Doctor's orders

THE ULTIMATE MEDICINAL CANNABIS RESOURCE | APRIL 2019

DOCTOR’S ORDERS

APRIL 2019

THE ULTIMATE MEDICINAL CANNABIS RESOURCE Extract is circulated at its designated distribution points free of charge to readers for their individual use and by mail to subscribers. The cash value of this copy is $1. Persons taking copies of Extract from its distribution points for any reason other than their or others’ individual use for reading purposes are subject to prosecution.

PUBLISHER Peter J. Brzycki

EDITORIAL

OPERATIONS

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF George Lang glang@okgazette.com

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ASSOCIATE EDITOR Brittany Pickering

MARKETING ASSISTANT Kendall Bleakley

MANAGING EDITOR Matt Dinger

ACCOUNTING/ HR MANAGER Marian Harrison

STAFF WRITER Jacob Threadgill

ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE Karen Holmes

CONTRIBUTING WRITER Matt Patterson

CIRCULATION MANAGER Chad Bleakley

PHOTOGRAPHER/ VIDEOGRAPHER Alexa Ace

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3701 N. Shartel Ave. Oklahoma City, OK 73118-7102 PHONE (405) 528-6000 FAX (405) 528-4600 Copyright © 2019 OKC Next Media, LLC All rights reserved.

The statements in this publication have not been evaluated by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration.

Therefore, the information listed is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

CONTENTS LEGAL

GOOD MEDICINE, P. 10

4 legal papers meet J. Blake Johnson 6 John Frasure profile

BUSINESS 8

CBD Plus USA expands

CONSUMERS

10 COVER doctors and medical cannabis 13 infographic where cannabis is legal 15 CBD introduction 16 topical CBD 17 dispensary listings

Dr. Steven Ross and his wife, registered nurse Christine Ross | Photo Alexa Ace

LIFESTYLE

21 recipes Guyutes pistachio pot-infused pesto 22 buyer’s guide

Each month, Extract explores trends in the CBD and medicinal cannabis business, from new treatments and products to emerging companies, but its primary focus is on this new world of medicinal treatment and how it affects readers and consumers.

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3

LEGAL

LEGAL PAPERS Attorney J. Blake Johnson has forged a formidable career representing Oklahoma’s medical marijuana industry.

By Matt Dinger

Extract: Introduce yourself to our readers and tell us a little bit about yourself.

J. Blake Johnson: Well, my name is Blake Johnson. I was born and raised in Oklahoma and I’ve spent my life here, save several years spent in the San Francisco Bay Area in between college and law school. I did my undergrad and J.D. at OU, and I’ve spent the last couple years building a really exciting cannabis law practice.

Extract: And you’ve been building that practice at a big and historic law firm that some might have been surprised to see get involved in the cannabis industry. What has that been like?

Johnson: I was a bit nervous about pitching it to the firm, but I had an advantage in that there is a lot of available data about the cannabis industry, given its relative maturity elsewhere.

That data goes a long way toward piercing through the initial skepticism. And, look, it’s pretty simple: Cannabis is a highly regulated product at the center of a sophisticated industry. You need lawyers there.

Extract: Let’s back up just a bit.

Tell us how you got into law in the first place. Was that always a passion?

Johnson: Honestly, the real passion was argument. I was a dedicated high school and college debater. That’s what I did in the Bay Area as well — I directed a nonprofit that builds debate teams in inner-city high schools.

Extract: And you were a pretty good debater right, right?

Johnson: I was the state champ in high school, and in college, my partner and I won a national championship. Our senior year — the year we won — the topic was about controversial Supreme Court cases.

Anyway, a litigator kind of seemed to me like the closest thing to a professional debater, so that’s what I wanted 4 4

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to do. As it turns out, though, my cannabis practice has been mostly transactional; I don’t spend a lot of time arguing.

Extract: But you’ve done some

litigation too. You’ve been in the news for that before.

Johnson: Yeah, I cut my teeth on some pretty intense litigation, mostly in the sports and entertainment industries and frequently involving trademark infringement matters, which translates well into the cannabis industry. Even in its infancy, Oklahoma’s medical-marijuana market is already seeing disputes over intellectual property. There will be a whole lot more of that.

Extract: Honestly, you don’t really look like a lawyer.

Johnson: Thanks.

Extract: Does that ever create challenges for you?

Johnson: Not in the cannabis industry.

Extract: Let’s talk about that — you say your practice is largely transactional — what are the legal needs of the cannabis community like?

Johnson: At the same time, they’re like that of any other industry but also different because of conflicting federal and state law.

So a big part of my practice involves counseling industry participants regarding legal and regulatory compliance. The law and related rules have been changing rapidly, so this is in pretty constant demand.

My typical client, though, might not have more than a dream. They know they want to grow marijuana, and they may even have a lot of experience doing so, but they usually have less experience starting and running a business. So for these folks, we usually start with basic entity formation and tax planning — the goal being to limit liability and protect assets. Especially in a mostly

cash industry, we want to avoid the creation of a single Scrooge McDuckstyle swimming pool full of money that pays all expenses and collects all the money. We also usually want to take precautions to separate the ownership of valuable assets from operations. Basically, we plan to reduce exposure as much as possible in an industry that involves more risk than the average one.

I’m also particularly focused on brand development. The clients I work closely with hear from me constantly about the importance of developing and protecting their intellectual property portfolio. It’s easily their most valuable asset.

Over the course of their life, cannabis companies experience the same challenges and need the same solutions as many other industries. They have employees and need assistance developing policies and handling other HR matters. They are constantly engaging in transactions governed by contracts that should be carefully drafted and reviewed to avoid expensive litigation. They make agreements with investors and partners that will determine some of the most important ways in which their businesses function. And occasionally, they get involved in disputes.

Extract: And I guess they need a lawyer for all of that.

Johnson: I’m obviously a little biased, but I’d say they need a good one, too.

Honestly, a big part of my job at this point — given how extensive my industry contacts have become — involves connecting clients with the right people. Whether it’s a player in the cannabis industry or something adjacent to it, I do my best to maintain relationships across the state and I always try to identify and create strategic partnerships. The industry is so new that it’s important to have someone like that on your team.

Extract: So what are your plans for this column in Extract? What should readers expect? Will this be something that non-lawyers will want to read?

Johnson: Well, I hope it can be informative and educational and, at least intermittently, entertaining.

We’ll try to stay on top of important developments affecting industry participants and patients. We’ll try

J. Blake Johnson, Extract ’s legal analyst, has made a name for himself as a cannabis attorney. | Photo Alexa Ace

to recruit some diverse legal minds and perspectives and cover some topics that aren’t well-covered in other publicly available places. And our intention is definitely not primarily to educate lawyers — those are my competitors.

Extract: Will you be offering our readers legal advice?

Johnson: No. That’s irresponsible, and not only because our readers aren’t paying us.

Extract: Does any of this ever seem surreal to you?

Johnson: Sometimes, yeah, it’s like “Holy shit! I work almost fully in the marijuana industry and I’m a totally credible professional.” I can’t imagine if I could tell my 16-year-old self — my mother would have never been able to tolerate me.

Seeing people come out of the shadows and operate in the sunlight — it’s amazing. I imagine some of the most awesome changes for a lot of lifers are of the kind that most people wouldn’t even think about — like being able to tell your kid the truth about your job. I feel really fortunate to have been around for this moment.

Speaking of which, representing highly successful businesses that just months ago would have been criminal enterprises really illustrates how arbitrary the line that separates those can be. We need urgently to turn our attention to the fact that while millions of dollars are being made on legal marijuana in Oklahoma, there are still jail cells in this state populated by people convicted of marijuana-related crimes. So we have a lot of work to do still.

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APRIL 2019

CANNABIS CRUSADER

Old-school activist and voting advocate John Frasure travels the state, visiting dispensaries and talking to Oklahomans about medical marijuana.

By Matt Dinger “3 … 2 … 1. We’re live!”

