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O’Shaughnessy’s • Autumn 2011 —7— Project CBD encouraged production As CBD-Rich Cannabis Strains Proliferate, Clinicians Develop Survey to Document Effects By O’Shaughnessy’s News Service components other than THC that exert and was convinced that its re-introduc- Two-and-a-half years ago, one ana- effects when ingested into our bodies. tion into the grassroots supply warranted lytic chemistry laboratory in California The advent of CBD-rich cannabis has special attention. Montana activist Sarah had begun testing cannabis flowers for created a unique research opportunity for Russo was hired as outreach coordinator cannabinoid content. Today we know the Society of Cannabis Clinicians, the to arrange participation by dispensaries, of about 20 labs serving the industry in doctors’ group founded by Tod Mikuri- labs, cultivators, patients, physicians, California, Colorado, Montana, Michi- ya, MD, in 1999. Doctors Stacey Kerr and scientists. gan, and Oregon. and Jeffrey Hergenrather of the SCC Two-and-a-half years ago, it was still have developed a survey to document “Project CBD is the medical widely assumed that cannabidiol had patients’ responses to cannabidiol. The marijuana movement living up to been reduced to trace amounts in all the SCC survey, seen as the first in a series, its name.” cannabis being grown for psychoactive is designed to answer basic questions of effect in California and elsewhere. To- efficacy. Follow their progress at canna- “Project CBD is the medical mari- day the labs have identified more than bisclinicians.org. juana movement living up to its name,” 35 strains whose flowers are rich in CBD Project CBD Russo wrote to prospective stakeholders CBD-RiCH tiNCtuRe was made by ex- (defined as four percent or more CBD Project CBD was launched two-and-a- in March of this year. “We are confident tracting contents of trim from Harlequin for data-collection purposes). half years ago by two journalists to share that a serious, professional, physician- plants. it contains 3.9 milligrams of CBD Two-and-a-half years ago, THC was what we were learning about CBD, to run data-collection effort will enhance and 1.7 mg of tHC per cubic centimeter. commonly described in the media as expedite production of CBD-rich canna- the credibility of the movement as a if CBD-rich cannabis causes no disfunc- “the active ingredient in marijuana.” To- bis, and to publicize the study that our al- whole.” tion, tinctures administered under the day it is increasingly referred to as “the lies in the SCC were planning. Martin A. ProjectCBD.org was created to share tongue will enable people to maintain endocannabinoid tone throughout the psychoactive ingredient” —reflecting a Lee, the author of Acid Dreams, had been relevant material. On these pages we workday. new awareness that the plant contains writing about CBD for O’Shaughnessy’s present key pieces from the site. —F.G. In case you’re just joining us... Medical Hemp: The Story to Date Strains of Interest* Harlequin Cannabidiol (CBD) is the predominant government approval in 1998 to grow can- Omrita Rx3 Jamaican Lion cannabinoid in hemp —plants grown to nabis for use in clinical trials. GW Phar- Blue Jay Way produce fiber or growing wild. It has medi- maceuticals’ flagship product, Sativex, is Cannatonic Soma A+ cal effects when ingested. It is not psycho- a whole-plant extract containing approxi- Cotton Candy x Diesel active and actually counters the psychoac- mately equal amounts of CBD and THC Stinky Purple tive effects of THC. (plus small amounts of all the other com- Pineapple Thai Misty CBD levels go down and THC levels go pounds produced by the plant). It is formu- Good Medicine lated for spraying under the tongue. Poison OG up when plants are bred to maximize psy- Sour Tsunami choactive effect, as they have been in the The fact that Sativex is not smoked was Granny Durkel U.S. for many generations of plants and another selling point in the eyes of the reg- Sugaree x Blue Diesel Kushage people. ulators granting the approval, as was the Downtown Diesel near-perfect consistency with which GW Double Diesel It was generally assumed before the win- Wu#1 ter of 2008-2009 that CBD had been bred Pharmaceuticals could produce it. Phenom Phen down to trace levels in all the cannabis be- SARAH RUSSO AND WADE LAUGHTER, Purple Diesel Project CBD’s Outreach Coordinator Silver Dragon ing grown in California for medical and Monkey Balls recreational purposes. Because no analytic and the cultivator who gave the world F5 chemistry labs in the United States were “Harlequin.” Laughter’s decision to make Manawell clones available expedited the availability Sweetooth SFV testing cannabis samples, there was no way LA Confidential of CBD-rich Cannabis in California. Sweet Diesel to assess cannabinoid