concentration, awareness and focus, like daydreaming.

“There was a point where I didn’t feel like I was achieving the deep meditative state I wanted to get to,” says Wasankari. “After practicing for a while, I found that it was improving my mental and physical health. At the same time, I had been learning about high level meditation, but still, that deeper experience seemed to be eluding me. Then I tried combining the two and experienced something remarkable.”

She certainly wasn’t the first person to attempt this wonderful feat, but like with anything to do with Cannabis, the effects may vary depending on the person.

“It allowed me to achieve stillness,” she gleams, eager to further validate this discovery. “There’s this yoga/meditation called Kaya Sthairyam, which means body stillness. It’s being able to remain still for at least 30 minutes without moving the body. Well, Cannabis helped me achieve just that. After I ate an edible, I ended up in a very deep spiritual meditation for over an hour. I totally lost track of time. Since then, I’ve incorporated it into my practice.”

So, what about the beginner who loves the idea of disappearing into the ether for a quick reboot, but has difficulty even getting started? Begin by sitting still for at least five minutes a day. As you get more comfortable with the routine, you will gradually move forward to higher meditation levels. In fact, there are wonderful, guided meditations online that will direct you through the process, helping you to become the peaceful, calm, enlightened person the world wants to see. And if you need some help getting in the mood, you should begin “to ponder” the perfect strain to usher you into the right headspace.

STORY by MIKE RICKER

Photo by Nina Wasankari @guiltyartmusic

“It’s about achieving stillness. We all want it, we all need it.”

THE BEST COLLAB…. EVER

Over the past century, science has made enormous strides in identifying and understanding the hundreds of chemical compounds in the Cannabis plant and how they affect our physiology. And no man has done more to advance that noble cause than the internationally recognized “Father of Cannabis Research,” Israeli chemist Dr. Raphael Mechoulam.

THE CHEMISTRY OF CANNABINOIDS

EARLY CANNABIS RESEARCH

During the birth of modern medicine in the 19th century, scientific study of the chemical composition of Cannabis began to take off.

In the 1840s, researchers like French pharmacist (and Club de Hashischin affiliate) Edmond DeCourtive began making Cannabis extracts using ethanol – a concentrate he dubbed cannabin. From these kinds of extracts, chemists began identifying the molecules that would later come to be known as cannabinoids. In 1895, researchers Thomas Wood, W.T. Spivey, and Thomas Easterfield discovered and isolated the first cannabinoid, cannabinol (CBN) – publishing a paper about it in the Journal of Chemical Society in 1899 (though its chemical structure wasn’t fully identified until the 1930s, by British chemist Robert S. Cahn).

Unfortunately, the enactment of America’s Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 stymied Cannabis research for decades, with one notable exception: A Harvard-trained chemist named Roger Adams, who, in 1939, was actually tasked by the newly-formed Bureau of Narcotics with exploring the plant’s composition. In 1940, using the wild Minnesota hemp supplied by the Bureau, he became the first person to identify, isolate and synthesize cannabidiol, or CBD. Adams – who published 27 studies on Cannabis in the American Journal of Chemistry throughout the 1940s – also synthesized CBN and even identified tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), though he lacked the technology or technique to isolate it. It would be 20 years before another scientist would grab Adams’ academic baton and run with it: That scientist was Dr. Raphael Mechoulam.

FROM REFUGEE TO RESEARCHER

Raphael Mechoulam was born in 1930 in Sofia, Bulgaria, where his physician father was the head of the Jewish hospital. At the start of World War II, his family was forced to flee and move from village to village to escape the Nazis (his father later spent time in a concentration camp but survived) until emigrating to Israel in 1949. A student of organic chemistry, Mechoulam got his first experience with scientific research while studying insecticides during his stint in the Israeli Defense Forces.

After his service, Mechoulam earned a Master of Science in biochemistry from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (1952), followed by a Ph.D. from the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot (near Tel Aviv), and postdoctoral studies at the Rockefeller Institute in New York before returning to Israel to begin what would become his life’s work: the exploration of Cannabis chemistry.

CANNABIS CURIOSITY

Why Cannabis? According to Mechoulam, it was simply the lack of existing information on the topic that drew him to it. As he explained in a 2016 interview with Vice: “I realized the scarce chemical knowledge about the compounds in Cannabis. I found it very surprising: While morphine had been isolated from opium and cocaine from the coca leaf, no one had studied the chemistry of the marijuana plant. It was very odd.”

Due to prohibition, academics couldn’t get research grants involving Cannabis

The scientists who first discovered and studied cannabinoids.

and even feared prosecution for studying it. Luckily, that didn’t deter Mechoulam – despite the fact that Cannabis was illegal in Israel, he came up with an idea on how to get some. In 1962, he asked the director at the Weizmann Institute – where he was working as a junior faculty member – if he knew of any police who could supply hashish for research. As it turned out, the head of investigations at the national police happened to be one of the director’s old army buddies … and after vouching for the young scientist, the officer agreed.

Mechoulam hopped on a bus to a police station in Tel Aviv, where he was given five kilos of Moroccan hashish that had been intercepted while being smuggled in from Lebanon. He thanked the officers, put the hash in his bag, and got back on the bus. Of course, his parcel made for an interesting bus ride home, as he amusedly recalls in the award-winning 2015 documentary about him – “The Scientist” – saying, “People on the bus after 15, 20 minutes started asking, ‘What the hell is this very unusual smell?’”

Soon after, Mechoulam and the police learned that any requests for illegal substances required a permit from the Ministry of Health and that their transaction could actually land them all in prison. Nevertheless, after apologies were made, the matter was forgiven and Mechoulam continued to obtain hashish from the police (with a permit) for decades thereafter.

