Hydrolife Magazine October/November 2016 (USA Edition)
There is a lot of healing in this issue of Hydrolife. As medicinal marijuana gains acceptance in more jurisdictions, more stories are coming to the forefront revealing how cannabis healed a person where traditional drugs could not, or could but with severe side effects. We all want that miracle cure to be found where everybody is safe, where everybody is happy and where everybody is healthy. There is a lot of healing in this issue of Hydrolife. As medicinal marijuana gains acceptance in more jurisdictions, more stories are coming to the forefront revealing how cannabis healed a person where traditional drugs could not, or could but with severe side effects. We all want that miracle cure to be found where everybody is safe, where everybody is happy and where everybody is healthy.
grow. heal. live. enjoy. OCT/NOV 2016 // USA LOOKING FORWARD THE FUTURE OF CANNABIS MARIJUANA AND ALZHEIMER’S THE ART OF CURING YOUR CROP CONTRIBUTIONS OVER COMPASSION
- Page 10 and 11: inside 12 our crew / 14 from the pu
- Page 14: our crew Alan Ray Alex Rea Billy Bi
- Page 18 and 19: own it 1 2 3 4 own it 1. Make it pe
- Page 20: ask kyle Q I am just starting my ow
- Page 24: grow A room full of Purple White Li
- Page 27 and 28: myhydrolife.com grow. heal. live. e
- Page 30: grow Cannabis normally requires lon
- Page 34 and 35: grow How to Grow Your Own from Seed
- Page 36: grow Growing from seed is all about
- Page 40 and 41: grow WATER Water with a spray bottl
- Page 42: grow THE by Cory Hughes RT OF CURIN
- Page 46: grow Burp Your Nugs The key to curi
- Page 50 and 51: heal Herbal ASK A NURSE: TIPS FOR P
grow. heal. live. enjoy.<br />
OCT/NOV <strong>2016</strong> // <strong>USA</strong><br />
LOOKING<br />
FORWARD<br />
THE FUTURE<br />
OF CANNABIS<br />
MARIJUANA AND ALZHEIMER’S<br />
THE ART OF CURING YOUR CROP<br />
CONTRIBUTIONS OVER COMPASSION
inside<br />
12 our crew / 14 from the publisher / 16 own it / 18 ask kyle / 48 ask a nurse / 98 the chill list<br />
grow.<br />
20 Canopy Management<br />
for Maximum Output<br />
26 Breeding with<br />
Autoflowering Cannabis<br />
32 How to Grow Your Own from Seed<br />
40 The Art of Curing Your Crop<br />
heal.<br />
50 Dabbing —The Gear: An Excerpt<br />
from Beyond Buds<br />
52 Cut and Dried<br />
54 Sophie’s Story: Helping Children Heal<br />
62 Marijuana and Alzheimer’s<br />
8<br />
grow. heal. live. enjoy.<br />
myhydrolife.com
live.<br />
66 Contributions Over Compassion?<br />
68 More MMJ Research On the Horizon<br />
76 Do We Need Cannabis Breathalyzers?<br />
78 Loose Lips Sink Ships:<br />
Securing Your Home Grow<br />
enjoy.<br />
82 Rise and Shine: Why More Cannabis<br />
Greenhouses are Cropping Up<br />
88 Riding the MJ Freeway<br />
92 Baking a Fool of Myself<br />
96 Trick-Or-Treat, it’s CannaWeen!<br />
myhydrolife.com grow. heal. live. enjoy. 9
our crew<br />
Alan Ray<br />
Alex Rea<br />
Billy Bishop<br />
Chris Bond<br />
Ben Burkhardt<br />
Jessica Ferneyhough<br />
Grubbycup<br />
Cory Hughes<br />
Kyle Kushman<br />
Kyle L. Ladenburger<br />
Gibson Lannister<br />
Sharon Letts<br />
Lee G. Lyzit<br />
Lacey Macri<br />
Jenn McGarrigle<br />
Ed Rosenthal<br />
Lindsey Schiller<br />
Watermelon<br />
Diane Young<br />
<strong>October</strong>/<strong>November</strong> <strong>2016</strong><br />
volume 6 - number 2<br />
Published by<br />
<strong>Hydrolife</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong><br />
3773 Howard Hughes Parkway<br />
South Tower, Suite 500<br />
Las Vegas, Nevada 89169<br />
Inquiries to<br />
info@myhydrolife.com<br />
No part of this magazine<br />
may be reproduced<br />
without permission from<br />
the publisher. The views<br />
expressed by columnists are<br />
personal opinions and do not<br />
necessarily reflect those of<br />
<strong>Hydrolife</strong> or the editor.<br />
Printed in the <strong>USA</strong><br />
Distribution<br />
P.A.I.N. Distribution | 310.488.1911<br />
magazinedistribution.org<br />
12<br />
grow. heal. live. enjoy.<br />
myhydrolife.com
from the publisher<br />
There is a lot of healing in this<br />
issue of <strong>Hydrolife</strong>. As medicinal<br />
marijuana gains acceptance in more<br />
jurisdictions, more stories are coming<br />
to the forefront revealing how cannabis<br />
healed a person where traditional drugs<br />
could not, or could but with severe side effects.<br />
We all want that miracle cure to be found where<br />
everybody is safe, where everybody is happy and<br />
where everybody is healthy. It’s a lot of pressure<br />
to apply to a plant species. In this issue we tell<br />
young Sophie Ryan’s story about her struggle with<br />
an optic pathway glioma brain tumor. Although it is<br />
heart-wrenching, her strength and smile will warm<br />
anybody’s heart. While cannabis appears to be helping<br />
Sophie, we must remember the other 4,000 or so children<br />
and teenagers diagnosed with brain and spinal cord<br />
tumors in the US every year. Will cannabis work for them?<br />
In our Ask a Nurse segment, a desperate mother turns<br />
to cannabis for her ailing son who suffers from epilepsy.<br />
The pharmaceuticals he takes result in harsh side effects,<br />
and as a mother, she seeks a better way for him. While<br />
these anecdotal pockets continue to grow, lawmakers and<br />
medical practitioners are slowly coming around to the<br />
reality that cannabis can help people. Institutions like<br />
Colorado State University and Scripps Research Institute,<br />
among others, are working to provide the data to back up<br />
these anecdotes. While there is progress in some areas,<br />
there are setbacks in others. As our story Contributions<br />
over Compassions explains, despite being a possible<br />
solution to North America’s opiate-related death epidemic,<br />
politicians at the federal level dismiss marijuana with<br />
a shrug. Until that changes, people will continue to seek<br />
alternatives, and more and more those alternatives will<br />
include cannabis. When it comes to reducing pain<br />
suffered by a loved one, it’s only natural.<br />
Grow, Live, Heal & Enjoy.<br />
14<br />
grow. heal. live. enjoy.<br />
myhydrolife.com
own it<br />
1<br />
2<br />
3<br />
4<br />
own it<br />
1. Make it personal with Custom<br />
Herb Grinders. Just upload<br />
your own image to their<br />
website, select a color and<br />
choose a grinder and you’ve<br />
got your very own custom<br />
herb grinder. Even better,<br />
order one as a gift. The<br />
grinder features diamond<br />
cut teeth to ensure easy<br />
and consistent grinding;<br />
strategically cut holes to<br />
allow tobacco or herb to<br />
easily fall through to the next<br />
chamber; magnetic clasping<br />
lids to keep contents safe in<br />
case it is dropped; 100 per<br />
cent rust resistance; and a<br />
lifetime guarantee.<br />
– customeherbgrinders.com<br />
2. NoGoo is takin’ the icky out<br />
of sticky. NoGoo non-stick<br />
containers are made of<br />
platinum-cured silicon,<br />
allowing you to get 100 per<br />
cent of any sticky substance<br />
out without leaving anything<br />
on the sides of the jar.<br />
If using glass or plastic<br />
containers doesn’t work<br />
for you, you’ll be amazed<br />
by NoGoo non-stick<br />
containers. NoGoo products<br />
are shatter resistant, heat<br />
resistant up to 450°F, freezer<br />
safe, microwave safe and<br />
dishwasher safe.<br />
– nogoononstick.com<br />
3. Place the Quest F9 Radial Air<br />
Mover beneath your grow<br />
table to prevent stagnant,<br />
water-logged air that causes<br />
plant-killing molds and fungi.<br />
This low-profile air mover fits<br />
easily into grow rooms and<br />
circulates 925 cubic feet of<br />
air per minute. Connect up<br />
to six F9s on a single 15-amp<br />
circuit. This easy-to-carry<br />
unit has no lights to ensure<br />
total darkness during night<br />
cycles. Why put your plants<br />
at risk? Add the F9 air mover<br />
to promote a clean growing<br />
environment for your crop.<br />
– questhydro.com<br />
4. To use the 7 Pipe Twisty<br />
Glass Blunt, pack up to 1.5<br />
grams of cannabis into the<br />
glass tube and twist the<br />
screw counter-clockwise<br />
into the tube. After that, all<br />
you need to do is light the<br />
end and puff, puff, pass.<br />
To ash your herbs, simply<br />
twist the screw clockwise<br />
and the ash will get pushed<br />
out the glass leaving fresh<br />
herbs for your next toke. The<br />
Twisty Glass Blunt can also<br />
be inserted and used with<br />
any 14-millimeter bong. The<br />
Twisty Glass Blunt is perfect<br />
for medicating on-the-go.<br />
– 7pipe.com<br />
16<br />
grow. heal. live. enjoy.<br />
myhydrolife.com
5<br />
6<br />
7<br />
8<br />
5. The Blade Scale 100 is one<br />
of the world’s most popular<br />
digital pocket scales. Its<br />
major benefit is that the<br />
display is underneath<br />
the scale and pops out<br />
to the side with a click of<br />
the button. This allows<br />
the entire surface area of<br />
the scale to be used for<br />
weighing. The Blade Scale<br />
100 weighs up to 100<br />
grams in increments of<br />
0.01 grams and is available<br />
in six different colors.<br />
– herbscales.com<br />
6. Dixie Elixir’s Sparkling<br />
Pomegranate is tangy, tart<br />
and totally refreshing,<br />
and contains no artificial<br />
coloring and less sugar<br />
than a traditional soda. It is<br />
infused with 90 milligrams<br />
of THC and comes with a<br />
dosing cap, making it easy<br />
to control how much you’re<br />
consuming. So call up a few<br />
friends worth sharing with,<br />
because this elixir is simply<br />
too good to keep to yourself.<br />
– dixieelixirs.com<br />
7. Shield N Seal’s SNS750 is a<br />
professional vacuum sealer<br />
that seals up to 16 inches<br />
wide. It features a roll<br />
holder that holds a 50-foot<br />
roll, has a smooth, easy<br />
cutter and a marinate mode.<br />
The SNS750 creates airtight,<br />
leak-proof, odor-proof and<br />
secure seals and is made<br />
of heavy-duty professional<br />
grade stainless steel. If you<br />
need to keep it fresh, you<br />
need to use the SNS750.<br />
– shieldnseal.com<br />
8. Do you have a checkered<br />
past? The Vans Vault<br />
Checkered Past collection<br />
pays tribute to the company’s<br />
design heritage with a<br />
series of Original Classic<br />
styles. The checkerboard is<br />
a sacred emblem in Vans’<br />
50-year history, appearing<br />
on cherished footwear<br />
forms from early beginnings<br />
under the family-owned Van<br />
Doren Rubber Company to<br />
its modern-day status as a<br />
global icon in action sports,<br />
music, fashion and art.<br />
– vans.com<br />
myhydrolife.com grow. heal. live. enjoy. 17
ask kyle<br />
Q<br />
I am just starting my own project and have heard<br />
different pros and cons for seeds and clones.<br />
Which one do you think I should start with?<br />
a<br />
The choice to use seeds<br />
or clones to start your<br />
cultivation project isn’t about<br />
which is better…or is it? The<br />
truth of the matter is that you<br />
can’t have one without the<br />
other. Clones are made by taking a shoot<br />
or cutting from a plant and using rooting<br />
hormone and specially prepared media<br />
to encourage the growth of roots, thereby<br />
creating an exact genetic copy of the<br />
plant it was taken from. A seed is not an<br />
exact genetic copy of anything. It is the<br />
progeny of male pollen contacting female<br />
flowers and voila … sexy plant love<br />
makes a baby! That baby or seed will<br />
have some of the characteristics of the<br />
mother and some from the father. These<br />
seeds can be either male or female.<br />
So why would one decide to use seeds<br />
or clones if they had the choice to do<br />
either? I grew my first eight years from<br />
seed only. Granted, this was 1987 to 1996<br />
and there wasn’t really any place to buy<br />
clones or seeds. So after being given the<br />
most amazing Northern Light #5 x hash<br />
plant seeds I began to breed my own.<br />
Necessity forced this upon me as I had<br />
nowhere to turn after my bag of seeds<br />
ran out. This required choosing a male<br />
which would be allowed to pollinate the<br />
female or females in the room. Selectively<br />
choosing specific females for breeding<br />
is usually the best option. It’s better<br />
to pollinate one or two plants since you<br />
can get hundreds, even thousands of<br />
seeds from just one. Seeded marijuana<br />
hasn’t been saleable since the 80s.<br />
I would isolate my male somewhere<br />
before it starts to throw pollen. When my<br />
selected female(s) have reached midflowering<br />