It’s a familiar salutation to those keeping tabs on the Oklahoma medical marijuana community via social media. Cannabis activist John “Old School” Frasure uses them to introduce his frequent Facebook live updates.

Frasure, 66, has been a full-time cannabis activist for the last four years but first smoked cannabis when he was 18 years old and in the United States Marine Corps.

“We’d go out and we go on these long hikes and stuff, and [when] you come back in, you’re all wound up at the end of the evening,” he said. “You’re sitting there, drinking beer, and that’s when you start learning about the world. I’m from little bitty Chickasha, Oklahoma.

You start learning about the world.

People sitting there, smoking. Cool.

It wasn’t no big deal. … So we used it to calm down at night.”

When he left the Marines, Frasure worked odd jobs, including construction on conservation dams for the government. He later worked for Southwestern Bell for years as an operator, installer, lineman and splicer and retired as a senior cable repairman.

“I had a hand in anything that went on in Norman or Moore phonewise,” Frasure said. “That’s what I like about the jobs I’ve had. I can relate to so many patients because I can sit there and I know the job they’re doing; I know how their elbow’s hurting because they’re doing this too many times or their shoulder’s hurting or their neck’s hurting.

“I found out they want to pay you money for mu s cle .

Roughnecking, construction, concrete finisher — I’ve done all those.

They’ll pay you big bucks to do that, and you get torn up doing it. I’ve

worked in foundries, machine stamping places, aircraft building.

You name it, I can relate to the job.”

Working jobs that were hard on his body is not where Frasure’s empathy ends.

“Doing this for four years, several times I’ve got sick,” he said. “The first time I got sick, I got the flu.

That told me how my fibromyalgia people feel every day. And then after I got over the flu, I couldn’t smoke. That told me how my COPD people feel every day.”

Frasure has been prescribed a number of medications over the years and was on opiates and benzodiazepines for different conditions for more than a decade before leaving them all but a blood pressure pill behind for cannabis.

“I lost 12 years of my life. That’s why I hate those drugs so much, because I was a zombie sitting in a chair. … I couldn’t do squat. I was uncoordinated. I kept passing out.

T hen can nabis came up, Oklahomans for Health. I went to my first meeting at Norman Public Library,” he said. “I sat at three different stores out there in the country. I got 3,000 signatures from my area sitting at those three stores. I had times I would sit at these stores because I would always sit in the shade. Had one I’d sit from like 6 o’clock in the morning until like 10. Then I’d move to another one from 10 o’clock to like 1, 2.

Another one, I’d move from 2 to like 6. I’d do this every day. So people would come by and they’d see me.

They’d stop, they’d smoke a cigarette and stuff and they’d get to know me and everything.

“That’s when I said that this movement changed from ‘me’ to ‘we.’ That’s when I got the epiphany that no, it’s not just about you. That’s

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John “Old School” Frasure has spent the last four years working tirelessy as a medical cannabis activist in Oklahoma. | Photo Alexa Ace why it started. It was about you. But now you’ve got to take care of all these other people because any time I go somewhere, you can sit and look. Like, right here. Now, how many people do you think that you can see are suffering in silence right now? Or disabled. They’re hurt.

“You go by one of your buddies and work and you go, ‘How are you feeling today?’ and he’s like, ‘Oh, my shoulder hurts.’ He’s got a torn rotator cuff. You ask him that four or five days and you get tired of asking him. The thing is, you asked him that for two seconds. His shoulder hurts every second of every day.

When he goes to sleep, when he wakes up — it never stops. Pain is so constant. It doesn’t care. I always say that people are suffering from three kinds of pain; one of the three: either mental pain, emotional pain or physical pain. And those other pains can make other things happen in your body.”

Frasure loves to talk to people but quickly loses patience with people who oppose medical cannabis.

“They sit there and they say something to me, and I go, ‘You don’t talk to the people I talk to. I just want to knock you out because you’re driving me crazy because if you talked to the people I talk to, you would understand,’” Frasure said.

“We’re the demographic, 45 and up, we’re the people wanting cannabis.

Everybody thinks it’s Cheech and

Chong, young guys. No, it’s not.”

But now that State Question 788 has passed and medical marijuana is the law of the land, Frasure’s work is not done. He retired on medical disability over a decade ago and uses his Social Security money to travel from one end of the state to the other in his pickup, carrying a stack of voter registration paperwork.

“I know several cannabis businesses rather well. I’m not financially involved. I’m not a processor, I’m not a grower, I’m not a dispensary. I am a consumer. That’s why I say whatever I want because I can go wherever I want,” Frasure said.

“I can come out and say, ‘Yeah, I use cannabis.’ What are you going to do to me? I’m retired. All you can do is arrest me, and I’ve got a card now, so you’re not going to arrest me because everything I do is legal.

I do this from basically 5:30, 6 in the morning to 11:30 every night.

I’m going to dispensaries and talking to people during the day, and then usually, I get home 9, 10 o’clock at night, and from 10 o’clock to 11:30, I’m answering messages. I want to make sure that everyone who’s getting a card is a registered voter. It’s not going to end.”

The conversation with Extract halted because Frasure was off to yet another cannabis engagement.

He ended the interview as he does his Facebook videos: “And I’m off like a herd of turtles. … Ping!”

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7

BUSINESS CBD RISING CBD Plus USA grew to over 50 locations in less than a year.

By Matt Dinger With President Donald Trump’s signature on the 2018 farm bill last December, industrial hemp became an ordinary agricultural commodity, and CBD Plus USA sees it as bringing the company one step closer to getting its products into all 50 states.

“When a state opens up like California or Colorado, the THC is kind of the shiny object. It gets you high,” president Matt Baker said.

But CBD Plus is keeping true to its name, with its primary focus remaining on products containing cannabidiol, or CBD, the non-psychoactive compound in cannabis.

For the company executives, learning more about the plant’s benefits and conducting experiments in creating new products to better serve the patients are their driving forces.

Founder and CEO Ryan Vicedomini is bringing the lessons he learned as an entrepreneur in the nicotine vaporizer business to the cannabis trade.

“I used vaping to quit smoking,” he said.

“Both of my grandparents died from cancer-related illnesses from smoking, and if I Ryan Vicedomini sold his vaping business and reinvested the proceeds into starting CBD Plus USA. | Photo High Five Media / provided

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would have had my vape company 10 years prior, I would have both my grandparents still. They both died early, in their 60s.”

He recently sold the company he founded, Vapor World, and moved into the CBD space in November 2017 with the same intention of using the market to improve the health and quality of life of other Oklahomans.

“I saw a niche. ... I got some and tried it again, and it worked, you know, and it started something in my mind and I couldn’t stop it,” Vicedomini said. “So I basically joined up with a friend, and I opened up half of a location and shared the other half of the location with another company, and without even a sign, our first month, we started just killing it.

“I basically started just by going to a wholesale website, bought 10 grand worth of stuff and put it on the shelves. It really wasn’t rocket science. But what I ended up finding out was everybody else’s stuff that I was buying was either too expensive for me to offer the customer a good price or — I hadn’t started testing our products — it had no CBD in it. It may have had a 10th of what it was representing sometimes. So once we figured that out , we started

vetting all of our vendors. We started making sure that if we were going to sell it, it had to match up. And that’s the standards we opened with at [Interstate] 240 and Penn[sylvania Avenue] with the new brand, new everything.”

Vicedomini launched the first full CBD Plus USA on Feb. 1, 2018.

By year’s end, there were over 50 stores open in Oklahoma and seven other states, with double that number set to open soon in those and several other states.

“It all starts with being accountable to ourselves,” Vicedomini said.

“That’s where it started. It started with the vape industry, where I wanted to provide a better product at a better price. Same philosophy here. It’s provided a very good product that is all farm-to-table. It’s U.S.-sourced, 100 percent — Oklahoma, Colorado and Oregon, period. It comes from no other place. What’s in that bottle is on a label that shows you what it is and not some sort of fake percentage.