CBD, THC & THE NIH

After procuring the hash, the next step was to secure some funding. Mechoulam applied for a research grant from the National Institutes of Health in America but was rejected out of hand.

“They told me, ‘It’s not relevant. Nobody smokes marijuana in the U.S. – people do it in Mexico,’” he recalls.

Nevertheless, Mechoulam and his colleagues (Dr. Yehiel Gaoni and Dr. Haviv Edery) began their in-depth study of the hash’s various compounds and cannabinoids (a term which Mechoulam coined). First, in 1963, they isolated CBD and mapped its molecular structure. Then, the following year, using a nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer, they were able for the first time to isolate and map the structure of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, better known as THC – which, as their experimentation on monkeys soon revealed, was the only compound that produced a psychoactive effect.

To be sure, though, they’d need to test it on humans. So Mechoulam took a bunch of pure THC powder home and invited a group of friends over for cake – dosing some of the slices with 10mg of THC. While the effects on each individual differed, there was little doubt that they’d identified the correct compound.

On April 1, 1964, they revealed their findings in a paper entitled “Isolation, Structure, and Partial Synthesis of an Active Constituent of Hashish,” published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. After that, the NIH was suddenly very interested in their “irrelevant” research – sending representatives to Israel to meet with them, observe their work, and take 10 grams of pure THC back to the U.S. with them (which fueled most of the organization’s early research).

comprised a complex, pervasive, and previously unknown network within human anatomy that Mechoulam’s team aplty named the endocannabinoid system, which is believed to be responsible for maintaining homeostasis (regulating the stability of all of the body’s other systems).

“The endocannabinoid system is very important,” Mechoulam told Vice. “Almost all illnesses we have are linked to it in some way or another. And that is very strange. We don’t have many systems which get involved with every illness.”

Mechoulam was also the first to propose the concept of the “entourage effect” in 1998 – the hypothesis that the combination of various cannabinoids and terpenes act synergistically to provide benefits they wouldn’t necessarily offer alone.

FOUNDATION FOR THE FUTURE

THE ENDOCANNABINOID SYSTEM & THE ENTOURAGE EFFECT

In the following decades, Mechoulam and his team at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem continued to make groundbreaking discoveries about Cannabis – identifying and synthesizing over 100 compounds, including cannabinoids like cannabigerol (CBG) and cannabichromene (CBC), as well as Delta 8 and 10 THC.

In the early 1980s, they conducted the first experiments with CBD oil for epilepsy. In the mid‘80s, their research led to the discovery of two cannabinoid receptors in the human body (dubbed CB1 and CB2) by neuroscientist Dr. Allyn Howlett … which, in turn, led to their discovery of the first endocannabinoid (a cannabinoid-like chemical produced internally by the human body) in December 1992, which they named anandamide (aka the “bliss molecule”).

These discoveries eventually led to the game-changing realization that those receptors

Thanks to Mechoulam’s work, Israel has become the global leader in medical Cannabis research. In the early 1990s, their Ministry of Health began offering medical marijuana to patients suffering from certain debilitating ailments. And in 2004, they launched an experimental program to study the effectiveness of Cannabis on veterans suffering from PTSD.

Dr. Mechoulam has now published nearly 400 scientific articles and has been awarded several honorary degrees. He’s a founding member of the International Cannabinoid Research Society and the International Association for Cannabinoid Medicines. He’s been nominated for over 25 academic awards, several of which he won – including two lifetime achievement awards and the esteemed Harvey Prize –widely considered a precursor to the Nobel Prize, for which he’s rumored to be in consideration.

Still, the legacy that the now 92-year-old “father of Cannabis research” seems most concerned with is ensuring that Cannabis is fully accepted and integrated into traditional Western medicine.

“I have spent the better part of my life decoding the mysteries that lie within this incredible plant,” Mechoulam has said. “I believe that cannabinoids represent a medicinal treasure trove which waits to be discovered.”

For our podcast & more Cannabis history content visit worldofcannabis.museum/cannthropology.

Mechoulam hopped on a bus to a police station ... where he was given five kilos of Moroccan hashish. He thanked the officers, put the hash in his bag, and got back on the bus.

Dr. Mechoulam & colleague Dr. Gaoni examining some data.

Illustration of Mechoulam observing the various reactions of his guests after eating THC-laced cake.

Speaking at a medical Cannabis conference in Israel in 2018.

VOLCANI CENTER

SINCE THE FIRST Caribbean pirate washed down his minnow stew with peppercorn spiced rum, the mouth mane has stood as a solid sign of masculinity. However, as hair trends wane and wax, the last 30 years or so have not been friendly to the man stache. Like, if you donned a thick one and a person caught a glimpse in their periphery, they might do a double-take, curiously considering if they’d just witnessed a caterpillar nesting under a stranger’s nose.

But the moustache is cool again.

Now, this is not to be confused with the molestache. A dude rocking a confident, purposefully maintained lip wig has nothing to hide. But when a dandruff filter protrudes over the orifice like a warning label to hide anything that’s pretty, you wonder if twisted thoughts may be at play.

This also does not include the Saddam Hussein. That’s the abundantly flourishing frown fur that seconds as a push broom.

A good example is the wiry-haired Baby Boomer whose peach fuzz began emerging in the 6th grade, eventually blossoming into a thick black pipe cleaner that is as much a part of his appearance as the brown teeth.

We’re talking about guys who draw attention with intention, celebrating the bro-grow as a statement. Be it in defiance to conformity or absolute ownership of his gender identification, he boldly brandishes his face flag as a male human recognizing gallantry as a virtue. It is proudly presented as part of his personal brand.

It’s different this time. Call it a comeback.

The stigma is ending, and we are entering a new era of acceptance. Kinda like Cannabis.