I would introduce the girls<br />
to the boy, install a fan and let nature<br />
take its course. As I became a little more<br />
knowledgeable I realized you could<br />
collect the pollen from the male and<br />
apply it more precisely to the flowers<br />
using a Q-Tip.<br />
Keep the female plant away from<br />
the rest for 24 hours. This allows time<br />
for the baby-making. Then spray the<br />
entire plant surface including the pot<br />
and media with clean water. Water<br />
renders the excess pollen inactive<br />
so you can return them to the garden<br />
without seeding your entire crop.<br />
When you plant these seeds they will<br />
grow a plant which is unique. Each<br />
seed can have dramatic variations,<br />
or can be quite similar. Successive<br />
generations of breeding with the<br />
same female and/or male can produce<br />
stability over a seed line.<br />
Cloning is a whole different story.<br />
It ensures that every plant you plant<br />
will be female and also be relatively<br />
similar if not identical in growth characteristics<br />
and the finished product it<br />
will produce. This is the way to go for<br />
most new cultivators.<br />
Cloning helps minimize the amount<br />
of resources you’ll have to invest.<br />
Simply purchase the number of<br />
clones you need, take them home<br />
and transplant. Because they’re<br />
already rooted plants and ready to<br />
grow, for the novice it can be a little<br />
easier to get them thriving.<br />
With clones you may never have<br />
to worry about males, pollination<br />
or wondering if the seeds will pop.<br />
But there are drawbacks. Seeds<br />
grow stronger plants which are<br />
more resistant to disease, pests and<br />
negative stress in general.<br />
Clones from over-hybridized<br />
strains will sometimes get weary<br />
over time and being cloned over<br />
and over. Some people refer to this<br />
as genetic drift. I believe it to be<br />
symptomatic of cutting clones from<br />
less than optimal mother plants.<br />
I suggest doing a little research online.<br />
There are several comprehensive<br />
online strain databases which<br />
can be found with a simple search.<br />
They provide details on hundreds of<br />
popular strains. Things like flowering<br />
time, potency, even a description of<br />
some of the reported benefits attributed<br />
to each strain. Making your own clones<br />
is easy, as well. You just need a mother<br />
or donor plant that you can take cuttings<br />
from. A cutting is usually taken<br />
from the upper, more vigorous part of<br />
the plant. I like to take cuttings that are<br />
around five inches long. When they’re<br />
cleaned up and ready to dip in rooting<br />
hormone they’re around four inches.<br />
Only take strong, healthy cuttings<br />
that won’t be likely to wilt shortly<br />
after you stick them.<br />
Kyle<br />
Photo by Kyle Kushman<br />
Kyle Kushman is an internationally renowned marijuana<br />
cultivator whose collaborations have earned 13 Medical Cannabis<br />
Cup awards, including three US Cannabis Cups for Best Flowers. As<br />
the creator of Vegamatrix, the only line of vegan and organic nutrients<br />
designed for growing cannabis, Kyle continues to make advances for<br />
people who want to cultivate the purest, cleanest medicine possible.<br />
Do you have a<br />
question for Kyle?<br />
Email editor@myhydrolife.com<br />
to get an answer.<br />
18<br />
grow. heal. live. enjoy.<br />
myhydrolife.com
grow<br />
by Ben Burkhardt<br />
Manipulating your crop’s canopy to achieve maximum yields requires good<br />
note taking and an understanding of the species you are growing and the<br />
environment you have created for it. If you are operating a commercial<br />
grow, it also requires good communication by your team. Ben Burkhardt<br />
draws from his experience to provide best canopy management practices.<br />
20<br />
grow. heal. live. enjoy.<br />
myhydrolife.com
grow<br />
A room full of Purple White Lightning at Broken Coast Cannabis, a commercial grower in British Columbia, Canada.<br />
As gardeners gain the experience<br />
of seeing many crops grown to<br />
completion, they develop a perspective<br />
that allows them to anticipate what<br />
a plant will become based upon its<br />
genotype and structure, even when it’s<br />
in the early vegetative stage. This allows<br />
for precise control of the flowering<br />
canopy structure well before the plants<br />
reach flower. Encouraging gardeners<br />
to record notes on each batch, take a<br />
detailed visual assessment of each<br />
completed batch before harvest, and<br />
perhaps even take a photo to jog the<br />
memory, is recommended. Seeing the<br />
result of a crop or batch, viewing the<br />
related data and making adjustments<br />
that will in theory improve the previous<br />
result is the best method of increasing<br />
canopy output and efficiencies.<br />
Sharing accurate yield data is crucial<br />
and that information should drive the<br />
decisions made regarding gardening<br />
technique and logistics. If operating a<br />
commercial grow, I recommend having<br />
a full-time employee just to assemble<br />
the data from the garden. If the garden<br />
is large and the vegetative and flowering<br />
growth is managed separately by<br />
different departments, there should be<br />
strong communication and the end result<br />
of the vegetative team’s effectiveness of<br />
plant contortion and pruning should be<br />
studied and constantly improved.<br />
The three-dimensional structure of the<br />
flowering canopy consists of square<br />
footage and depth. If growing medium<br />
size plants, the bud sites can be productive<br />
several feet into the canopy. The<br />
nuances of specific genetics lead to<br />
varying results, as certain examples will<br />
grow taller with better light penetration<br />
through the canopy due to skinny sativa<br />
dominant leaves, or may generate worthwhile<br />
flowers in a limited light condition.<br />
Topping, or pruning, is the practice of<br />
removing the tip of a branch to encourage<br />
lower growth and to inhibit a plant from<br />
stretching. It also creates more primary<br />
nodes that will add additional flower<br />
If growing medium size<br />
plants, the bud sites can<br />
be productive several feet<br />
into the canopy.<br />
sites by allowing the lower branches to<br />
catch up in vertical growth closer to the<br />
light. Although often abused, this is the<br />
most common example of contorting a<br />
plant for optimal yield.<br />
Like all plant contortion techniques,<br />
topping is inevitably plant count and<br />
strain specific. Many genetics will<br />
grow vertically, with an overly large<br />
central cola, creating the likelihood of<br />
bud mold and reduced yields due to a<br />
limited amount of bud sites positioned<br />
close enough to the light. If executed<br />
at the right time, to the correct degree<br />
and with adequate lighting, topping a<br />
plant once or twice is usually all that’s<br />
required. Once a cutting has been<br />
propagated for a few weeks and is beginning<br />
aggressive vertical growth, it<br />
should receive its initial topping, which<br />
forces the lower branches to catch up<br />
vertically with the central primary<br />
node before the plant has grown large,<br />
making it the most efficient time to do<br />
so. This typically results in three or four<br />
primary nodes, which may or may not<br />
be adequate, depending upon the crop’s<br />
growth structure and plant density per<br />
square foot. When more nodes are required,<br />
it is recommended to top in the<br />
vegetative stage once more, doubling<br />
them from six to eight.<br />
22<br />
grow. heal. live. enjoy.<br />
myhydrolife.com
grow<br />
Topping is additionally effective when<br />
the flower room is full and plants need<br />
to be held in the vegetative stage longer<br />
than necessary. Although this may cause<br />
smaller top flowers and more branches<br />
to manage than necessary to achieve<br />
the desired yield from the upper canopy,<br />
without cutting them back, they may<br />
become unruly, starched specimens that<br />
are unsuitable for maximum output. If<br />
done correctly during vegetative growth,<br />
topping won’t be necessary once the<br />
plants transition to flowering.<br />
Freshly grown branch plant material<br />
is rather pliable, allowing a gardener<br />
to gently bend the stalks in the opposite<br />
direction requiring it to work to correct<br />
itself and allow lower branches to catch<br />
up vertically, allowing for superior<br />
exposure to light. Another option is<br />
to ‘knuckle’ the branch by making an<br />
aggressive bend that creates a 90-degree<br />
near-break in a branch that then<br />
will heal and drastically reduce that<br />
branch’s vertical growth, maintaining<br />
its node sites rather than removing the<br />
branches. It’s usually used for damage<br />
control once things are getting out of<br />
hand vertically in flower.<br />
If executed at the right<br />
time, to the correct degree<br />
and with adequate<br />
lighting, topping a plant<br />
once or twice is usually<br />
all that’s required.<br />
The best practice for limiting unwanted<br />
vertical growth after minimal topping<br />
is to utilize high PAR, or light intensity,<br />
to prevent the plant’s upper branches<br />
from reaching toward the light, as they<br />
are saturated already. This results in the<br />
plant being forced to focus growth on<br />
thicker, stronger branches and increased<br />
vertical height on the lower branches,<br />
while still allowing for the stresses plant<br />
material close to the light to heal with<br />
no consequence once in flower. This is<br />
extremely effective in allowing shorter<br />
plants within a batch to catch up with the<br />
rest for an even canopy as well. While<br />
some lights are now equipped with dimming<br />
capabilities, the other option is to<br />
manually adjust the height of your light<br />
to the desired distance above the plants.<br />
An even canopy of God Kush and Lemon Haze plants in the veg/growth phase at Broken Coast Cannabis.<br />
Although PAR meters aren’t necessary to<br />
accomplish this, they can be a useful tool<br />
to dial in exact light intensity and study<br />
nuances across the garden.<br />
While often best to use the lower<br />
canopy to maximize yield, inevitably<br />
there will be some branches exposed to<br />
limited light. As a result, they are weak<br />
and unusable for any worthwhile flower<br />
production. These should be removed<br />
as they are a waste of the plant’s energy<br />
and susceptible to pests and disease.<br />
The technique of ‘lollipopping’ is the<br />
practice of removing lower branches<br />
with the purpose of focusing more of<br />
the plant’s energy to the higher, more<br />
productive nodes. While effective, it is<br />
important to be conscious of the balance<br />
required, allowing the useful branches<br />
to remain, while removing the rest. It’s<br />
common for gardeners to be overly aggressive,<br />
underestimating the potential<br />
output of the lower branches. The number<br />
of lower branches that are useful will<br />
be strain-specific, as some genetics have<br />
wider leaves, affecting light penetration<br />
through the canopy, and specific genetics<br />
possess varying abilities to have useful<br />
flower production in lower light conditions<br />
at the bottom of the canopy.<br />
A specific strain’s growth pattern and<br />
structure will dictate how it should best<br />
be vegetatively contorted. This is accomplished<br />
by considering the key factors<br />
that influence the creation of an optimal<br />
canopy: growth pattern, plant density,<br />
ability to flower on low-lit branches and<br />
the explosive initial vertical growth in<br />
flower. A well-constructed canopy is<br />
instrumental in increasing yields while<br />
reducing the cost of production.<br />
Ben Burkhardt entered the adolescent<br />
medical marijuana industry in 1998 in San<br />
Francisco and then Los Angeles. He then<br />
relocated to Denver, where he owned<br />
and operated the largest indoor grow<br />
facility in the country, an infused products<br />
division and more than a dozen retail<br />
locations. He is now pursuing national<br />
and international opportunities with his<br />
company Sunlight Green Systems.<br />
24<br />
grow. heal. live. enjoy.<br />
myhydrolife.com
myhydrolife.com grow. heal. live. enjoy. 25
grow<br />
BREEDING<br />
WITH<br />
Autoflowering<br />
CANNABIS<br />
BY GRUBBYCUP | When it comes to<br />