If it says 1,000 milligrams in it, it truly has 1,000 active milligrams, no questions asked, and I have a lab test in the book that they can see, even online, representing exactly what it is. I think there’s a lot of fraud on what’s out there. ... You’re getting a clean product every single time and guaranteed to have the cannabinoids on the profile sheet.”

Some companies run laboratory testing infrequently and intermittently on their products, he said, but every CBD Plus USA product has a batch number printed on it.

Consumers can reference the lab tests from ProVerde Laboratories, Inc., a medical marijuana testing company in Massachusetts.

Ryan Vicedomini sold his vaping business and reinvested the proceeds into starting CBD Plus USA. “We’re so confident in our product that we’re the only company that offers a money-back guarantee,” Baker said.

“We’re seeing so much success with our customers — our patients — that they’re bringing their friends in, and our businesses do well because we’re treating people the way that they should be treated with an amazing product, and we’re dumping that money right back into education because that’s going to continue to help these people understand how to get the most benefit from it,” said

executive vice president Jake Chilcoat.

“It’s not we’re sitting over here developing this big company so it’s all for ourselves. It’s really, truly to help people, and we put our money where our mouth is by spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in education specifically that will directly benefit the customer.

“We have a call center that’s dedicated. You never have to sit on with an operator or wait on hold or anything like that. We’ve got live people that are sitting, waiting to answer questions whether it’s on Facebook or Instagram or our website. You can call our 1-800 number. It’s real people. ... When they’re not talking to a customer, they’re doing their research and they’re speaking to our medical director. ... We’ve got people who are sitting there every day, educating themselves and pushing the envelope on what we understand about the product, and those people, our customers have access to them.

Pick up the phone. Call them right now. Ask any questions until you’re blue in the face, until you’re tired of asking questions.”

In 2019, the company will open a 25,000 square-foot education facility with classrooms and a 300-person auditorium, Vicedomini said.

“Education is our driving force that we want to push because we want transparency in the industry,” Chilcoat said. “We want good, solid standards and regulations, and we want the public to be educated and really, truly understand how this incredible, incredible product can impact people.”

That quality control, Baker said, is what sets CBD Plus USA apart.

“A lot of these pop-up shops, all they care about is making their money right now,” he said. “We are the fastest-growing franchise in the United States of America. We’re not only accountable to our customers; we’re accountable to [137] other people that paid us to be really good at making sure that we’re executing great product with great lab results that creates a great medical effect in this industry. In the absence of that, we’re just like every other cash-grab schmuck that’s opening up shops on every corner in Oklahoma.”

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CONSUMERS GOOD MEDICINE Doctors are discovering how medical cannabis can change patients’ lives.

By Matt Dinger With cannabis being medically or recreationally legal now in more states than it is still prohibited, doctors are confronting a new paradigm.

Though used for millennia in folk medicine across the globe, America is reevaluating its relationship to the plant and what it means for not only culture but medicine.

Cannabis is still federally illegal and not evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration, and doctors cannot prescribe it. They can only give recommendations and advise patients on its usage and dosages.

Dr. Steven Ross trained in emergency medicine and served in a military medical unit during Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom before moving to Australia, where he worked as a public hospital emergency room director for eight years before moving back home to Oklahoma with his wife, Christine.

Steven Ross and Christine Ross, who is a registered nurse, were frustrated with some of the ways medical doctors were handling recommendations and opened MMDOKC as a specialized practice.

The Rosses also have spent time traveling across Asia and witnessed attitudes toward cannabis there.

“I found that it was accepted more as medicine in some of those cultures,” Steven Ross said. “We were in Vietnam and Sri Lanka and places like that, whereas here it’s just sort of becoming that here.”

After returning to Oklahoma, Ross attended an Oklahoma State Medical Association program on medical cannabis in October.

“I went to it more out of curiosity and sort of got the idea that, ‘Wow! This is pretty wide open,’” he said.

“And add to that a few things — some issues with opiates in my family, the 10

APRIL 2019

fact that medical marijuana had led to a 25 percent reduction in opiate death rates in states where it’s been passed — I thought, ‘Any doctor will be writing this,’ but it turns out a lot of doctors are very hamstrung from writing these recommendations because of the corporations and the other issues, and then I heard that there were doctors doing it not in the ways that I thought were the best, so we decided to open a clinic and do it right.”

Deep dive Dr. Erick Kaufman was born and raised in Oklahoma and then moved to Arkansas, Oregon and Missouri before returning home and eventually retiring from OU Medical Center, the place where he began his career. He came out of his 2017 retirement to open Doctors of Cannabis. He estimated he had already seen more than 1,000 patients by the end of March.

“When the law passed, it was a big surprise to me — I think probably to a lot of people — and I had people asking me, with my background and research and education and patient care, ‘What [do you] think about this?’” Kaufman said. “And I really had to say, ‘I just don’t know anything about it’ because that’s where medical doctors were. And so I took a deep dive like I do with so many things because I wanted to be able to be part of the solution to help Oklahomans get responsible, clinical, medical use in a safe and effective way. And I wanted to really help develop the best programs that we could, to have doctors participate in research, to have ongoing education Dr. Erick Kaufman came out of retirement to open Doctors of Cannabis in Oklahoma City. | Photo Alexa Ace

and really train doctors on how to be the best that they can for the patients that want to use it — not just to help them get certified, but actually help them through the process of using cannabis as medicine.

“So that required a lot of education on my part because I didn’t know anything about it,” Kaufman said. “The more I read and the more I learned and the more courses I took, the more I came to really see that we actually do have some evidence of how cannabis works, and I understood the nature of what the research was up until that point and the things that have limited the research.”

While he has seen a wide range of patients, Ross has had very few coming in for a recommendation without a legitimate medical need.

Most of them are seeking to replace other medications with cannabis.

“A lot of people are getting off medications that were not really helping them and onto one that is helping them and it’s being used medically. I still hear, ‘They all just want to be stoners.’ No. The major question I’m asked is, ‘How do I use this but not be stoned all the time?’

It’s the exact opposite of, ‘Oh, they all just want to sit on the couch and play video games.’ That is not what I hear at all. It’s just not,” he said.

“Most of them come in and go, ‘Oh yeah, you know, back in my 20s, we

would get high from time to time, but I’m not interested in that now.’

But they’re still interested in it as a medicine because it helps more.

The other thing I hear day after day is people that are on antidepressants, SSRIs, it ends up being the same thing: ‘I’m not myself when I’m on that’, or ‘I feel vague.’ ‘I feel like a zombie. I can’t do what I usually do. It’s just not me.’ And back when I was practicing regular medicine, I’d go, ‘Well, of course.

You were depressed. Now you’re not. You’re not yourself. That’s great.’ But now I get it. Now they’re saying, ‘It took away my normal interactions and I didn’t feel like my normal self.’ And because cannabis acts at a completely different receptor system, it doesn’t seem to have that effect.”

Possible treatments While depression is behind a large number of patient complaints, it is not the top one Ross has seen.

“Anxiety and chronic pain are probably our top two by far,” he said. “Within that, obviously there’s many different types of anxiety.

There’s social anxiety, there’s generalized anxiety disorders, and so all of those have different effects and needs. And same with chronic pain. … There’s different variations, but they all tend to get just a different type of relief than they do the

other medicines. And I just think it is because it acts in a completely different way.”

“Everybody’s coming from a unique place, but there’s some unifying themes that we hear. And when we break down the real reason, it often comes down to pain, anxiety disorders and sleeping trouble or insomnia. Those are actually the top three unifying diagnoses that we see most commonly,” Kaufman said. “They don’t like the prescription drugs or the prescription drugs cause side effects and they’re expensive, and they’ve tried cannabis, and they know that it helps with their pain. So although they may see it in terms of arthritis, actually what they’re really looking for is some improvement in their pain so that they can function.”

But it’s not just prescription drugs. Ross said many patients come to him to eliminate regular usage of many over-the-counter drugs, from analgesics like ibuprofen and acetaminophen to sleep aids and diphenhydramine, which is an antihistamine found in products like Benadryl.

