Let’s Get Buzzed

STORY BY TIERA N. WRIGHT ISTOCK PHOTOS

Arrivederci brownies, gummies, and chocolates; move over lotions, bath bombs and seltzers, it’s been real. With a growing trend of cannabis infused topicals, beverages, and foods— cannabis infused honey, with its versatility and DIY recipes, is on the rise (or is it getting high).

No matter, getting buzzed isn’t reserved for just alcohol anymore; just ask the honeybees.

As the survival of honeybees becomes more tenuous due to pesticides, climate change, etc., people are continuously discovering their integral role in our everyday lives. Like the crops they pollinate are dependent on them, honeybees are equally dependent on the pollen and nectar they collect, as it’s their number one source for food which has a sliding scale of nutritional value that affect the bees’ overall health and sustainability. With their “‘fingers’ in many pots” or literally speaking their hairs picking up and dropping off pollen to and from numerous plants, honeybees are responsible for pollinating crops such as almonds, apples, blueberries, cherries, and broccoli, as well as sunflowers and lavender. With that being said, their number one export is, of course, honey.

With a number of recipes cropping up (sorry, pun intended) for cannabis infused honey— many see the benefits of this pair’s fusion.

While not officially used for medicinal purposes, honey, in addition to being used as an alternative sweetener, contains antioxidants— which helps

the body fight inflammation, among other things. Additionally, honey has been used in a lot of home and natural remedies to help with burns, sore throats, or as a cough reliever.

On the other hand, cannabis does have medicinal purposes and is sometimes used to reduce anxiety, help with appetite loss, and as a pain reliever. Together, cannabis infused honey could be useful for fatigue, muscle relaxation and other aches and pains, coughing, nausea, a stress reliever, as well as cuts, burns, and more. To top it off, it tastes good too.

If you think the honeybees’ job stops there— honey please, think again. With the rise of cannabis cultivation, there have been several studies and articles arguing the role of the honeybee when it comes to pollinating cannabis plants, as well as the cannabis plants’ effect on the long-term sustainability of honeybees.

For those who believe that pollinating cannabis plants, will, in fact, help save the bees— their argument, first starts with the contradictory fact that cannabis plants aren’t vibrant in color, nor do they have the taste of nectar that usually attracts honeybees to the plants and flowers they choose to collect pollen from. Nevertheless, honeybees are found to be attracted to larger cannabis crops that feature tall cannabis plants classified as male; and the arguments in favor of the cannabis plants’ lifesaving qualities hinges on the fact that the growth of the plants don’t

require as much water or the use of as many pesticides, as well as its ability to provide honeybees with food during later seasons.

Conversely, arguments that don’t put as much stock in cannabis plants being the honeybees’ saving grace, but remain hopefully for their longterm sustainability, believe that they are attracted to these plants out of necessity, due to the lack of a more suitable food source readily available. Paired with the fact that cannabis plants don’t provide honeybees with enough nutrients, this plant also doesn’t necessarily need a honeybee to pollinate. However, don’t write off cannabis plants just yet—for those not completely sold, their solution is to compromise, and they suggest cultivators simply add and intercrop various plants commonly pollinated by honeybees and are rich in nutrients.

The importance of the honeybee is undeniable, and their pollinating practices are irreplaceable and hard to replicate (and not for a lack of trying). Should honeybees become extinct, the United Nations has estimated a deficit correlated to food production loss being in the billions, per year. Ultimately, there is no evidence to support either argument for whether or not cannabis plants can help save the honeybee population, but there are suggestions for how cultivators can help in the interim. Let’s hope with the growth of the cannabis industry, and green practices (yikes, another pun), the honeybee population will continue to thrive and keep our buzz.

Together, cannabis infused honey could be useful for fatigue, muscle relaxation and other aches and pains, coughing, nausea, a stress reliever, as well as cuts, burns, and more. To top it off, it tastes good too.