breeding cannabis, autoflowering is one<br />
of the most basic types of genetic traits of<br />
the plant, as it follows the laws of simple<br />
recessiveness and dominance. Specifically,<br />
it is a recessive trait. A brief review of high<br />
school biology reveals how it all works.<br />
26 grow. heal. live. enjoy.<br />
myhydrolife.com
grow<br />
Cannabis normally requires long<br />
dark periods to trigger flowering,<br />
but there are varieties that will flower<br />
regardless of the lighting conditions.<br />
These are known as autoflowering<br />
varieties. Not all cannabis traits are<br />
as simple to explain, which is part of<br />
what makes autoflowering a good example<br />
for beginning breeders to start<br />
with. For the purposes of this article, a<br />
few exceptions and special cases have<br />
been omitted for clarity, since even<br />
at the most basic level, it is a complicated<br />
enough topic that to some may<br />
seem confusing at first.<br />
Gregor Mendel, a friar who conducted<br />
experiments with pea plants in the mid-<br />
1800s, tracked traits such as seed shape<br />
and flower color, and developed basic<br />
rules for understanding genetic inheritance<br />
such as the concept of dominant<br />
and recessive traits. Although some<br />
traits are complicated and require more<br />
than one gene to express, autoflowering<br />
is one of the most basic types of genetic<br />
traits and follows the laws of simple<br />
recessiveness and dominance. Specifically,<br />
it is a recessive trait.<br />
Of importance to breeders, both experienced<br />
and aspiring, autoflowering is<br />
an easily observable simple Mendelian<br />
recessive trait. It is generally quick and<br />
easy to determine if a given adolescent<br />
plant is autoflowering or standard just<br />
by keeping it in short (or non-existent)<br />
dark periods for a few weeks. If the<br />
plant stays in growth, it is standard, if it<br />
flowers it is autoflowering.<br />
Cannabis is a diploid, in other words,<br />
it gets one chromosome from the pollen<br />
of the father, and one from the ovum<br />
of the mother. This means it will have<br />
two genes (one from each chromosome<br />
strand), each of which can be one of two<br />
alleles, either autoflowering or not.<br />
If we refer to the photodependant<br />
(standard) allele as P (upper case P),<br />
and the non-photodependant allele<br />
as p (lower case p), then the child<br />
plant will receive two—one from each<br />
parent. If the father is true breeding<br />
(homozygous) for photodependancy, it<br />
will have the allele P on both genes—<br />
the same is true for the mother. Seeds<br />
made from such pairings will result<br />
in offspring that is also true breeding<br />
for photodependancy. The father will<br />
contribute either a P or a P (because he<br />
has two big Ps, and will pass on one or<br />
the other). The mother will contribute<br />
either a P or a P (because she has two,<br />
and will pass on one or the other).<br />
While technically there are four<br />
combinations possible, effectively it<br />
doesn’t make much difference because<br />
all of the combinations result in PP<br />
(true breeding for photodependancy).<br />
This is why breeding a standard<br />
cannabis plant with another standard<br />
cannabis plant will result in standard<br />
cannabis offspring. The same is true<br />
of autoflowering. If both parents are<br />
true breeding for autoflowering, they<br />
will each have pp, and their offspring<br />
will autoflower (since they will receive<br />
a p from each parent). However, if one<br />
parent is PP (standard) and the other is<br />
autoflowering (pp), then all of the seeds<br />
will be Pp, since they will get one of<br />
the two P from the first parent, and one<br />
of the two p from the second parent.<br />
Having both the allele P and the allele<br />
p (heterogeneous for autoflowering)<br />
makes them a hybrid.<br />
“Cannabis<br />
is a diploid, in other words, it gets one<br />
chromosome from the pollen of the father,<br />
and one from the ovum of the mother.”<br />
28 grow. heal. live. enjoy.<br />
myhydrolife.com
grow<br />
“The first<br />
generation after crossing a true breeding<br />
standard plant with a autoflowering plant<br />
will create seeds that are photodependant<br />
and will not autoflower.”<br />
Since they have the alleles for both<br />
photodependancy and autoflowering,<br />
their phenotype (physical expression)<br />
will depend on dominance. Dominance<br />
determines which one breaks the ties in<br />
these instances. In this case, photodependancy<br />
is dominant, so the resulting<br />
Pp seeds will all be photodependant.<br />
This is why the first generation after<br />
crossing a true breeding standard plant<br />
with a autoflowering plant will create<br />
seeds that are photodependant and<br />
will not autoflower. However, the hybrid<br />
seeds aren’t useless. If the heterogeneous<br />
seeds from the above are crossed<br />
together, then the autoflowering trait<br />
will reappear:<br />
• The hybrid father will contribute<br />
either his P or p.<br />
• The hybrid mother will contribute<br />
either her P or p.<br />
• The resulting combinations are<br />
either PP, Pp, pP or pp.<br />
• The PP will be true breeding for<br />
photodependancy, and will show<br />
photodependancy.<br />
• The Pp and pP will be heterogeneous<br />
for photodependancy but<br />
will still show photodependancy<br />
because of dominance.<br />
• The pp will be true breeding<br />
for autoflowering, and will<br />
show autoflowering.<br />
It is important to note that because of<br />
dominance there is no way to visually<br />
tell the difference between PP, pP and Pp.<br />
They will all be photodependant—only<br />
the recessive pp from this generation can<br />
be easily identified as true breeding.<br />
A practical experiment can illustrate<br />
the above:<br />
STEP 1: Take a standard cannabis<br />
plant and cross it with an autoflowering<br />
variety. It doesn’t matter which supplies<br />
the pollen as long as one is male and<br />
the other is female.<br />
STEP 2: Grow out the resulting seeds.<br />
They should act as if they were standard<br />
seeds. Select the best male and at least<br />
one female and cross them together.<br />
STEP 3: Grow out those seeds under<br />
growth (no long dark period) lighting.<br />
Due to the reasons explained above,<br />
there should be about 75 per cent<br />
that don’t autoflower and 25 per cent<br />
that do. The more seeds planted, the<br />
closer the results should be to the 75<br />
to 25 per cent ratio.<br />
One benefit to breeding for a recessive<br />
trait is that all of those that autoflower<br />
would have been true bred for autoflowering<br />
and can be bred together to make<br />
more autoflowering seeds.<br />
Even if a breeder isn’t fond of<br />
autoflowering varieties, the process<br />
and learning experience of working<br />
with them can help expand their<br />
understanding of how genetic traits work<br />
in a way that is easy to see and will give<br />
tangible results and feedback. Applying<br />
Mendelian genetics to simple traits in<br />
the real world can not only help cement<br />
an understanding of the basic principles<br />
of genetics, but can impress onlookers<br />
when predictions are proven accurate,<br />
or at least reasonably close.<br />
Grubbycup has been an avid indoor gardener for more than 20 years. His articles<br />
were first published in the United Kingdom, and since then his gardening advice<br />
has been published in several languages. He is also considered one of the leading<br />
authorities on crochet hydroponics.<br />
30 grow. heal. live. enjoy.<br />
myhydrolife.com
grow<br />
How to Grow Your<br />
Own from Seed<br />
Back in the last millennium, before cloning<br />
swept the country like the hula hoop, people<br />
actually grew cannabis plants from seed.<br />
Primitive, huh? But where there’s a will,<br />
they’ll surely find a way. While that’s<br />
all changed now (hello, cloning!)<br />
you can only clone so many<br />
times before you have to buy<br />
more plants or get back<br />
to basics with seeds.<br />
by Diane Young<br />
32<br />
grow. heal. live. enjoy.<br />
myhydrolife.com
myhydrolife.com grow. heal. live. enjoy. 33
grow<br />
Growing from seed is all about the<br />
quality of your seeds. Plants will<br />
never be better than the seeds they grew<br />
from. Back in the day, there weren’t any<br />
seed shops, so seeds were saved from<br />
exceptional buds, but it was all a crapshoot<br />
with a lot of trial and error. Luckily,<br />
now we know better.<br />
Starting from seed isn’t difficult and<br />
you don’t need to be an experienced<br />
gardener, but the process is a journey<br />
in stages, not a direct flight. Cannabis<br />
plants are perfect for growing from seed<br />
because they have a short life cycle.<br />
That being said, be prepared to check<br />
your plants every day for moisture,<br />
insects, diseases, nutrient deficiencies<br />
and light. If you can’t make the time<br />
and work commitment, perhaps you<br />
should forget the idea. Here’s my list of<br />
what I used for my first grow. Nothing<br />
high-tech—my growroom was a walk-in<br />
closet with louvered doors and a clothes<br />
bar to hang my lights:<br />
• A four-foot table or two sawhorses<br />
with plywood on top<br />
• A piece of thick plastic or a waterproof<br />
tablecloth for spill protection<br />
• Potting soil for seedlings<br />
• Clean sand<br />
• Five-gallon pail for mixing soil<br />
• A four-foot shop light with<br />
chains and S hooks<br />
• One full-spectrum red fluorescent<br />
grow light<br />
• One regular white fluorescent<br />
tube bulb<br />
• Light timer<br />
• Five-ounce opaque drink cups<br />
• Eight-ounce drink cups<br />
• pH kit<br />
• Plant flats or trays<br />
• Plastic kitchen wrap<br />
LIGHTING<br />
If you’re on a budget, fluorescents offer<br />
the biggest bang for your buck. Don’t<br />
forget to factor in the cost of electricity<br />
and bulb replacement. To make sure all<br />
my plants got an equal amount of light,<br />
I turned the trays 180 degrees every day.<br />
I especially liked the ease of raising<br />
the shop light one link at a time as the<br />
plants grew. You can maximize your<br />
light by using a room with white walls or<br />
surrounding your grow table with movable<br />
reflective foil-covered cardboard or<br />
hanging sheets of Mylar—mirrors don’t<br />
work well for reflecting light.<br />
GERMINATION<br />
Mature cannabis seeds are dark<br />
brown, sometimes with swirly<br />
patterns or stripes. Discard immature<br />
pale or greenish-colored seeds. I’ve<br />
never started seeds in soil, preferring<br />
the Japanese method of proving seeds<br />
first; there’s no sense planting duds. I<br />
germinated my seeds in a moistened,<br />
loosely rolled up paper towel on a<br />
plate in indirect light on the kitchen<br />
counter where I could keep an eye on<br />
their progress. Keep the paper towel<br />
moist, but not lying in a puddle of<br />
water or the seeds will rot.<br />
Some seeds germinate in a couple of<br />
days, while some take up to a week,<br />
depending on their temperature. It’s<br />
helpful to know that the seeds will<br />
produce male and female plants. Back<br />
in the Dark Ages, I always started 16<br />
cups of seeds in hope of ending up<br />
with four females. That’s no longer a<br />
problem if you buy feminized seeds,<br />
which are guaranteed to be females. I<br />
planted two sprouted seeds about one<br />
inch apart per cup because frequently<br />
one seedling would be bigger and<br />
stronger than the other. Go with the<br />
bigger one and pinch off the smaller<br />
one at the soil level.<br />
“<br />
IF YOU’RE on a budget, fluorescents offer the biggest bang<br />
for your buck. Don’t forget to factor in the cost of electricity<br />
and bulb replacement.”<br />
34<br />
grow. heal. live. enjoy.<br />
myhydrolife.com
grow<br />
“ MATURE CANNABIS<br />
seeds are dark brown,<br />
sometimes with swirly<br />
patterns or stripes.<br />
Discard immature<br />
pale or greenishcolored<br />
seeds.”<br />
The beauty of starting seedlings in the opaque<br />
cups is that you can see the root growth. Poke<br />
some drainage holes around the cup bases. It’s<br />
quicker to do the drain holes with the cups in a<br />
stack. As you finish each cup, slip it in the other<br />
end of the stack or you’ll waste crumpled up<br />
cups. Mix the potting soil with enough sand to<br />
give the fluffy soil more body. Add water gradually,<br />