There are also a fair number of people who have been using alcohol to get to sleep but complain about the quality of sleep they do get and are replacing it with cannabis, Ross said.

Other conditions include multiple sclerosis, cancer and nausea from chemotherapy, Crohn’s and autoimmune diseases. The medical literature is still limited on why cannabis works for those specific diseases and conditions, but physicians have a good idea of why it works.

“Nerve impulses go from nerve to nerve, and there’s a synapse with neurotransmitters that cross that and transfer it to the next nerve,” Ross said. “Cannabis acts as sort of a feedback mechanism to that first nerve. If you have your hand on the stove, you want to know you’re in pain. But if your hand was on the stove three years ago, you still don’t want the pain. But that’s what’s happening with chronic pain. And it’s a feedback kind of saying, ‘Hey, nerve!

Chill; we don’t need all these signals right now.’ I think that’s why people get these effects, like, ‘Wow! This is completely different.’ Where other medications were usually trying to hit those signals as they happen, this is sort of a feedback. I really do feel

Dr. Steven Ross and his wife, registered nurse Christine Ross, opened MMDOKC after moving back from Australia. | Photo Alexa Ace this is a helpful medicine, and I do want it to be, but it’s not going to be mainstream medicine.”

Building evidence Because of potential unstudied harms, Kaufman said he limits his practice to patients age 21 and older.

“Even though people that have achieved the age of 18 can get a physician recommendation, we start at age 21 because we’re concerned about young people whose brains haven’t fully developed having potential long-term side effects, delayed cognitive growth and the risk of psychosis,” he said. “Even though there’s no cause and effect, there’s a correlation between the two. And so there have been exceptions. We’re always happy to sit down with a younger person in their family and review their medical history and have an interview with him and share our concerns, but that doesn’t mean we will necessarily be recommending it.”

While Ross said cannabis is not perfectly safe, it is “very safe,” especially considering the other drugs patients are leaving behind.

“Xanax is the huge one,” he said.

“Xanax and then SSRIs. Prozac, Celexa, those type. I have so many people [saying], ‘I want to get off

Xanax.’ That’s what I hear. Or, ‘I used this to get off Xanax. Now I want to be legal’ is the other way I hear it.

Which is amazing. Because Xanax, while it’s a prescription drug and, sure, it has its uses, it’s not ideal. I’ve always said I will debate with any pain specialist or psychiatrist the safety of marijuana versus opiates and benzodiazepines any day of the week. It’s easy. My medication does not hit the brain stem, so if they overdose, they fall asleep. What does yours do? Oh, they quit breathing.

“There are two high-quality articles that have been published in the standard medical journals that compare states that have medical marijuana programs to states that don’t, and they look at the number of opiate prescriptions written between the two states, and there’s a significant decline, about a 25 percent decline, in opiate prescriptions in those states that have laws compared to states that don’t. So in my personal experience, I see opiates as one of the main drugs that people want to get off of and substitute medical marijuana or medical cannabis. Also benzodiazepines or other sedatives. And, of course, the risk of death goes way up if you use those two drugs together because of the synergistic effect. And so we’re

always happy to be in support of people who have chronic conditions that are using opiates or benzos because it’s well recognized in the medical literature that those are not the most appropriate and generally, their doctors are very supportive of them getting off too.”

While some objective medical research exists, much of what Ross has seen within his own field is inadequate or outright dismal.

“I’ve researched the medical literature, and the medical literature on this is horrible,” he said. “It’s so biased. In the proper journals, you can just see the bias in what’s written. It’s unfortunate. And so I hope the literature will evolve and actually look at it more scientifically because most of it ends up being sort of opinion papers with a little bit of science in it.”

Kaufman said the past few months have been a learning experience and he is helping shift the attitudes of his colleagues.

“I had a lunch with one of my old colleagues from the university, and he said, ‘Well, I can understand what you’re doing, but let me just ask you.

How can you recommend something for which there’s no evidence that it’s helpful?’” he said. “And I said, ‘Well, first of all, we do know a lot about how the plant works. Clinical studies are difficult because of the federal law, not because people don’t understand how the endocannabinoid system works. And the only way we’re really going to get clinical research is by having doctors participate in helping patients to use it. And so I’m willing to take a lesson.’ But I said, ‘More importantly, how can you continue to write prescriptions for medicines which you know are dangerous, where there’s actually evidence of harm?’

“And that kind of opened his eyes. So I’m walking this fine line between what traditional medicine has always meant to me and to my colleagues — the science and art of medicine has been a mind-blowing experience for me my whole life — but I really enjoyed cutting-edge stuff, and to me, learning about how cannabis can be helpful and participating at the level that a medical doctor has experience with just meant a lot to me. So it’s actually kind of started as a passion project.

And it still is a passion project.”

APRIL 2019

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4200 N. Western Ave., Suite A | Oklahoma City, OK | 405-601-9560 Keep it Local E www.sagewellnessokc.com Q @sagewellnessokc #sagewellnessok #locallyowned #fromtheearthforthepeople #itsjustaflower

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CONSUMERS

WHAT IS CBD?

Cannabidiol, or CBD, has quickly become a billion-dollar industry. But what exactly is it?

By Matt Patterson A drive through practically anywhere in Oklahoma City is bound to yield some familiar sights. These include a vast array of fast food restaurants, churches of every possible denomination and loads of stores selling CBD products.

CBD, otherwise known as cannabidiol, is one of 113 cannabinoids found in cannabis plants. Think of CBD as THC’s more buttoned-up, serious cousin. CBD is all business.

It isn’t there to help you party; it is there to make your aches and pains feel better, help you sleep or make your irritable bowel syndrome go away. It does not require a prescription from a doctor to purchase.

Kyle Felling is an analytical chemist who owns FAST Laboratories in OKC. The company tests cannabis products sold in area stores and dispensaries for purity and potency. He often encounters people who are looking for an alternative to over-thecounter or prescription pain medications but don’t know much about cannabis and confuse CBD with THC. “I tell people that it’s a common component of cannabis or hemp, it’s more prevalent in hemp nowadays and that it has a ton of medical benefits,” Felling said.

Felling is a believer in CBD. He suffers from arthritis in his hands. As he answers questions about CBD in his south OKC office, he applies some to his knuckles using a container resembling a roll-on deodorant stick.

“The inflammation goes away almost instantly,” Felling said. “I think from a medical standpoint, it’s better than THC, but that’s just my opinion.”

The two products come from the same source: a cannabis plant. CBD typically makes up about 40 percent of the extract available from a normal-sized plant.

CBD’s popularity has grown rapidly in recent years across Oklahoma and the rest of the country.

Americans spent about $600 million

on products last year, according to a study by Brightfield Group, a predictive analytics and market research firm with a focus on the cannabis industry, including CBD. Of the 2,400 CBD users surveyed in the organization’s most recent study, most sought it for treatment of depression, anxiety, joint pain and insomnia.

Satisfaction is high. In the study group, 42 percent said their CBD usage allowed them to eliminate the use of prescription medications altogether. About 80 percent found CBD products to be a very or extremely effective treatment.

Easing concerns Dr. Benjamin Barenberg sees mostly female patients at Optimal Health in Oklahoma City. The practice specializes in gynecology, menopausal medicine and hormone replacement therapies. CBD is also one of the clinic’s tools. Barenberg regularly recommends CBD products to patients for a variety of problems.

A patient’s journey with CBD often begins with asking what it is and how it works.

“There’s a whole system in your body that has receptors for the CBD molecule,” he said. “And that molecule plays an important role in mood, gastrointestinal issues, anxiety and pain control among other things.

CBD attaches to those receptors and activates certain regions of your body to send healing signals.”

Another common question is, Will it get me high?

“It’s different than THC because THC is the psychoactive component in the plant whereas CBD is only the medical component,” Barenberg said.

Part of Felling’s job is to ensure the CBD his company tests doesn’t get you high or result in a positive drug test. FAST Laboratories also tests for potency and purity. Samples are screened for 60 common pesticides.

