HOW WEED WORKS

THC Medicates-but CBD, the New Big Hubbub Among Cannabis Scientists,
Might Save Your Life

Samantha Miller is the kind of scientist that looks like one even
without a lab coat. The president of Pure Analytics, a Sonoma
County-based cannabis potency and safety screening company, Miller
recently addressed some serious local growers at El Camino Wellness
Center about recent breakthroughs and techniques for cannabis
cultivators and medical users.

Miller is all about dosages, something I rarely think about. For
example: Did you know that when you ingest cannabis on an empty
stomach, it becomes 10 times more powerful than if smoked? Instead of
a gentle buzz, you may end up on a vision quest.

But the most interesting aspect of Miller's presentation was the
promising research being done on cannabidiol, or CBD.

Here's how weed works: Cannabinoids are found in the trichome (resin
glands) of a marijuana plant. Their purpose is to repel critters and
protect the plant from ultraviolet light. It is also what gives
marijuana its medicinal properties. There are three major types of
cannabinoids: tetrahydrocannabinol, known to most people as THC, the
stuff that gets you high when you smoke marijuana; Cannabinol, a.k.a.
CBN, the byproduct of decaying THC, which is nasty stuff that should
be avoided; and lastly cannabidiol, a.k.a. CBD, currently the big
hubbub among growers and marijuana scientists.

Dr. Sean McAllister and his research team at the California Pacific
Medical Center has been studying cannabidiol with interesting
results. When CBD is injected into rats with cancer, for instance,
the tumors disappear. CBD could be the cure for cancer? The challenge
that research team faces is getting the dosage perfect, as too much
CBD makes the tumors bigger.

If it ain't one thing, it's another with those scientists.

CBD is also proving to be the key for the therapeutic properties of
cannabis. Higher levels of CBD in strains-such as Harlequin, Sour
Tsunami and Purple Dragon-lessen anxiety, ease nausea and
inflammation while prolonging the effects of THC. If you are in pain
and use marijuana to control it, the CBD level is what you want to
look at when purchasing medicine. With a lower level of THC to keep
the noggin on straight and a higher level of CBD, you can have
longer-lasting medicinal effects. Because CBD inhibits enzymes that
break down THC, the buzz of the THC will last longer, hence the lower
dosage of THC.

I guess to really have the bomb, you could have equally high levels
of THC and CBD and take a trip without leaving the farm.

All jokes aside, some cannabis may actually be the cure for cancer.
Maybe that is why the pharmaceutical companies want to keep it illegal?

[sidebar]

Ask your local budtender which strain has the highest CBD content.
Buddy Peeler is a medical-cannabis patient writing for SN&R under a
pseudonym. Want SN&R to review your club's medical cannabis? Send
suggestions to bestbuds@newsreview.com. Reviewers write under
pseudonyms to protect anonymity as patients.