mixing well to moisten.<br />
Fill the cups with the soil mix and tap each cup<br />
a couple of times on the table to eliminate air<br />
pockets. Add more soil if needed, tap it down<br />
again to leave a half-inch space between the top<br />
of the soil and the rim of the cup. Repeat until all<br />
the cups are filled. Set up your grow table and<br />
lights. Ready? The table is all set. The lights are<br />
on. The cups are shoulder to shoulder in rows,<br />
waiting to fulfill their roles.<br />
PLANTING<br />
My tools of choice for planting were a small<br />
wooden matchstick and a wooden toothpick.<br />
I made two small holes with the clean end of<br />
the match about one quarter inch deep and<br />
a half inch apart and not too close to the side<br />
of the cup. I picked out two sprouted seeds<br />
at a time from the paper towel, careful not to<br />
touch the sprout, and dropped them into the<br />
match holes and used the tip of a toothpick to<br />
scuff soil into the holes, then lightly tamped<br />
the spots with one finger. Keep the remaining<br />
sprouted seeds covered so they don’t dry out.<br />
Repeat until all the cups are planted.<br />
Put as many cups that fit into shallow flats or<br />
trays and then drape a long piece of kitchen<br />
plastic wrap over everything, tucking the ends<br />
under the trays to create a mini greenhouse.<br />
When this step is finished, the plants get to sunbathe<br />
under the lights for the next six weeks or<br />
so of the seedling phase.<br />
In a few days, two primary leaves will appear<br />
and you can do your happy dance. Soon the next<br />
pair of leaves will appear and the first ones will<br />
drop off. If condensation forms under the plastic<br />
wrap, uncover the seedlings to release the excess<br />
moisture and then replace with fresh wrap.<br />
During the seedling phase, keep the soil moist<br />
but not wet and only water from the bottom from<br />
so the roots stretch down long and strong.<br />
36<br />
grow. heal. live. enjoy.<br />
myhydrolife.com
grow<br />
WATER<br />
Water with a spray bottle until the<br />
first leaves appear, and then water<br />
from the bottom; the soil around the<br />
stem needs to stay dry to avoid stem<br />
rot. Fill pitchers or buckets with tap<br />
water and let sit uncovered until room<br />
temperature and the chlorine has<br />
evaporated into the air. Hard water is<br />
fine, but don’t use artificially softened<br />
water because it contains too much salt<br />
and other harmful additives.<br />
FERTILIZER<br />
I’m an organic gardener. While I<br />
don’t object to a little bloom booster<br />
to convince some reluctant annuals<br />
to step it up, I want everything that<br />
goes in my body to be as natural as<br />
possible. Plants need nitrogen to grow.<br />
When I had access to a mountain of<br />
free rotted horse manure, I fertilized<br />
with manure tea. Throw a shovelful of<br />
manure in a bucket, fill with water, let<br />
it sit a couple of days and water with<br />
the tea. It worked fine for me. There are<br />
“hot” manures and “cold” manures. Hot<br />
manures have the highest nitrogen,<br />
but have to be aged. Cold cow manure<br />
has lower nitrogen but can be used<br />
hot out of the barn. Rabbit manure is<br />
cold, but some growers call it nitrogen<br />
on steroids. If slogging around in<br />
barnyards doesn’t appeal to you, you<br />
could use fish or seaweed emulsions<br />
or any of the other excellent natural<br />
fertilizers available at your local<br />
hydroponics supplier.<br />
pH<br />
Check your soil pH regularly. Plants<br />
grown in soil like a pH of about 7. If your<br />
soil drops below 6, add a light sprinkling<br />
of ground limestone before watering. If<br />
the soil is above 8—too alkaline—sprinkle<br />
around a concoction of cottonseed<br />
meal, lemon peel and ground coffee.<br />
REPOTTING<br />
Discontinue the plastic wrap when the<br />
third set of leaves appear. When you see<br />
that the roots have reached the bottom<br />
of the cups, it’s time to repot the little<br />
darlings into the eight-ounce cups. In<br />
my experience, the plants do better<br />
stepping up to the bigger cup instead<br />
of going directly into three-quart pots.<br />
Repotting can be tricky, so take your time<br />
here. The plants shock easily with too<br />
much jostling or rough handling. Get<br />
the larger cups ready, poke the drain<br />
holes and fill with enough soil mix so the<br />
seedlings will be at the same depth as<br />
in the first cups. Before removing from<br />
the smaller cups, lightly water them so<br />
everything stays together.<br />
Tip the cup upside down in your open<br />
hand with the seedling stem between<br />
your fingers. Gently squeeze the sides<br />
of the cup with your other hand and<br />
the seedling will drop out in one piece.<br />
Don’t pull it out by the stem! Place the<br />
seedling in its new home, fill around it<br />
with more soil, and make sure it isn’t<br />
deeper or shallower than in the smaller<br />
cup. This is important. Compress the<br />
soil lightly for any air pockets.<br />
VEGETATIVE STAGE<br />
During the vegetative phase, leave the<br />
lights on 24/7 and as close to the leaves<br />
as possible without touching. If the<br />
lights are too high, the stems will grow<br />
weak and spindly. You want the plants<br />
to remain compact. When your plants<br />
really take off, they may grow an inch<br />
a day. Keep a sharp eye on the distance<br />
between the tops of the plants and the<br />
lights. Fluorescents are cool and won’t<br />
burn the leaves, but keep adjusting<br />
your lights upwards to stay ahead of<br />
the growth. Rotate your plants so they<br />
all get enough light. When plants are<br />
starting to bud, rough handling or a<br />
sudden change in temperature or light<br />
will drive them into shock. When you see<br />
your plants are beginning to outgrow<br />
the cups, it’s time to pot up again, this<br />
time to three-quart containers commonly<br />
found at nurseries. Always wash used<br />
pots in hot soapy water before reusing.<br />
SEXING<br />
Toward the end of the vegetative and<br />
budding phase, you’ll be able to sex<br />
your plants. Males have two pollenfilled<br />
sacs that are easy to see and<br />
females have a pair of white V-shaped<br />
hairs. One male plant is enough to<br />
pollinate all your females so they<br />
produce seeds. I didn’t grow for seeds,<br />
so I quickly yanked all the male<br />
plants. Male plants are low in THC, are<br />
harsh-tasting and give many people<br />
a massive headache. Unpollinated<br />
females produce more flowers, buds<br />
and THC.<br />
For even more plants, remove the<br />
unproductive lower stems and<br />
leaves on your plants, and then make<br />
two or three shallow downward slices<br />
on the main stem with a clean blade<br />
and insert a graft slip dipped in root<br />
stimulant in each cut. Put a small piece<br />
of tape around the cuts. The grafts can<br />
be other varieties, not just the same as<br />
the host plant. Soon you’ll have new<br />
growth from all your grafts, giving you<br />
maximum yields.<br />
Diane Young has had her food and gardening articles published in the Burlington<br />
Free Press, The Boston Globe, The Christian Science Monitor, Country Journal and<br />
other regional publications. Soon after, Troy-Bilt commissioned her book, Community<br />
Gardening in North America. A New England gardener, Diane lives in Maine and Mexico.<br />
38<br />
grow. heal. live. enjoy.<br />
myhydrolife.com
For Retail and Distributor Information Please Call 1.877.384.9376 (Toll Free)<br />
BIOFLORAL.COM
grow<br />
THE<br />
by Cory<br />
Hughes<br />
RT OF<br />
CURING<br />
YOUR CROP<br />
You’ve worked hard to grow a potent and flavorful<br />
crop, but now what? Follow Cory Hughes’s advice<br />
to keep your cannabis fresh and mold-free during<br />
storage, and don’t forget to burp your nugs.<br />
40<br />
grow. heal. live. enjoy.<br />
myhydrolife.com
grow<br />
y<br />
our months of hard work in the garden have paid off<br />
and your crop is almost ready to go. Your plants are<br />
harvested and the nugs are trimmed and dried. The next<br />
steps you take will determine not only the potency of your<br />
cannabis but its essence, flavor and aroma. The curing<br />
process is essential in putting the finishing touches on the<br />
beautiful green buds you’ve worked so hard to grow. Proper<br />
curing and storage of your finely crafted buds will make or<br />
break your finished product.<br />
The first step in properly curing your cannabis is making<br />
sure your buds are properly dried. You want your buds in<br />
an optimal moisture zone. When a plant is harvested, it will<br />
lose 80 per cent of its moisture before it is consumable. You<br />
want to start the curing process before your buds get to that<br />
point. Ideally you want your buds at around 30 to 35 per cent<br />
moisture, a fraction of their original wet weight. Any more<br />
moisture than that and you risk the development of mildew<br />
and mold once sealed in an airtight environment.<br />
If you dried your flowers too long<br />
or at too high of a temperature, you<br />
may need to rehydrate them. Just<br />
make sure that your weed is in<br />
that Goldilocks zone before<br />
you begin your cure. If you<br />
are not sure, you can<br />
test your bud by simply<br />
bending a stem. If the<br />
stem breaks or starts<br />
to break, then it is<br />
sufficiently dry. If it<br />
continues to bend,<br />
it should probably<br />
dry for another<br />
day or more.<br />
One of the chemical<br />
secrets to<br />
curing is cannabergerol,<br />
or CBG.<br />
Cannabergerol is<br />
the chemical precursor<br />
found in cannabis<br />
that metabolizes into<br />
THC. It is believed<br />
that CBG has profound<br />
medical impact on its own.<br />
CBG reduces pressure in cell<br />
walls and is a big part of cannabis<br />
treatment for glaucoma. It is<br />
considered to be the primary cannabinoid,<br />
as it is broken down inside the plant<br />
in order to create THCA, CBDA and CBCA. We are<br />
all familiar with THC and CBD but CBC, or cannabichromenic<br />
acid, is by far the lesser known of the cannabinoids.<br />
Due to its involvement in the creation of other cannabinoids,<br />
CBG is usually found in concentrations of less than one per<br />
cent in finished products.<br />
After the plant is harvested, the metabolic process that<br />
creates THC from CBG continues. This results in THC levels<br />
rising long after the buds have been collected. Some people<br />
choose to begin the curing process in paper bags to make sure<br />
they are adequately dry. I haven’t found this to be a necessity,<br />
so I go straight for airtight glass jars. A mason jar or a jar with<br />
a flip-tight lid are optimal as they perfectly seal and keep air<br />
out. You will want to place as much marijuana in your jar as<br />
possible in order to force out as much of the remaining air as<br />
you can. Always date your jars so as to not confuse them with<br />
other batches you may have already started.<br />
“When<br />
a plant is harvested,<br />
it will lose 80 per cent of its<br />
moisture before it is consumable.<br />
You want to start the curing process<br />
before your buds get to that point.”<br />
Creating Potency<br />
and Flavor<br />
The primary functions of curing are<br />
potency and flavor. As the chemical<br />
components of the plant matter break<br />
down over time, it shifts the taste from an<br />
overly earthy and green flavor to flavors that are<br />
more palatable that we can more readily associate<br />
with particular strains. This process is conducted by aerobic<br />
bacteria present in the plant at the time of harvest. The<br />
bacteria consume the chlorophyll in the cannabis making the<br />
taste and overall experience less harsh. Just like your grow,<br />
your curing buds thrive in a micro-environment dependent<br />
on specific conditions in order to nurture the process. If your<br />
buds are overly moist when you start to cure, you run the risk<br />
of allowing mold to grow, which can lead to harmful bacteria<br />
destroying the fruits of your labor.<br />
It is important to keep your cure in a dark room or storage<br />
area. Light will degrade THC and interfere with the metabolic<br />
process taking place in your jars. Maintenance of the microenvironment<br />
is vital to keep your good bacteria thriving<br />
and your bad bacteria at bay. Your temperatures should be<br />
slightly lower than your growroom at around 50-75˚F. Now that<br />
you have an idea of what conditions you need to cure your<br />