Cannabidiol, or CBD, is a non-psychoactive medicinal compound found in cannabis. Isolated forms of the compound, derived from hemp, can be consumed orally or added to a multitude of other products. | Photo bigstock.com

“You don’t want to make a sick person sicker or make an otherwise healthy person sick,” Felling said.

CBD is also screened to ensure it does not contain intoxicating levels of THC, an important consideration for those who might use it but also hold jobs that have zero-tolerance policies for positive tests.

“There’s no way you can take a legal bottle of CBD and fail a drug test,” he said.

The side effects are few. The most common complaint Barenberg hears from patients are headaches, but those can usually be managed.

“I think we’re still trying to find ways to help people start their dosing correctly,” Barenberg said. “There is a lot of discussion about that among doctors. But I tell people to start low and then increase the dosage until they get the desired effect. If you get a headache, back off and then you know that’s your maximum dose.”

Many who seek out CBD do so because it does not come with the same stigma as a joint or bong hit.

These are people who want to feel better without taking a Big Lebowskistyle magic carpet ride.

“They just want the healing effects,” Felling said. “My 88-year-old grandmother uses CBD. I’ve seen children using it. I think it tends to skew younger. A lot of people in their 20s and 30s. And I think that’s because that age group hasn’t grown up with the idea that marijuana is this horrible thing. I’ve also seen people who will use CBD but who would never consider using marijuana.”

The patients who visit Barenberg also come with similar reservations.

“There are people who just don’t tolerate the feeling of being sedated

very well,” he said. “They don’t want to smoke a bunch of cannabis and feel high.”

While that concern is easily resolved, others choose CBD over THC for a different reason.

“For some people, there are still some legal pegs,” Barenberg said. “A lot of state and federal organizations, you’re still not allowed to use marijuana even if it is legal in that state.

For those people, CBD products are beneficial because you get the benefits of it without testing positive.

They can get their therapy without putting their livelihood at risk.”

Cost is another CBD benefit. Most users spend between $20 and $80 on products each month, according to the Brightfield study.

Americans each spend about $1,112 a year on prescription medications, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Barenberg said one of his patients used CBD to help wean themselves off opioids. The drug was particularly effective at managing withdrawal symptoms.

CBD use in the United States is expected to grow. The Brightfield study projected sales to top $22 billion by 2022.

Other estimates are more conservative. A report from New Frontier Data projected CBD sales to reach $2 billion in three years.

Regardless, it’s growing in popularity with a 40 percent leap in 2018 over the year before.

“If it didn’t work, you wouldn’t have so many people using it,” Felling said.

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Name a consumable product, and chances are there is a CBD-infused variety. In recent years, cannabidiol has swept the country, launching an industry worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

Lotions and balms are some of the more popular delivery methods, with popular products and boutique lines springing up.

CBD Plus USA founder Ryan Vicedomini moved into the CBD market in November 2017. The company has since spent that time in constant development, with more than 80 percent of the products it sells being manufactured by the company.

“The market has grown since 2017 when we started. So in ’17, you couldn’t find hardly anything that was worth a crap that was affordable,” Vicedomini said. “So now that the market has evolved, they’re starting to see some bigger names come into play, and the price points just don’t fit our business model.

Our goal is to provide relief at an economical source.”

Topical cream is its best seller.

“Our lotion itself is our number one seller,” he said. “That pain cream, when mixed with the amount of CBD we put in there per ounce, there’s a lot of people getting instant relief. And they come back and buy it again and again and again. I mean, we’re going through thousands of gallons a month.”

The bath bombs also provide full-body relief in hard to reach places.

“It helps a lot with fibromyalgia. It helps a Beard Buzz is a line of CBD topicals for men created by Dee Morales. | Photo Alexa Ace

16

APRIL 2019

lot with arthritis. It helps a lot with muscle spasms,” said Josh Berner, the owner of a CBD Plus USA franchise in Tahlequah. “We have a lot of people that can’t rub lotion on themselves everywhere they want. So one of our 100-milligram bath bombs, you throw that in the water, you can soak for an hour or two hours. It’s like cryotherapy without all the coldness, essentially, because your body absorbs all of that CBD. Berner said he also has a customer who treats juvenile eczema with CBD. “I have a girl that runs a daycare and had a bunch of kids that had eczema, and she gets our 40 milligram bars of soap and she’ll put that in there and the kids will put that over their eczema and it cures it right up,” he said.

Berner had a fresh tattoo at the time he spoke with Extract and was rubbing CBD salve on his arm.

“It’s coconut oil and CBD. That’s all that’s in there,” Berner said. “All you have to do on your tattoo is keep it hydrated, and so it’s perfectly clean. … There’s nothing that will infect it like you do with lotions with fragrances and stuff. I’m covered and this is the best stuff I’ve ever used in my life for tattoos. I’m kind of pissed I didn’t use it two years ago.”

Niche market In contrast to the broad reach of companies like CBD Plus USA, there are also specialized companies operating in the market.

Dee Morales is the owner of two CBD topical lines, one catering to men, Beard Buzz, and another for women, Sweet Mary Jane.

“I was married to a physician, a family doctor for like 38 years. We got a divorce, but we were still good friends and we have three children together, and he

Sweet Mary Jane is a line of CBD topicals created by Dee Morales. | Photo Alexa Ace

was using CBD very effectively on his patients,” she said. “And we decided together to plan on putting out a small line of CBD products. So we decided on the name Sweet Mary Jane, and we pursued that. I went off on a trip and took my 91-year-old mom to England — that’s her home — and I noticed that every guy there had a beard, and I came back and I said ‘You know, let’s do a men’s line as well.’ He died in November, so I went ahead and made the decision to go ahead and carry on the line. I decided that if we’re going to do CBD stuff, let’s make it look pretty and let’s make it be in a pretty substance to deliver it.

So I did a lot of research on skin care and worked with a chemist at this Oklahoma company to develop our products.”

Under the Sweet Mary Jane line, they currently produce a body lotion, a salve and an anti-aging cream.

Beard Buzz products include a beard balm, a comparable salve and a body lotion in a stick form, like a deodorant.

“The men’s line was kind of important to me because, I mean, I’m with men in the worst conditions possible. You got tornadoes, and you know, you’ve been working for three days in a row and that kind of thing.

And that kind of really made me go gung ho on the men’s line,” she said.

All of its products are produced in Oklahoma, and both lines launched at the beginning of 2019.

“I love that it’s made in Oklahoma,” Morales said. “I think that’s kind of important. Because I think there’s a lot of other outside sources here.”

s

DISPENSARY LISTINGS 46 Releaf

Cali Roots

Cloud 9 Wellness

Emerald Alley

710 N. Broadway Ave. Oklahoma City, OK 73102 405-225-1182

4327 NW 23rd St. Oklahoma City, OK 73107 405-604-2901

5770 Northwest Expressway, Suite 206 Warr Acres, OK 73132 405-722-2539

1141 NW First St. Oklahoma City, OK 73106 405-208-8232

66 Treehouse

Canna South

900 Manvel Ave. Chandler, OK 74834 405-848-5550

1221 SW 59th St. Oklahoma City, OK 73109 405-429-7570

AgriMEDS Alternatives

Canna-Bus Dispensary

1515 N. Meridian Ave. Oklahoma City, OK 73107 917-226-8866

3926 SW 29th St. Oklahoma City, OK 73119 405-593-4291

Alchemy Gold Healing

Cannabis Cabinet

801 NW Fifth St. Oklahoma City, OK 73106 405-476-8577

8121 S. Western Ave., Suite J Oklahoma City, OK 73139 405-882-0898

B6 Medical Dispensary

Cannabis Care of Oklahoma

130 Sunset Drive El Reno, OK 73036 405-719-0313

1501 S. Sunnylane Road, Suite B Del City, OK 73115 405-609-6100

BCC Collective

Cannabis Island Dispensary

1015 NW First St. Oklahoma City, OK 73106 405-992-0558

4723 SE 29th St. Del City, OK 73115 405-609-6100

Best Leaf Dispensary

CannaCure Spa and Wellness

5323 W. Reno Ave. Oklahoma City, OK 73127 405-600-6653

2215 NW 39th St., Suite 200 Oklahoma City, OK 73112 405-757-7291

16 E. Fourth St. Edmond, OK 73034 918-794-9017

Big Daddy’s Marijuana

CBD Plus USA

6810 NW 23rd St. Bethany, OK 73008 405-837-8873

60+ locations now open

6909 W. Hefner Road, Suite B-02 Oklahoma City, OK 73162 918-794-9017

Blue Grass Dispensary 5500 Northwest Expressway Oklahoma City, OK 73132 405-470-0481