content. White Widow OG Afgani in California as the experts had predicted. Purps It turned out that CBD-rich can- About one in 600 samples brought to Steep Unicorn Hill and the other labs that had begun test- Atomic Jam nabis was not as rare in Califor- Jamaican Skunk ing cannabis was found to contain 4% or R-4 nia as the experts had predicted. more CBD. Black Queen Intensive Care OG Kush Whenever a CBD-rich strain was identi- Dr. Tod Overseas, scientists had been studying Ma’s Cheese fied, Project CBD made sure the cultivators Hubba Bubba CBD. Their findings, as reported in journal knew that cannabidiol had medical poten- BC “Outdoors” HARBORSIDE’S STEVE DEANGELO articles and at conferences, suggested that tial. We encouraged them to grow out their Tora Bora CBD could be effective in easing symp- The situation in the U.S. changed when strains and make them available to patients * Plants identified as containing more toms of a wide range of difficult-to-control Steve DeAngelo, the director of Oak- as widely and as rapidly as possible. than 4% CBD by various labs as of June 2011 conditions, including rheumatoid arthritis, land’s Harborside Health Center, decided Demand for CBD-rich cannabis was not diabetes, alcoholism, PTSD, epilepsy, anti- to underwrite a lab in the spring of 2008. strong. Dispensary owners were reluctant biotic-resistant infections and neurological When Harborside opened two years earlier, to stock it because they knew that most Finally, in the summer 2011, enough disorders. CBD has also demonstrated neu- DeAngelo had phoned every analytic lab of their customers were seeking —or not CBD-rich cannabis is being grown to en- roprotective and anti-cancer effects. in the Bay Area requesting that they test averse to— herb that causes euphoria or able the production of tinctures and edi- The reduced psychoactivity of CBD-rich cannabis for mold and cannabinoid con- sedation. In other words, high-THC con- bles. Demand at the dispensary level has cannabis was a key selling point when a tent —and they all turned him down So tent was a tried-and-true seller. Why spend been building slowly and steadily —it is Britsh company, GW Pharmaceuticals, got in the spring of ’08 he backed two entre- money on and devote shelf space to a type a function of education. Everyone in the preneurs who wanted to launch a lab — of cannabis that most medical users hadn’t industry realizes that there is a huge, un- the aptly named “Steep Hill”— and sup- heard of and whose effects were unprov- tapped market for cannabis that does not plied them with a large, steady stream of en? Growers, in turn, had to anticipate the induce euphoria or sedation. Do the strains samples from Harborside to test for mold wants of dispensary buyers and were re- now available meet that criterion? We’ll and cannabinoid content (THC, CBD and luctant to devote valuable garden space to get answers as patients respond to the SCC CBN, a breakdown product indicative of plants for which there was no established survey. staleness). market. A milestone was achieved in late Feb- The first CBD-rich sample identified by The developers of Harlequin, Soma ruary 2011, when Lawrence Ringo of the Steep Hill, “Stinky Purple,” came from A-plus, and Pineapple Thai made clones Southern Humboldt Seed Collective an- Round Valley in Mendocino County. But available, putting the interests of the com- nounced that he had stabilized a CBD-rich no cuttings had been made from a “mother munity above their own potential profits. strain called Sour Tsunami —meaning he plant,” and there was no way the grower Harborside and Herbal Solutions in Long could guarantee that the seeds had a one- who had brought the CBD-rich Stinky Pur- Beach sold clones instead of trying to cor- in-four chance of containing >4% CBD. ple to Harborside could reproduce it. ner the market (which would have been This and other recent developments are re- SATIVEX is a whole-plant extract Over the course of 2009-2010 it turned impossible long term, but feasible for a ported in the “CBDiary” on the pages that formulated for spraying under the out that CBD-rich cannabis was not as rare year or so). follow. tongue. Copyrighted 2010, 2012 by Fred Gardner. All rights reserved. Address reprint requests to [email protected] —8— O’Shaughnessy’s • Autumn 2011 O’Shaughnessy’s • Autumn 2011 —8— “Think this through with me...” CBDiary: the Reintroduction Era ProjectCBD.org went on line in late No- vember 2010. News and correspondence Longtime Dearth of CBD Documented was posted on a page called “CBDiary.” We hope the following selection of CBDi- “Potency Trends of THC and Other found to have increased steadily from a ary items conveys a sense of the excellent Cannabinoids in Confiscated Canna- mean of 3.4% in 1993 to 8.8% in 2008.

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