cannabis, you can begin without further delay.<br />
42 grow. heal. live. enjoy.<br />
myhydrolife.com
grow<br />
Burp Your Nugs<br />
The key to curing your cannabis is burping your jars.<br />
That means after allowing the metabolic process to work,<br />
periodically opening your jars to let out the built up<br />
carbon dioxide and moisture the buds have shed. Every<br />
grower has their own schedule of burping and they all<br />
vary greatly. For buds that are in the right humidity<br />
zone, you should burp them daily for approximately<br />
30 minutes. Everyone will have an opinion on the<br />
time, however, 30 minutes is sufficient to expel<br />
the gasses and allow the micro-environment to<br />
return to an acceptable relative humidity. Some<br />
choose to use an RH meter to determine the<br />
amount of time they burp their buds. You should<br />
keep the relative humidity above 55 per cent.<br />
Below that threshold your buds don’t have the moisture<br />
required to allow the metabolic process to continue. If<br />
you burp your nugs and find you still have a relative<br />
humidity more than 70 per cent then they need to come<br />
out of the jar and be allowed to dry more thoroughly.<br />
How long you cure for is really up to you. Most growers<br />
will tell you that with daily burping under the right<br />
conditions, your buds should be delicious and potent<br />
in three weeks to a month. Others who have cured<br />
their cannabis for months or even years claim that<br />
their product only improved the longer it cures. If you<br />
have the patience to cure your weed for six months or<br />
more, you are a better person than I.<br />
“If<br />
your buds are overly moist when you<br />
start to cure, you run the risk of allowing<br />
mold to grow, which can lead to harmful<br />
bacteria destroying the fruits of your labor.”<br />
44 grow. heal. live. enjoy.<br />
myhydrolife.com
grow<br />
Stick With Jars<br />
Now that you have properly cured some dynamite bud, it is<br />
time to prep it for storage. Storing your weed under proper<br />
conditions will preserve your THC content and allow for quality<br />
consumption at a later date. I think it goes without saying,<br />
but never use plastic bags for storage, or anything else. Stick<br />
with your airtight glass jars. Some prefer dark-colored glass<br />
to prevent light from creeping in but if you are keeping your<br />
jars in a drawer or closet, clear jars are just fine. Glass doesn’t<br />
breathe like plastic. Avoid freezing your cannabis. The<br />
freezing process turns the trichome brittle. You can end up<br />
damaging your buds when there is really no need. Molds and<br />
mildew will spread at high temperatures, so never allow your<br />
stored weed to go above 77˚F. All in all, keep your airtight jars<br />
of cannabis in a cool and dark location that won’t be disturbed<br />
by your day-to-day routine. For long-term storage, you<br />
still want to burp your jars once or twice a month just to let<br />
out the gasses your buds will continue to give off. The result<br />
will be cannabis that is as good, if not better than it<br />
was on the day it was stashed away.<br />
“With<br />
daily burping under<br />
right conditions, your buds<br />
should be delicious and potent<br />
in three weeks to a month.”<br />
Cory Hughes is a former police officer turned full-time<br />
commercial grower in Denver, Colorado.<br />
46<br />
grow. heal. live. enjoy.<br />
myhydrolife.com
heal<br />
Herbal<br />
ASK A NURSE: TIPS FOR PARENTS<br />
Q<br />
Dear Nurse Jessica,<br />
My child has epilepsy and the current<br />
pharmaceuticals she has been taking are causing<br />
harsh side effects. There are so many different<br />
cases online and in the news that give me hope<br />
that cannabis oil is effective, but I am not sure<br />
where to go because my neurologist won’t help<br />
us and has turned us down completely after<br />
I finally mustered up the courage to ask. I left<br />
feeling like a bad mother to have even brought<br />
it up. Since I don’t really have friends that are<br />
connected, what do you think I should do?<br />
Mother<br />
Dear Mother,<br />
Your call to cannabis is an intuitional pull as<br />
A<br />
you seek harmonious treatment for your child.<br />
Your concern and consideration show you are<br />
a good mother—you don’t need to question<br />
that. You did what you were “supposed” to<br />
do and the treatments have not been effective up to this<br />
point. Now it’s time to incorporate cannabinoids and establish<br />
homeostasis to calm your child’s internal storm.<br />
Just recently I drove through the night to meet with a family<br />
about seven hours from my nest. The family was told there<br />
was an unexpected shortage in the pharmaceuticals her<br />
son had been taking since age three. There was only a short<br />
window of time to switch drugs. During this time, the boy’s<br />
mother soon discovered the side effects of her son’s medication<br />
detoxing were as powerful as those that accompany<br />
heroin withdrawal. For a 10-year-old, I thought, how is this<br />
legal? His mother told me that if she would have known how<br />
powerful the drugs were, she would have never agreed to giving<br />
them to her son. Other pharmaceuticals presented came<br />
with the same laundry list of toxicity and side effects. It feels<br />
like experimental poisoning sometimes.<br />
Although her neurologist wouldn’t write a prescription for<br />
cannabis, she persisted until the doctor was willing to write<br />
a referral to a cannabis clinic that could help. This step is<br />
critical for access. Waiting lists and patient overload are<br />
leaving time-sensitive cases to wait for access to cannabis,<br />
especially pediatrics.<br />
This mother and I spent time together making oil from<br />
high-CBD cannabis and prepared her son’s medicine with<br />
different methods and different temperatures. Doing all of<br />
these things alone can come with some hesitation, so this<br />
is why we rise up—to support our community in need. I believe<br />
that together we can facilitate great healing through<br />
cannabis consciousness.<br />
My advice to you is to try reaching out to local cannabis<br />
clinics, dispensaries or a licensed producer for answers and<br />
advice. There are cannabis educators, clinic operators, nurses,<br />
doctors, growers and other parents out there who can help you.<br />
My experience in the cannabis community is that if someone<br />
doesn’t know the answer, they will often do their best to find<br />
you someone who can.<br />
Listen to your intuition and keep pushing until you get what<br />
you know is right for your child. Join groups online and find<br />
other parents who can share some of their journey with you. If<br />
the doctors you are working with can’t help at this time, there<br />
are others who will—trust me. I believe that the world needs<br />
more physicians and neurologists to confidently step forward<br />
to protect and facilitate pediatric access to cannabis. We need<br />
more support systems for families.<br />
Nurse Jessica<br />
Jessica Ferneyhough, a registered practical nurse, brings a<br />
unique approach to care, empowering patients as a medicinal<br />
cannabis nurse and horses for healing advocate. Do you have a<br />
question for Jessica? Email editor@myhydrolife.com.<br />
48<br />
grow. heal. live. enjoy.<br />
myhydrolife.com
myhydrolife.com grow. heal. live. enjoy. 49
heal<br />
GEAR<br />
THE<br />
DABBING<br />
by Ed Rosenthal<br />
photos courtesy of Beyond Buds<br />
An excerpt<br />
from Beyond Buds<br />
The <strong>Hydrolife</strong> team is pleased to present an excerpt from Ed Rosenthal’s<br />
book Beyond Buds—the first to cover the shift from smoking buds to<br />
vaping and dabbing concentrates such as shatter, wax, budder and oil.<br />
A DIY guide to making butane and CO 2 extracts, as well as kief, hash,<br />
tinctures, topicals and edibles, Beyond Buds features full-color photos<br />
of award-winning concentrates and highlights the best products to use.<br />
We start with a guide to dabbing gear:<br />
NAILS<br />
Nails are the workhorse of the dab world.<br />
They get their name because they look<br />
like a standard construction nail: they’re<br />
long, thin metal objects that fit into a<br />
bong’s downstem on one side, with a<br />
wider top section for vaping hash. They<br />
come in a variety of standard widths,<br />
like 10, 14 and 18 millimeter, to fit into<br />
different downstems. Nails are made<br />
from a variety of materials that are used<br />
because they do not create fumes at<br />
working vaporization temperatures. The<br />
most common materials used are quartz,<br />
titanium and ceramic.<br />
To use, you heat up the nail with a<br />
torch, which is usually a six-inch or<br />
larger butane torch, with flame control,<br />
a safety lock and a flame lock. Affix the<br />
nail in the downstem (wide side up),<br />
flick on and lock the torch, and touch<br />
the flame to the nail. Inhaling air that<br />
has been superheated by a nail is not<br />
healthy, so most dabbers are attached to<br />
water pipes that cool the vapor. Remove<br />
the torch as the nail shows the first faint<br />
signs of glowing, then place the dab on<br />
the nail. The dab flash-melts and boils,<br />
generating vapor. Inhale.<br />
DABBING RIGS<br />
While nails are designed to fit into a<br />
wide variety of downstems, they often fit<br />
best with dab rigs, bongs and bubblers<br />
specially designed for consuming hash.<br />
Dab rigs tend to be smaller than water<br />
pipes for flowers. Since hash smoke is so<br />
much more potent, you don’t need to fill<br />
a huge chamber with smoke to achieve<br />
the desired highness. The length of the<br />
system is actually a liability here, as<br />
solvent hash condenses along the route<br />
of delivery. The longer the route, the<br />
more condensation, and hence, waste.<br />
Consequently, dab rigs tend to closely resemble<br />
traditional, handheld bubblers.<br />
50<br />
grow. heal. live. enjoy.<br />
myhydrolife.com
“ SCIENTIFIC dab rigs can get<br />
incredibly technical, with multiple<br />
levels of diffusers and percolators.”<br />
Dab rig design is divided into two general<br />
classes: scientific and heady, though<br />
plenty of artists fuse the two. Scientific<br />
designs hew toward a minimalist, lab<br />
aesthetic and often feature clear glass<br />
and shapes that evoke beakers and test<br />
tubes. Form follows function in scientific<br />
glass. Heady dab rig designs embrace<br />
the imagination, taking on the shape of<br />
mythic creatures and pushing the boundaries<br />
of color, pattern and materials.<br />
At the larger end of the scientific dab<br />
rigs are units like the Sheldon Black<br />
medium rig with Ti nail. Fourteen<br />
inches tall, sleek and minimal, the<br />
Sheldon Black downstem ends in a<br />
diffuser, which helps cool and filter the<br />
vapor. Scientific dab rigs can get incredibly<br />
technical, with multiple levels<br />
of diffusers and percolators.<br />
Heady dab rigs vary just as much in<br />
size and shape, but the trend is towards<br />
smaller rigs. Pendant rigs that fit on a<br />
necklace are popular. Heady designers<br />
are in a permanent arms race for<br />
the newest glass colors and coolestlooking<br />
designs and materials. Dragons,<br />
robots, cartoon characters and monsters<br />
abound. Designers regularly use metallic<br />
fuming to bind different elements to<br />
the borosilicate glass, creating deep,<br />
rich, luminous colors, sparkles and<br />
interference patterns. Mothership Glass<br />
offers some of the most intricate designs,<br />
and artists like Snic are pushing the<br />
envelope, incorporating external electroplating<br />
for steampunk-like designs. The<br />
artists designing these rigs are creating<br />
a new genre of art that will be used in<br />
daily life, but also saved as collectables.<br />
SKILLETS (SWINGS)<br />
Skillets, also known as swings, are<br />
tiny titanium pans the size of a postage<br />
stamp, held below a vapor intake by a<br />
metal wire (the “swing” part). You heat<br />
up the skillet with a torch, swing it under<br />
the nozzle, then dab the hash on the<br />
skillet while inhaling. Skillets come as<br />
attachments for bongs and bubblers, or<br />
as part of heady dab rigs.<br />
WANDS (DABBERS)<br />
Working with concentrates can get very<br />
sticky. They range in texture from granular,<br />
sand-like bubble hash to some of the<br />
stickiest tree sap imaginable. Nonstick<br />
surfaces, usually parchment paper or<br />