Buddy Green’s Cannabis Co 8805 S. Western Ave. Oklahoma City, OK 73139 405-900-5668

BudEaze 480 24th Ave. NW, Suite 12 Norman, OK 73069 405-857-7187

Budz Dispensary 9104 S. Walker Ave. Oklahoma City, OK 73139 405-900-6029

420 N. Pennsylvania Ave. Oklahoma City, OK 73107 833-4-CBD-PLUS

Chill Dispensary 22 NE 10th St. Oklahoma City, OK 73104 918-306-2850

Chronic Releaf 1337 E. State Highway 152 Mustang, OK 73064 405-745-2155

Chronic Solutions 3 1808 W. Lindsey St., Suite 200 Norman, OK 73069 405-310-3649

Council Road Dispensary 2421 N. Council Road Bethany, OK 73008 405-470-0219

Craft Cannabis Company 151 E. 33rd St., Suite 102 Edmond, OK 73013 405-697-3939

Cvltivation Clvb 918 NW Fifth St. Oklahoma City, OK 73106 405-235-2582

Doobies 12248 NE 23rd St. Choctaw, OK 73020 405-259-8031

Earthly Mist 3537 N. Shields Blvd., Suite Bay 3 Moore, OK 73160 918-794-9017

Eden Pharmaceuticals 7550 SE 15th St. Midwest City, OK 73110 405-455-7200

Eletraleaf 25 N. Oklahoma Ave. Oklahoma City, OK 73104 405-673-7209

Elevated Remedies 2837 SW 44th St., Suite A OKlahoma City, OK 73119 405-604-5494

Emerald Elite 4623 SE 29th St. Del City, OK 73115 405-673-7585

Fantastic Rise 6221 W. Wilshire Blvd., Suite 4 Oklahoma City, OK 73132 405-816-9093

Fire Leaf Dispensary 751 S. Canadian Trails Drive, Suite 120 Norman, OK 73072 405-310-2433 7876 S. Western Ave. Oklahoma City, OK 73139 405-600-6527 8017 W. Reno Ave. Oklahoma City, OK 73127 405-470-0546

Forward Solutions 420 1106 N. Kickapoo Ave. Shawnee, OK 74801 405-432-5028

Fred’s Farmacopia 1701 S. Air Depot Blvd.

Midwest City, OK 73110 405-455-5006

Friendly Market 2222 W. Hefner Road, Suite D Oklahoma City, OK 73120 405-608-8871 301 S. Porter Ave., Suite 130 Norman, OK 73071 405-701-7017

Gaia’s Favor 2507 NW 23rd St. Oklahoma City, OK 73107 405-640-6886

Elysium Industries 8920 S. Sooner Road Oklahoma City, OK 73135 405-455-5043

CONTINUED

APRIL 2019

17

DISPENSARY LISTINGS Gas Station

Green Roots Wellness

Honeypot Shop

Mama Juana Budz

2801 36th Ave. NW Norman, OK 73072 940-205-9069

533 N. Portland Ave. Oklahoma City, OK 73107 405-546-7257

1035 36th Ave. NW Norman, OK 73072 405-217-2611

5605 S. Pennsylvania Ave. Oklahoma City, OK 73119 405-693-9990

Get Bak’d OKC

GreenDoctor 420

Hybrid Cures

Marijuana

518 S. Coltrane Road Edmond, OK 73034 405-438-2253

12000 S. Western Ave., Suite C Oklahoma City, OK 73170 405-735-7739

1230 NE 23rd St., Suite C Oklahoma City, OK 73111 405-600-9734

3008 S. Sunnylane Road Del City, OK 73115 405-241-2992

Glazier Enterprises

Greenleaf Organics

Integrated Supply Inc.

Mary Jane Dispensary

6401 N. Interstate Drive, Suite 158 Norman, OK 73069 450-650-7119

6026 S. Western Ave. Oklahoma City, OK 73139 405-881-6420

551 E. State Highway 152, Suite 2 Mustang, OK 73064 405-256-6464

2990 SE 19th St., Unit 1 Moore, OK 73160 405-735-9777

Grand Wellness Center

Greenlove Compassionate Care

J M Herbals

Med Shop OKC

1604 SE Grand Blvd.

Oklahoma City, OK 73129 405-510-3626

Grateful Med 1134 N. MacArthur Blvd.

Oklahoma City, OK 73127 405-602-1800

Green Bud Wellnes 1028 SW 59th St., Suite C Oklahoma City, OK 73109 405-470-9349

Green Cupboard 3108 N. Classen Blvd.

Oklahoma City, OK 73118 405-225-1340

Green Dot 517 W. Gray St. Norman, OK 73069 405-217-2022

Green Gris Gris 410 E. Main St. Shawnee, OK 74801 405-788-4961

Green Health Clinic and Dispensary 2128 NW 164th St. Edmond, OK 73013 405-216-5488

Green Leaf Supply Co. 4417 NW 39th St. Oklahoma City, OK 73112 405-600-9300

Green Meds 1507 N. Rockwell Ave. Oklahoma City, OK 73127 405-470-2388

Green Peace Inc 9110 N. Western Ave. Oklahoma City, OK 73114 405-463-3320

Green Plus 8613 S. Western Ave. Oklahoma City, OK 73139 405-600-6218

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APRIL 2019

112 W. Main St. Norman, OK 73069 405-217-2107

Happy Root 420 811 W. Britton Road Oklahoma City, OK 73114 405-973-0429

Hazy Leaf 4507 NW 10th St. Oklahoma City, OK 73127 405-900-5526

1409 S. Division St. Guthrie, OK 73044 405-293-9696

Joint Cannabis Club

MediCann OK

3628 NW 50th St. Oklahoma City, OK 73112 405-600-7590

8302 NW 39th St. Bethany, OK 73008 405-470-0642

KC’s Cannabis Company

Medicinal Marijuana of Norman

4707 N. Meridian Ave. Warr Acres, OK 73112 405-470-0772

Herb N Out Dispensary

Kissing Clouds Holistic Healing

4301 N. Sara Road Yukon, OK 73099 405-577-6064

4133 N. Lincoln Blvd.

Oklahoma City, OK 73105 405-227-9919

Herb-N-Legends Canna Group

Lotus Gold

2601 N. MacArthur Blvd.

Oklahoma City, OK 73127 580-236-3486

Herbal Phoenix 9834 NE 23rd St. Oklahoma City, OK 73141 405-259-9006

Herban Mother 10717 N. May Ave., Suite D Oklahoma City, OK 73120 405-242-2047

High Expectations 200 W. Britton Road Oklahoma City, OK 73114 405-607-3330

Highgarden Dispensary 816 W. Britton Road Oklahoma City, OK 73114 405-286-0634

Highland Healing 714 N. Broadway Ave., Suite 201 Oklahoma City, OK 73102 405-546-8686

7911 W. Hefner Road, Suite 2 Oklahoma City, OK 73162 405-728-3644

30+ locations now open 420 N. Pennsylvania Ave. Oklahoma City, OK 73107 833-4-CBD-PLUS

Loud City Pharmaceuticals 9113 NE 23rd St. Oklahoma City, OK 73141 405-259-9014

Love Budz 2723 N. Classen Blvd., Buliding B Oklahoma City, OK 73106 405-600-9351

Lucky Leaf Cannabis Company

1430 W. Lindsey St., Suite I Norman, OK 73069 580-916-2535

Midtown Cannabis 229 NW Ninth St. Oklahoma City, OK 73102 405-225-6510

Miracle Meds Dispensary 701 S. Kelly Ave., Suite D Edmond, OK 73003 405-726-8400

Modern Serra 2910 E. Waterloo Road Edmond, OK 73034 405-216-5810

Mr Green 1131 N. May Ave. Oklahoma City, OK 73107 405-772-7110 6813 N. Broadway Ave. Edmond, OK 73034 405-254-5592

8121 S. Western Ave., Suites A & B Oklahoma City, OK 73139 405-602-8931

10840 N. Pennsylvania Ave. Oklahoma City, OK 73120 405-254-5592

M S Dispensary

Native Brothers

421 E. Main St. Shawnee, OK 74801 405-788-4335

11330 N. May Ave., Unit C Oklahoma City, OK 73120 405-286-0622

Mabs Natural Solutions

Native Remedy

2315 E. Lindsey St. Norman, OK 73071 405-310-2469

5712 Industrial Blvd.

Edmond, OK 73034 405-285-4050

No Rhyme or Reason 7910 N. May Ave. Oklahoma City, OK 73120 405-226-5891

Oasis Healing Center 1013 SW 19th St. Moore, OK 73160 405-397-9158

OG Farma 1801 SE 44th St. Oklahoma City, OK 73129 405-762-8820

OK Roots Dispensary 522 S. Beard Ave. Shawnee, OK 74801 425-218-0226

Okana 808 NW Sixth St. Oklahoma City, OK 73106 405-262-0002

Okie Cannabis Company 1324 SW 89th St. Oklahoma City, OK 73159 405-691-6543

Okie Kush Club 13801 N. Western Ave., Suite E Edmond, OK 73013 405-252-4193 825 SW 19th St. Moore, OK 73160 405-237-3471

OklaBudZ 3412 SE 15th St. Del City, OK 73134 405-305-9798

Oklahoma Coughy Company 628 W. Edmond Road Edmond, OK 73003 405-285-2118

Oklahoma Roots 5825 N. Harrison St. Shawnee, OK 74804 405-432-1017

Painted Nurse Apothecary 3017 N. Lee Ave., Suite A Oklahoma City, OK 73103 405-971-4201

Pot of Gold LLC 2524 N. Moore Ave. Moore, OK 73160 405-735-5335

Project Releaf 1218 N. Pennsylvania Ave., Suite 305 Oklahoma City, OK 73107 405-595-2084

Rabbit Hole Cannabis Dispensary 2500 NW 23rd St. Oklahoma City, OK 73107 405-595-2052

Redbud Medical MJ 1038 W. Interstate 240 Service Road Oklahoma City, OK 73139 405-259-4420

Revitalize Wellness 7623 NW 23rd St. Bethany, OK 73008 405-445-4096

Rick&Bunni’s Dispensary 5759 S. Pennsylvania Ave. Oklahoma City, OK 73119 405-802-4104

Straiin OKC

The Peak Dispensary

4041 NW 39th St. Oklahoma City, OK 73112 405-249-4800

1609 N. Blackwelder Ave., Suite 1 Oklahoma City, OK 73106 405-738-2633

Strange Leaf

15 E. Fourth St. Edmond, OK 73034 405-546-8598

4700 NW 39th St. Oklahoma City, OK 73122 405-787-2643

TERPINZ 507 E. California Ave. Oklahoma City, OK 73104 1-888-TERPINZ

Terra Wellness 8501 SW 59th St. Oklahoma City, OK 73179 405-261-2123

Ringside Medical

The Gateway CBD & Dispensary

14201 N. May Ave., Suite 205 Oklahoma City, OK 73134 405-242-5325

4 E. Ayers St., Suite 100 Edmond, OK 73034 405-922-8856

Root 66 Dispensary

The Green Cupboard

16351 W. State Highway 66 El Reno, OK 73036 405-295-6777

3108 N. Classen Blvd.

Oklahoma City, OK 73118 405-225-1340

Sage Wellness

The Green Lily

4200 N. Western Ave. Oklahoma City, OK 73118 405-601-9560

Secret Garden Dispensary 1700 S. Morgan Road, Suite G Oklahoma City, OK 73128 405-897-2147

Solace Meds 804 W. Interstate 240 Service Road Oklahoma City, OK 73139 580-220-0397

Stash Cannabis Company 924 NW 150th St. Edmond, Ok 73013 405-286-5667

Steady Eddi Supply Co. 9602 N. Council Road Oklahoma City, OK 73162 405-470-8625

Stellar Herb 11925 NE Interstate 35 Service Road Oklahoma City, OK 73131 405-406-2563

Steve’s Greens 6715 N. May Ave. Oklahoma City, OK 73116 405-608-8010

903 N. Main St. Noble, OK 73068 405-887-0404

Top Shelf OKC 2518 N. Meridian Ave. Oklahoma City, OK 73107 405-604-2738

Trees Cannabis Co. 2958 SW 59th St. Oklahoma City, OK 73119 405-208-8826

True Herb Cannabis 636 SW 59th St. Oklahoma City, OK 73109 405-604-0050

Urban Wellness Dispensary 1515 NE 23rd St. Oklahoma City, OK 73111 405-424-4367

355 E. Main St. Yukon, OK 73099 405-354-4040

33 W. 15th St. Edmond, OK 73034 405-696-5354

The Greens Bakery

West Y Herbal Dispensary

6444 S. Western Ave., Suite 202 Oklahoma City, OK 73139 405-208-8229

331946 E. State Highway 66 Wellston, OK 74881 405-401-2101

The Greens of Central Oklahoma

Wild Horse Dispensary

3401 NW 23rd St. Oklahoma City, OK 73107 405-948-9150

The Healing Joint 1620 SW 89th St., Suite E Oklahoma City, OK 73159 405-735-7783

The Hot Box Dispensary 5814 S. Western Ave. Oklahoma City, OK 73109 405-600-6311

The Joint Cannabis Club 3628 NW 50th St. Oklahoma City, OK 73112 405-600-7590

The Leaf Healthy Living 2413 N. Council Road Oklahoma City, OK 73127 405-962-8438

551 E. State Highway 152, Suite 2 Mustang, OK 73064 405-256-6464

Z Dispensary 4989 SE 29th St. Del City, OK 73115 405-493-6541

Ziggyz Cannabis Co 924 SW 59th St. Oklahoma City, OK 73109 405-632-0810 2016 N. MacArthur Blvd.

Oklahoma City, OK 73127 405-947-4842 4508 S. May Ave. Oklahoma City, OK 73119 405-685-1716 4005 N. Pennsylvania Ave. Oklahoma City, OK 73112 405-521-9999

234 N. Mustang Road Mustang, OK 73064 405-203-4013 APRIL 2019

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MMJ R ecoMMendations -

to schedule an appointMent and foR MoRe info . visit

g R e e n h o p e w e l l n e s s . co M

Telemedicine Available by Appointment

405-543-7200

$125 Adults $125 Children $80 Veterans Children’s 2nd visit $50 with proof of our online education.

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APRIL 2019

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LIFESTYLE

Making the infused oil Ingredients 1 cup of canola or olive oil 7-10 grams of decarboxylated medical cannabis

MEDICINAL KITCHEN

Cooking with cannabis goes beyond brownies with pot-infused pistachio pesto.

By Matt Dinger and Jacob Threadgill Cooking with medical marijuana can be a preferred delivery system because it is easier on the lungs than smoking and the effects last longer, but it can be a difficult process to get started.

Everyone is familiar with the trope of pot brownies, but cooking with marijuana can be much more refined than mixing ingredients into a batter and baking. The folks at Guyutes, 720 NW 23rd St. — owner Jarrod Friedel, who has a medical marijuana growPistachio pot pesto Ingredients 1 cup basil 4 crushed garlic cloves 1/3 cup of unsalted pistachios 1/3 cup of finely grated Parmesan cheese 2 1/2 tablespoons of olive oil 2 1/2 tablespoons of infused oil A touch of salt Instructions 1. Add the basil, garlic, pistachios and Parmesan into a food processor. Process until finely chopped.