silicone (not wax paper, which transfers<br />
wax and will make your hash taste like<br />
a candle), are used to store and transport<br />
concentrates. Dabbers are used to manipulate<br />
the material, titrate dosage and<br />
apply hash directly to hot surfaces.<br />
Want more? Ed Rosenthal’s<br />
Beyond Buds is available through<br />
quicktrading.com and amazon.com.<br />
Ed Rosenthal is a distinguished<br />
expert on marijuana. He continuously<br />
researches to provide the most<br />
accurate and up-to-date information<br />
on the subject.<br />
myhydrolife.com grow. heal. live. enjoy. 51
heal<br />
CUT AND DRIED:<br />
A MONTHLY LOOK AT DIFFERENT MMJ STRAINS<br />
BY BILLY BISHOP<br />
This may be my favorite strain ever.<br />
Really. It’s got everything I ever<br />
wanted in a bud. And more...<br />
Sour OG<br />
Sour OG’s very high THC content<br />
(more than 25 per cent) provides<br />
an uplifting and relaxing emotional<br />
high paired with a pain dampening<br />
body buzz. Personally, this strain’s<br />
effects on a wide spectrum of<br />
medical conditions is outstanding.<br />
Under simple test conditions, Sour<br />
OG was used as a treatment for<br />
the complex web of symptoms<br />
associated with post-concussion<br />
syndrome. The results of our tests<br />
revealed that the pain management<br />
side of Sour OG is truly outstanding.<br />
And surprisingly fast-acting.<br />
Its muscle relaxant side, also very<br />
effective at treating symptoms of<br />
IBS, made damaged neck muscles<br />
and nerves relax within a very short<br />
time. So it is with some surprise<br />
that Broken Coast’s Sour OG also<br />
gives the most satisfying and<br />
uplifting emotional high possible.<br />
This is really the finest point of this<br />
strain as a medicinal treatment; its<br />
boundlessly joyful emotional high<br />
helps with the psychological stress<br />
and mood imbalances caused by<br />
long-term injury or medical<br />
conditions. This is possibly the most<br />
uplifting hybrid you will find today.<br />
Background<br />
Sour OG is a genetic cross between<br />
Sour Diesel and OG Kush (which<br />
manages to cram the best of both<br />
worlds into one tidy bud).<br />
Physically beautiful<br />
Darker green with a strong frosting of<br />
well-developed, highly visible trichomes.<br />
Dark purple leaves with caramel<br />
highlights at the tips look delicious.<br />
Large, dense and sticky clusters of wellshaped<br />
colas are packed together in a<br />
complicated branching structure. These<br />
are the definition of pretty nugs.<br />
Lovely Smell<br />
Strong but nuanced odor with subtle<br />
sour chlorophyll notes at the high end<br />
and a sweet, burned caramel/vanilla at<br />
the low end. Nuances of green tea and<br />
cucumber. These amazing and complex<br />
fumes burst out of the canister and filled<br />
the room with a sour piney haze when<br />
first opened. This odor turned smooth<br />
and earthy as it began to produce smoke.<br />
End result: mouth watering.<br />
Sublime Taste<br />
The initial taste was smooth and mild with<br />
strong diesel tones undercut with a citrus<br />
sourness. The piney smell when fresh<br />
quickly morphs into a hot buttered popcorn<br />
flavor once smoked. There is clearly a high<br />
level of complex terpenes in Sour OG. This<br />
taste only gets more complex and caramellike<br />
as it settles into your taste buds.<br />
Opinion<br />
My favorite strain yet from my favorite<br />
medical provider. With the development<br />
of this Sour OG, Broken Coast Cannabis<br />
has outdone itself yet again. This bud<br />
is tasty, strong, effective and, most of<br />
all, uplifting.<br />
Grown under the strictest environmental<br />
controls at Broken Coasts Cannabis’<br />
facility, Sour OG represents the most<br />
effective of available medicinal options.<br />
It is exemplary of the very high standards<br />
Broken Coast holds itself to. Broken Coast<br />
Cannabis is a medical marijuana producer<br />
based in British Columbia, licensed under<br />
the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act,<br />
and adhering to the Marihuana for Medical<br />
Purposes Regulations.<br />
Broken Coast Cannabis recognizes that<br />
medicinal cannabis provides many people<br />
with natural and effective relief from a<br />
variety of adverse medical conditions. They<br />
are committed to providing fast, reliable<br />
service and providing their clients with a<br />
wide variety of the highest quality marijuana<br />
strains at competitive prices. Their<br />
strain catalogue is regularly audited and<br />
updated to include the latest improvements<br />
in medical marijuana genetics.<br />
All Broken Coast Cannabis products<br />
are extensively tested to ensure they<br />
are pesticide and fungicide free, free<br />
from harmful heavy metals and harmful<br />
pathogens. Their medical-grade marijuana<br />
is grown and cured under strictly<br />
controlled environmental conditions. This<br />
results in the cleanest, highest grade<br />
product possible, and offers the most<br />
effective relief for patients.<br />
The test subject for Sour OG suffers from<br />
extended post-concussion syndrome. This is a<br />
complex disorder in which various symptoms<br />
including headaches, nausea, dizziness and<br />
depression can last for weeks, months or years<br />
after the injury that caused the concussion.<br />
52<br />
grow. heal. live. enjoy.<br />
myhydrolife.com
heal<br />
Helping<br />
Children<br />
Heal<br />
by Sharon Letts<br />
Sophie Ryan was just eight months old when she developed a twitch<br />
in her right eye. Her parents, Tracy and Josh Ryan, said she had<br />
been a happy and seemingly healthy baby, with no difficulties to<br />
speak of from a normal pregnancy and delivery.<br />
54<br />
grow. heal. live. enjoy.<br />
myhydrolife.com
heal<br />
The diagnosis of a low-grade, slowgrowing,<br />
optic pathway glioma (OPG)<br />
brain tumor in eight-month-old Sophie<br />
Ryan was eventually realized with sobering<br />
facts. Success rates are high, but<br />
doctors said Sophie would be completely<br />
blind in her left eye, and partially, if not<br />
completely blind, in her right eye.<br />
Studies found within the National Institute<br />
of Health came up short on OPG,<br />
providing little insight as to the cause<br />
of the rare disorder comprising five per<br />
cent of childhood cancers.<br />
According to cancer.org more than 4,000<br />
central nervous system tumors are diagnosed<br />
a year in children and teenagers<br />
in the US, with three out of four children<br />
surviving at least five years after their<br />
diagnosis. Brain and spinal cord tumors<br />
are the second most common cancers in<br />
children (after leukemia), accounting for<br />
one out of four childhood cancers.<br />
Through their own research and in<br />
working with experts, Tracy and her<br />
team created organic, solvent-free CannaKids<br />
Honey Gold Cannabis Oil. “We<br />
work with hundreds of patients directly<br />
affected by cancer, epilepsy, and other<br />
childhood illnesses by informing them<br />
on the beneficial uses of cannabis oil,”<br />
said Tracy. “Three different doctors told<br />
one three-year-old child’s parents with a<br />
brain stem tumor that chemo would not<br />
work and they could not save her life. A<br />
few months after reaching a medicinal<br />
cannabis dose, the parents opted to<br />
try chemo, even though doctors said it<br />
would not shrink her tumor. After only 10<br />
weeks of using cannabis oil and chemo<br />
the tumor is now 50 per cent gone.”<br />
Working up to just a tenth of a gram<br />
initially, due to unknown factors of<br />
psychoactivity with THC (tetrahydrocannabinol),<br />
Tracy said Sophie did remarkably<br />
well, with the only side effect<br />
of Sophie being a little sleepy, which<br />
faded as she became used to the oil.<br />
Now at a much higher dose of around<br />
300 milligrams of CBD, 100 milligrams<br />
of THC and 50 milligrams of THCa, Tracy<br />
shared, Sophie’s only side effect is<br />
hunger. “When parents come to me with<br />
concerns in relation to the THC getting<br />
them high, I remind them what it is<br />
these doctors are putting them on–these<br />
horrific opiates and damaging pharmaceuticals<br />
that are not only damaging to<br />
their organs, but are highly addictive,”<br />
said Tracy. “The oil also protects their<br />
bodies from the chemotherapy drugs<br />
themselves that are highly damaging<br />
to the immune system.”<br />
Months of Misery, Then<br />
Slight Improvement<br />
Thirteen months of chemotherapy was<br />
recommended for infant Sophie, with the<br />
dismal promise of the tumor shrinking<br />
only slightly as a best-case scenario. Her<br />
parents Tracy and Josh took a serious<br />
look at the alternative therapy of cannabis,<br />
with a nod from Sophie’s oncologist.<br />
After creating the Prayers for Sophie<br />
Facebook page, a friend put Tracy in<br />
touch with celebrity and cannabis advocate<br />
Ricki Lake, who was filming a documentary<br />
about cancer, cannabis and<br />
pediatric patients with filmmaker Abby<br />
Epstein. “I was originally inspired to try<br />
for a natural birth after watching The<br />
Business of Being Born, so I knew if these<br />
ladies were now focused on a film about<br />
cannabis, there had to be something to<br />
it,” said Tracy on youshareproject.com.<br />
Soon Lake and Epstein were<br />
networking for Sophie, putting Tracy<br />
and Josh in touch with some of the top<br />
oil makers and experts on cannabis<br />
as medicine in California, prompting<br />
Tracy to share the wealth by creating<br />
CannaKids, an informational portal and<br />
oil resource for caregivers of kids with<br />
cancer and other serious ailments.<br />
Thirteen months of chemotherapy<br />
was recommended for infant<br />
Sophie, with the dismal promise of<br />
the tumor shrinking only slightly as<br />
a best-case scenario.<br />
CannaKids Creates Miracles<br />
On savingsophie.org, Tracy lists more<br />
than 155 studies proving cannabis is<br />
effective in killing cancer cells, with just<br />
3.8 per cent of government funding spent<br />
on pediatric cancer research. With 15,780<br />
children diagnosed each year, it doesn’t<br />
take much to realize something is wrong.<br />
56<br />
grow. heal. live. enjoy.<br />
myhydrolife.com
myhydrolife.com grow. heal. live. enjoy. 57
heal<br />
So Close to Success<br />
As treatment continued with both chemotherapy<br />
and cannabis oil, with every<br />
follow-up scan, the tumor presented<br />
smaller and smaller–an anomaly with<br />
this type of tumor. “At just nine months<br />
of treatment with both chemo and the oil,<br />
the tumor was 50 per cent gone,” says<br />
Tracy. “By 13 months, it was 90 to 95 per<br />
cent gone. We were told initially the cyst<br />
would remain and it’s gone, too. We were<br />
told she would lose her vision, and it’s<br />
saved. The doctors themselves agreed<br />
the cannabis oil destroyed her tumor.”<br />
Chemotherapy was stopped in <strong>November</strong><br />
2014. With a 95 per cent shrinkage<br />
rate, the downside is an average of 75<br />
per cent of cases reoccur. Sophie’s first<br />
scan post-treatment showed tiny specs<br />
of cancer in an area where there was<br />
nothing prior, prompting chemo a second<br />
time. After getting a second opinion the<br />
Ryans were told that Sophie should have<br />
never been taken off of chemo in the first<br />
place since her tumor at the time was<br />
still shrinking on treatment, hence this<br />
new recurrence happening so quickly.<br />
58<br />
grow. heal. live. enjoy.<br />
myhydrolife.com
heal<br />
The good news is that because of Sophie’s<br />
cannabis use her immune system<br />
is stronger than ever during the traditional<br />
treatment of chemo that typically<br />
knocks an adult to the ground with infections,<br />
pain, waste-away and more.<br />
Proof, Protocols & Patents<br />
According to a paper published on the<br />
National Institute of Health’s site, via<br />
the National Cancer Institute (updated<br />
January <strong>2016</strong>), help from cannabis with<br />
side effects of chemotherapy are listed,<br />
with nausea, waste-away and pain a<br />
given. And though Israel first reported<br />
THC putting tumors into remission in<br />
the late 1960s, only recently has the institute<br />
added verbiage stating, “Cannabis<br />
has been shown to kill cancer cells<br />
in the laboratory.”<br />
“Her immune levels hardly ever drop<br />
below a normal range on the oil. And<br />
if they do, they are in the upper range<br />
of low,” Tracy reported. “She’s the only<br />
child during chemo breaks that doesn’t<br />
have to have her labs drawn.”<br />
Doing laboratory work can often be<br />
difficult for anyone. For a child, it can<br />
add to the physical and emotional scars<br />
already received from the ailment itself.<br />
Tracy said due to the persistence of the<br />
cancer, she has what is called a portacath,<br />
or portable catheter, in her chest<br />
where chemo drugs are delivered. “You<br />
can see all the thousands of tiny holes in<br />
her chest from the thousands of needle<br />
sticks she’s had,” said Tracy. “I’ve had<br />
to hold her down while they put this big<br />
plastic thing on her chest, with an IV<br />
running out of it, and blood running in a<br />
tube right in front of her face. Yes, labs<br />
are very traumatic.”<br />
Sophie’s brain tumor<br />
sample has been<br />
sent to Israel with the<br />
hope that they will<br />
find a perfect match<br />
from more than 150<br />
strains of cannabis.<br />
When asked if they are able to do the<br />
cannabis treatment without the chemo,<br />
Tracy said it didn’t work for Sophie. “Sophie<br />
is CannaKids’ only optic pathway<br />
glioma patient who hasn’t responded to<br />
just the cannabis oil off-treatment,” she<br />
said. “We are trying to get to the root of<br />
the problem to find out why her body<br />
doesn’t respond to a maintenance dose<br />
of oil to keep the cancer away. We are<br />
working with researchers in Israel now<br />
to determine which cannabinoids and<br />
terpenoids are going to most effectively<br />
kill Sophie’s tumor.”<br />
Building a Brain Trust<br />
While Sophie continues treatment with<br />
both chemo and cannabis, Tracy’s latest<br />
project is to bring together what she<br />
calls a brain trust of doctors, scientists<br />
and researchers from around the world.<br />
Sophie’s brain tumor sample has been<br />
sent to Israel with the hope that they<br />
will find a perfect match from more than<br />
150 strains of cannabis, with the goal<br />
of putting Sophie’s cancer into remission<br />
for good. “I am determined to keep<br />
my child from having to go through this<br />
any longer,” said Tracy. “And I’m just as<br />
determined to help keep other children<br />
from going through this.”<br />
Sharon Letts began her life’s work as a<br />
gardener in southern California, and now<br />
calls Humboldt County home. She’s a<br />
writer and photographer. When she isn’t<br />
writing about gardening, she is outside<br />
working in her own garden.<br />
60<br />
grow. heal. live. enjoy.<br />
myhydrolife.com
heal<br />
Marijuana<br />
Alzheimer's<br />
+<br />
Studies taking place at the<br />
Scripps Research Institute show<br />
that cannabis consumption<br />
could potentially play a big<br />
part in the prevention of<br />
Alzheimer's disease.<br />
by Alan Ray<br />
Good News for Consumers<br />
62<br />
grow. heal. live. enjoy.<br />
myhydrolife.com
Worried about losing your memory?<br />
Forget it! When it comes to<br />
Alzheimer’s disease, the news for<br />
baby-booming hippies—especially<br />
the 420-friendly ones— sounds pretty<br />
good. In the wake of the tsunami of<br />
new discoveries into the medicinal<br />
and meditative properties of medical<br />
marijuana, studies have indicated<br />
marijuana may hold even more benefits<br />
for the brain, especially as it pertains to<br />
memory; specifically, Alzheimer’s.<br />
While many jokingly laugh at the<br />
sometimes short-term memory loss<br />
associated with marijuana usage, for<br />
people with Alzheimer’s, memory loss is<br />
much more than not remembering what<br />
you were just talking about but literally<br />
forgetting who you are talking to. This<br />
fight is against permanent memory loss<br />
and studies are being conducted that<br />
show marijuana could potentially play a<br />
big part in its prevention.<br />
Controlled<br />
Laboratory Studies<br />
One institution at the forefront of this<br />
war is the prestigious Scripps Research<br />
Institute whose laboratories conducted<br />
studies on tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC<br />
(the active ingredient in marijuana), with<br />
results that show serious promise in the<br />
battle against the disease that erases life.<br />
“<br />
In the wake of the tsunami<br />
of new discoveries into the<br />
medicinal and meditative<br />
properties of medical marijuana,<br />
studies have indicated<br />
marijuana may hold even more<br />
benefits for the brain, especially<br />
as it pertains to memory.<br />
The Scripps study revealed that THC<br />
inhibits the enzyme acetylcholinesterase<br />
(AChE), which tends to act as a<br />
molecular escort in accelerating the<br />
formation of amyloid plaque in the<br />
brain of Alzheimer’s victims by reducing<br />
acetylcholine. Research has shown that<br />
levels of acetylcholine are exceptionally<br />
low in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients.<br />
Understandably, not all researchers<br />
agree as to whether or not the presence<br />
of beta-amyloid plaques in the areas of<br />
the brain that are crucial to cognition and<br />
memory is a cause or merely a symptom,<br />
nonetheless, their presence remains a<br />
hallmark of the disease.<br />
myhydrolife.com grow. heal. live. enjoy. 63
heal<br />
The Scripps study titled “A Molecular<br />
Link Between the Active Component<br />
of Marijuana and Alzheimer’s Disease<br />
Pathology” was supported by the<br />
Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology<br />
at Scripps Research at the National<br />
Institutes of Health.<br />
While the exact causes of Alzheimer’s<br />
disease aren’t fully known, there is much<br />
we do know. For decades, extensive<br />
research—both neurobiological and<br />
biochemical—has led to discoveries<br />
that may provide therapeutic strategies<br />
that will effectively stop or perhaps<br />
significantly slow down the progression<br />
of the disease, which would be<br />
incredibly good news for Alzheimer’s<br />
patients and their families.<br />
“<br />
these findings offer<br />
convincing evidence that THC<br />
possesses remarkable inhibitor<br />
qualities, especially when<br />
compared with AChE inhibitors<br />
currently available to patients.<br />
The Alzheimer’s Association reports<br />
about 4.5 million Americans currently<br />
suffer from this disease with that figure<br />
expected to rise to a frightening 16<br />
million by the year 2050. Additionally,<br />
in a survey conducted by the National<br />
Center for Health Statistics, it was<br />
learned that about one-half of all nursing<br />
home residents suffered from Alzheimer’s<br />
disease or a related malady. Furthermore,<br />
the National Institute on Aging concluded<br />
that the cost of caring for Alzheimer’s<br />
patients in America currently exceeds<br />
$100 billion annually. Any help in<br />
reducing those respective numbers would<br />
be of tremendous benefit to the quality of<br />
life of Alzheimer’s patients, their families<br />
and the economic burden that treatment<br />
of this disease causes them.<br />
Positive Signs<br />
The effectiveness of the plaqueinhibiting<br />
properties of THC appears<br />
quite promising in the fight against<br />
Alzheimer’s. According to Dr. Kim Janda,<br />
(Ely Callaway, Jr. Professor of Chemistry<br />
at Scripps Research), “In a test against<br />
Propidium, one of the most effective<br />
inhibitors reported to date, THC blocked<br />
AChE-induced aggregation completely,<br />
while the Propidium did not.” The<br />
cholinergic system inside the brain uses<br />
acetylcholine as a neurotransmitter<br />
and it appears it is most affected by<br />
Alzheimer’s. Stunningly, the study<br />
showed that THC is a “considerably<br />
superior inhibitor of (amyloid<br />
plaque) aggregation”<br />
when compared with<br />
four currently<br />
approved drugs<br />
for treating<br />
the disease.<br />
THC vs. Traditional Drugs<br />
The drugs currently used in Alzheimer’s<br />
treatment work by inhibiting the<br />
active site of acetyl cholinesterase,<br />
the enzyme known to degrade<br />
acetylcholine. Propidium, one of the<br />
most effective inhibitors used in the<br />
treatment of Alzheimer’s, pales in<br />
comparison to the effectiveness of<br />
THC’s plaque-inhibiting ability. The<br />
results of the study showed that THC<br />
blocked AChE-induced aggregation<br />
completely, while Propidium did not.<br />
Moreover, Dr. Janda went on to say,<br />
“When we investigated the power<br />
of THC to inhibit the aggregation of<br />
beta-amyloid, we found that THC was<br />
considerably more effective than two<br />
of the approved drugs for Alzheimer’s<br />
disease treatment (Donepezil and<br />
Tacrine), which reduced amyloid<br />
aggregation by 22 and seven per<br />
cent respectively while at twice the<br />
concentration used in our studies.”<br />
The professor concluded, “While our<br />
study is far from final, it does show there<br />
is a previously unrecognized mechanism<br />
through which THC may directly affect<br />
the progression. While we certainly are<br />
not advocating the use of illegal drugs,<br />
these findings offer convincing evidence<br />
that THC possesses remarkable inhibitor<br />
qualities, especially when compared<br />
with AChE inhibitors currently available<br />
to patients. Our results are conclusive<br />
enough to warrant further investigation.”<br />
While currently there is no cure for<br />
Alzheimer’s, there is hope offered<br />
by the results of studies such as this<br />
one performed by Scripps. Meanwhile,<br />
we can all be hopeful a permanent<br />
cure will soon be discovered. It would<br />
be ironic indeed if that ol’ devil weed,<br />
so often blamed for short-term memory<br />
loss, actually played a key role in the<br />
discovery of a cure against permanent<br />
memory loss.<br />
Alan Ray has written five books and is<br />
a New York Times bestselling author.<br />
Additionally, he is a multi-award<br />
winning songwriter with awards from<br />
BMI and ASCAP respectively. Alan lives<br />
in Tennessee with his wife and two<br />
dogs: a South African Boerboel and a<br />
Pomeranian/Wolverine mix.<br />
64 grow. heal. live. enjoy.<br />
myhydrolife.com
myhydrolife.com grow. heal. live. enjoy. 65
live<br />
by Kyle L. Ladenburger<br />
Contributions<br />
OVER<br />
Compassion?<br />
Kyle L. Ladenburger<br />
examines the struckdown<br />
bill that would<br />
have opened the door<br />
for FDA trials designed<br />
to examine the efficacy<br />
of using MMJ to battle<br />
the opiate epidemic.<br />
In May <strong>2016</strong>,<br />
the United States House Rules Committee<br />
took into consideration a bill designed to<br />
create a task force to investigate current<br />
practices of pain management and pain<br />
medication prescribing in an effort to<br />
help combat the ongoing opioid epidemic.<br />
The task force will be comprised of<br />
several government agencies including<br />
the Drug Enforcement<br />
Administration (DEA),<br />
the Food & Drug Administration<br />
(FDA) and the<br />
Office of National Drug<br />
Control Policy.<br />
Two proposed amendments<br />
to the bill were<br />
brought to the floor that<br />
would have included<br />
investigations into the efficacy<br />
and potential of medicinal cannabis<br />
as an alternative to opioid painkillers and<br />
both were immediately denied.<br />
The first amendment was from Republican<br />
representative Dana Rohrbacher<br />
(California) and would have required the<br />
task force to study the potential for marijuana<br />
to serve as an alternative to opioids<br />
for pain management.<br />
The second amendment, brought<br />
forth by Democrat representative<br />
Jared Polis (Colorado), would have required<br />
the Centers for Disease Control<br />
& Prevention (CDC) and the National<br />
Institutes of Health (NIH) to investigate<br />
the differences between medical<br />
applications of marijuana and opioids<br />
for pain management. Representative<br />
Polis’s amendment also required an<br />
official study of opioid overdose rates<br />
“Two proposed amendments to the bill were<br />
brought to the floor that would have included<br />
investigations into the efficacy and potential of<br />
medicinal cannabis as an alternative to opioid<br />
painkillers and both were immediately denied.”<br />
between states that do not allow medicinal<br />
cannabis use and those that<br />
do. Recent studies have shown that on<br />
average opioid painkiller overdose is<br />