2. With the processor running, slowly add the oil. Add salt as necessary.

Add a scoop of pesto to the garlic toast, then cut fresh burrata cheese into quarters and put it on top. Mix fresh tomatoes and basil to re-establish the basil flavor.

“If there is any residual marijuana flavor, [the tomato and basil will] help kind of just soften it little bit; you’re looking for the flavor,” Matt Pryor said.

The dish is finished with additional infused basil pesto with extra oil to make it runny for added color and medicinal effect.

Additional pesto can be combined with cooked pasta and chicken for an easy and simple dish.

er’s license, and chef Matt Pryor — have developed some medical marijuana recipes outside their commercial kitchen that will cure your ailments without any cannabis aftertaste. First up is a pistachio pot-infused pesto crostino topped with burrata cheese and bruschetta.

The first step in cooking with medical marijuana is the decarboxylation process, which requires heat to separate the THC from the plant and make it ready to metabolize. It’s the reason you can’t eat marijuana raw and feel the effects — you must either heat it up by smoking, cooking it in a pan or cooking it in an oven with controlled temperature.

Friedel recommends breaking up the medical marijuana — 7-10 grams will be needed to make infused oil — either by hand or with a grinder.

He cautions not to grind the flower into a fine powder. Lay out the marijuana on top of parchment paper on a baking sheet and preheat the oven to 220 degrees Fahrenheit. If the oven rises above 300 degrees Fahrenheit, it will burn the flower and rob it of its medicinal effects.

“I would get an oven thermometer and make sure your oven is actually at 220 [degrees Fahrenheit] and it’s not at 250 [degrees Fahrenheit] and not calibrated very well,” Friedel said.

He said to keep the flower in the oven for two to three hours until it starts to turn brown, which means

Additional THC pesto can be added to cooked pasta and chicken for a simple and quick medicinal dish, along with the crostino with pesto, burrata and bruschetta . | Photo Alexa Ace

the THC and cannabinoids are being released.

“You can go up to over three hours, and the longer you go … that just means it’s going to be having more of a narcolepsy effect, so the longer you keep it in the oven, the higher sedative effect it’s going to have,” Friedel said.

THC is fat-soluble, which means oil, butter or ghee is the best delivery method for the medicine.

Infused olive oil becomes the basis on which pistachio pesto is made.

Review Marijuana edibles should always be eaten with caution because it is easy to eat too much. It’s always better to under-dose than to eat too much and have a bad experience.

It can take as little as 30-45 minutes for cannabinoids to metabolize into the blood stream and as long as three hours, and the duration can last between four and six hours, according to Weedmaps.

The single crostino is actually about two to three doses, depending on a person’s tolerance level.

There are 7 grams of medicine in one cup of oil, which equates to 1400 milligrams divided by 16 tablespoons, which is 87.5 milligrams per tablespoon. The recipe has 2.5 tablespoons and made eight servings, so each crostino has about 27 milligrams of medicine.

Ingredients used to make pesto and bruschetta include basil, tomato, garlic, pistachios and THC-infused olive oil. | Photo Alexa Ace

Instructions 1. Mix the oil and marijuana and apply low heat (140 to 160 degrees Fahrenheit) for 90-120 minutes. Do not let the oil exceed 200 degrees Fahrenheit or allow it to boil.

2. Remove the oil from the heat.

Allow it to cool.

3. Strain the oil over cheesecloth into an airtight container for at least 45 minutes. Do not squeeze the cannabis flower.

4. Store any excess oil in a dark container in a cool, dry place.

Refrigerate it to extend the shelf life to several months.

“If you go over 200 [degrees Fahrenheit], you’re going to burn your oil and it’s going to burn your weed and everything’s going to taste disgusting,” Friedel said.

Weedmaps recommends an inexperienced person start with about 5 milligrams, intermediate about 10-20 milligrams and experienced can dose more than 20 milligrams.

I ate about half of a crostino, and it was hard not to eat more because there was no lingering “weed” flavor. I liked the robustness of the pistachio compared to the normal pesto nut of choice, pine nuts. You can use any nut of your choosing in the recipe, but pistachios don’t need to be toasted and aren’t a major allergen like peanuts.

It’s hard to go wrong with any dish that is topped with burrata, which is made by mixing mozzarella and cream. There is an outer layer of solid mozzarella and an inner layer of soft buffalo milk and cream that is ooey and gooey. The tomato and basil topping complements the dish. It’s not a normal bruschetta because there is no vinegar. Pryor said they tried variations with balsamic vinegar but thought it overpowered the pesto, which is a nice touch because the pesto is the star.

For medicinal purposes, I found the pesto had a good body high that eliminated anxiety without any major head fogginess. It lasted about four to five hours. — Jacob Threadgill

APRIL 2019

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LIFESTYLE BUYER’S GUIDE Find the best products for all your cannabis needs.

By Matt Dinger

Sage Wellness Cannabis Market 4200 N. Western Ave. sagewellnessokc.com 405-601-9560 If you prefer to eat your CBD instead of using smokeable, vapeable and liquid forms, the 25 mg CBD gummies from Sage Wellness are for you. A package of 10 delivers your dose in a 100 percent vegan form with just over 4 grams of sugar per gummy. If you eat the entire $25 bottle, you’ve still only swallowed 160 calories (but 2500 mg of CBD).

Lucky’s Grow Supply 7507 Broadway Extension luckysgrowsupply.com 405-353-1212 Ready to trim the trees? The TrimBin tray by Harvest More ($59.99) features an ergonomic design that makes trim work easy. The two-part system allows for versatility and efficient use of space that allows you to work from a couch or table. The package includes a top bin with 150-micron interchangeable stainless steel screen, a bottom bin with a mirror finish collection tray and a static brush for sweeping pollen.

The high molded walls keep your work contained.

Green Goodies 5840 N. Classen Blvd. greengoodiesokc.com 405-842-2288 What cannabis buyer’s guide would be complete without something to curb the munchies? The chocolate chip cookie dough cupcake from Green Goodies will satisfy. The bakery’s name is not a reference to CBD or THC, but you won’t need either to enjoy Green Goodies’ wares.

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APRIL 2019

Life Organics Cannafé 588 Buchanan Ave., Norman mycannafe.com 405-310-2790 This tasty flower contains almost no THC while being high in CBD and other cannabinoids. Smoking hemp provides the health benefits without slowing you down or disrupting productivity. Grams and pre-rolls go for $10, while quarters are $50. If you prefer to vape rather than smoke, Blue Top is highly potent and terpene-rich. The kit comes with a half-gram cartridge, a discreet vaporizer pen and a charger for $49.99.

CBD Plus USA multiple metro locations cbdplususa.com 833-422-3758 Looking to try a CBD liquid for the first time? The 500 mg isolate from CBD Plus USA has been laboratory-tested at 100 percent active while the 1000 mg broad spectrum includes cannabigerol (CBG), cannabichromene (CBC) and cannabinol (CBN). Both are THC-free formulas that allow you to test the waters without a patient license or the psychoactive effects that accompany full cannabis products. The isolate retails for $39.99, while the full spectrum goes for $89.99, but if you bring a copy of this gift guide to a CBD Plus USA location, you can get the isolate for $19.99 and the full spectrum for $49.99. Limit one per customer.

Redbud Soil Company 1113 NW First St. redbudsoilcompany.com 405-601-1300 Already have your license and your New Year’s resolution is to pick up a hobby? Treat yourself with a pack of Redbud Bubba Kush seeds ($30) from Redbud Soil Company. The seeds are a mixture of males and females and come from a Grape Jam lineage [(Grapestomper OG x Bubba Jam) x (Lime cookies Bubba x Sour Bubble)].

These seeds will grow a high-hitting indica with sturdy branches, upright structure and buds that turn vivid colors upon maturity.

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Call or visit! | 405-208-8229 | 6444 S. Western Ave. Suite 202 OKC

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