almost 25 per cent lower in states with<br />
medicinal cannabis laws.<br />
The problem? Both amendments were<br />
quietly voted down as the committee<br />
ruled them to be out of order.<br />
66<br />
grow. heal. live. enjoy.<br />
myhydrolife.com
The opioid epidemic in the United<br />
States is extremely widespread, affecting<br />
people from all walks of life. The<br />
rampant prescribing of opioid painkillers<br />
such as Oxycodone and Fentanyl has<br />
resulted in millions of people becoming<br />
addicted to the substances.<br />
“The federal government does not allow<br />
testing or studies on the medicinal benefits of<br />
cannabis and are unwilling to recognize what<br />
is becoming the prevailing belief that cannabis<br />
has beneficial medicinal applications.”<br />
Reports from the CDC show that in 2014,<br />
more than 47,000 people died from some<br />
type of drug overdose, up 14 per cent<br />
from 2013. Opioids have been found to<br />
be the relevant cause of nearly 61per<br />
cent of all overdoses. This means that<br />
in 2014 alone more than 28,000 people<br />
lost their lives to some type of opioid<br />
overdose. Between 2013 and 2014,<br />
prescription opioid-related deaths rose<br />
at least 10 per cent and deaths from<br />
heroin, the cheaper alternative, rose<br />
more than 26 per cent. The numbers<br />
are truly staggering and since the year<br />
2000 opioid related deaths have risen<br />
by more than 200 per cent, with more<br />
than half a million people losing their<br />
lives—lives that could have possibly<br />
been saved with the simple addition<br />
of medicinal cannabis to their normal<br />
pain management routine.<br />
One reason congress refuses to<br />
recognize the medical benefits of<br />
cannabis is because of the federal stance<br />
on the plant itself. In 1972, President<br />
Nixon signed into law a bill called the<br />
Controlled Substance Act that put into<br />
place a national drug classification<br />
program. This act placed cannabis into<br />
the Schedule 1 drug bracket. Schedule 1<br />
drugs are narcotic substances that “have<br />
no medicinal benefits.” Because of this<br />
classification the federal government<br />
does not allow testing or studies on the<br />
medicinal benefits of cannabis and are<br />
unwilling to recognize what is becoming<br />
the prevailing belief that cannabis<br />
has beneficial medicinal applications.<br />
However, in a wild twist of contradiction,<br />
since 2003 the US government has<br />
held U.S. Patent 6630507 that states<br />
unequivocally that cannabinoids “can be<br />
useful in the prevention and treatment of<br />
a variety of diseases, including trauma,<br />
stroke, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.”<br />
Furthermore, the FDA has granted<br />
approval to a synthetic, pharmaceutical<br />
version of THC called Marinol.<br />
Another reason congress refuses<br />
to accept cannabis as a viable<br />
alternative to opioids is likely due<br />
to the close relationship they hold<br />
with pharmaceutical companies. The<br />
pharmaceutical industry is by far the<br />
biggest congressional lobbyist and<br />
one of the main sources of funding for<br />
political campaigns. In 2015 alone,<br />
Big Pharma lobbied or donated to<br />
congressional members more than $200<br />
million dollars, far exceeding the next<br />
big funding machine—the insurance<br />
companies. It’s understandable why<br />
pharmaceutical companies are worried<br />
about the rise of medicinal cannabis.<br />
They know that if medicinal cannabis<br />
becomes accepted on the national level<br />
it will undoubtedly cut into prescription<br />
opioid profits. This begs the question: If<br />
Big Pharma’s money is so important to so<br />
many of our political leaders’ campaigns,<br />
aren’t our “leaders” simply choosing<br />
contributions over compassion?<br />
Kyle L. Ladenburger is a passionate indoor<br />
and outdoor gardener. He is also a freelance<br />
garden writer. With more than 10 years in the<br />
industry working for Age Old Organics, he is<br />
well-versed in numerous growing methods<br />
with a focus on soil health.<br />
myhydrolife.com grow. heal. live. enjoy. 67
live<br />
by Chris Bond<br />
More MMJ<br />
Research On<br />
Colorado State University has<br />
received the green light to begin<br />
studying and documenting the<br />
benefits of MMJ. It will be the first<br />
regional four-year university in the<br />
country to conduct such a study.<br />
the Horizon<br />
68<br />
grow. heal. live. enjoy.<br />
myhydrolife.com
live<br />
Colorado State University will be<br />
studying a wide range of economic<br />
and health effects of the state’s legal<br />
cannabis industry thanks to recently<br />
granted funds from the county and<br />
state. CSU at Pueblo will be receiving<br />
$270,000 from the county of Pueblo,<br />
funding which was obtained through<br />
the taxation of marijuana sales in the<br />
county. The county granted the university<br />
$220,000 for medical marijuana<br />
research and another $50,000 to conduct<br />
four separate, economic impact studies.<br />
With near unanimous support from<br />
the state’s lawmakers both Democrat<br />
and Republican, Colorado’s Governor<br />
Hickenlooper signed Senate bill 191 allocating<br />
another $900,000 from the state’s<br />
marijuana tax fund to go to CSU Pueblo<br />
for further impact studies and research<br />
on marijuana. This infusion of research<br />
funds positions CSU Pueblo as the first<br />
regional four-year university in the country<br />
to conduct such a study.<br />
On the economic side, the study aims<br />
to see how the legalization of marijuana<br />
in Colorado is affecting local economies<br />
for better or worse. The impact studies<br />
will not only look at the direct economic<br />
benefits as in those to storefront<br />
dispensaries, but in particular it will<br />
look at how revenues raised through<br />
job creation and the sales of cannabis<br />
compare to the expenditures required in<br />
the regulation of those sales. It will also<br />
likely look at the cost-benefit analysis<br />
of legalization versus the costs involved<br />
with law enforcement and prosecution<br />
if it had remained an illegal substance.<br />
The study is also meant to look at<br />
the impact of resource usage in the<br />
production of marijuana including<br />
water and energy usages.<br />
Another stated objective of the study<br />
is to determine appropriate agricultural<br />
buffer zones for the production of marijuana<br />
crops. Pueblo County<br />
is interested in learning how<br />
far apart cannabis crops with<br />
low levels of THC, such as<br />
hemp, need to be from crops<br />
with high levels of THC to<br />
avoid cross-contamination.<br />
“This is a very welcome step<br />
by the DEA, which will only<br />
increase the amount of careful,<br />
rigorous research that universities<br />
undertake with regard to cannabis,” Rick<br />
Kreminski, provost and executive vice<br />
president at CSU-Pueblo, told The Pueblo<br />
Chieftain in August.<br />
Further studies of hemp production<br />
have been proposed Kreminski to look<br />
at the remedial affect to toxic soils that<br />
cannabis could provide. Kreminski has<br />
stated that hemp could potentially help<br />
“<br />
ON THE ECONOMIC SIDE, THE<br />
STUDY AIMS TO SEE HOW THE<br />
LEGALIZATION OF MARIJUANA<br />
IN COLORADO IS AFFECTING<br />
LOCAL ECONOMIES FOR<br />
BETTER OR WORSE.<br />
70<br />
grow. heal. live. enjoy.<br />
myhydrolife.com
live<br />
“<br />
THE LAWS PROHIBIT<br />
THE UNIVERSITY FROM<br />
ADMINISTERING MARIJUANA TO<br />
ANYONE; THEY CAN ONLY STUDY<br />
THOSE THAT SELF-IDENTIFY AS<br />
MARIJUANA USERS<br />
uptake heavy metals in the soil such as<br />
selenium, which can be problematic for<br />
many growers in that area of the country.<br />
He also discussed the opportunities the<br />
funds will allow for research into the<br />
engineering of different strains of hemp.<br />
Human health effects are to be examined<br />
as well. This side of the research<br />
is a little more difficult to draw concrete<br />
deductions from as currently without a<br />
Schedule I licence. The laws prohibit the<br />
university from administering marijuana<br />
to anyone; they can only study those that<br />
self-identify as marijuana users. Regardless,<br />
researchers at CSU hope to look<br />
at the benefits of medical marijuana on<br />
those who suffer from seizures for whom<br />
traditional medication is unable to help.<br />
They are able to administer cannabis<br />
to lab mice, however. Studies will be<br />
conducted on the neurological effects<br />
and how different brain cells of the mice<br />
interact with each other while under the<br />
influence of medical cannabis.<br />
Other health issues the<br />
university hopes to research include<br />
continued trials on the benefits of cannabis<br />
for sufferers of such diseases and<br />
afflictions as PTSD, glaucoma, Crohn’s<br />
disease and various cancers. In anticipation<br />
of state funds, CSU Pueblo<br />
president Lesley Di Mare has proposed<br />
the creation of the Institute of Cannabis<br />
Research. The first of its kind in the<br />
nation, the institute will be a multidisciplinary<br />
consortium of researchers<br />
and students looking at myriad effects of<br />
medical marijuana. The institute’s goals<br />
are to publish articles and host scholarly<br />
conferences about marijuana research.<br />
The state funds will help to create a<br />
peer-reviewed journal devoted to research<br />
on hemp production and medical<br />
cannabis usage.<br />
“It will bring positive light to this<br />
institution. That doesn’t mean that<br />
we are pro-recreational marijuana or<br />
pro-medical marijuana. We are proresearch,”<br />
Di Mare told reporters at<br />
The Pueblo Chieftain last August.<br />
Administrators at the university are<br />
hopeful that with the establishment of<br />
the institute, they can help to produce<br />
or foster the development of intellectual<br />
property surrounding medical marijuana<br />
and hemp. State lawmakers hope the<br />
infusion of funds to create this new institute<br />
will also help position the Colorado<br />
State University at Pueblo as a frontrunner<br />
in the research of cannabis, hemp<br />
and hemp oil. Patent development into<br />
procedure or engineering of cannabis<br />
would help the university, the region, the<br />
state and the industry as a whole.<br />
On a related note, a Colorado State<br />
University researcher recently raised<br />
more than $40,000 through a crowdfunding<br />
platform to be able to study the<br />
effects of long-term usage of medical<br />
72<br />
grow. heal. live. enjoy.<br />
myhydrolife.com
live<br />
marijuana on sufferers of multiple<br />
sclerosis. The director of the Integrative<br />
Neurophysiology Lab at CSU, Thorsten<br />
Rudroff, will use the funds to compare<br />
motor functions and glucose intake<br />
of patients who use prescribed<br />
marijuana or those that self-medicate<br />
to individuals with MS who do not use<br />
or take any form of marijuana.<br />
This is not Colorado State University’s<br />
first foray in the field of cannabis<br />
research. Since the summer of 2015,<br />
CSU at Fort Collins and other locations<br />
including Yellow Jacket have been growing<br />
and experimenting with industrial<br />
hemp. In conjunction with the Colorado<br />
state department of agriculture, the<br />
Colorado Agricultural Experiment Station,<br />
a function of CSU’s department of<br />
agriculture, is looking at what types of<br />
hemp seeds grow best in Colorado’s different<br />
microclimates. Colorado is one of<br />
roughly half of the states where hemp is<br />
legal to be grown commercially.<br />
The granting of these funds both by<br />
Pueblo County and the state of Colorado<br />
will help to add scholarships and clinically<br />
obtained data to the debate about<br />
marijuana as a viable pharmaceutical,<br />
agricultural crop and economic driver.<br />
As more states allow the legal use of either<br />
medicinal or recreational marijuana<br />
use, or for the production of industrial<br />
hemp and hemp-derived products, the<br />
more institutions such as Colorado State<br />
University and other non-profit research<br />
organizations will have access to funding<br />
and opportunities for further study.<br />
“<br />
IT WILL BRING POSITIVE LIGHT<br />
TO THIS INSTITUTION. THAT<br />
DOESN’T MEAN THAT WE ARE<br />
PRO-RECREATIONAL MARIJUANA<br />
OR PRO-MEDICAL MARIJUANA.<br />
WE ARE PRO-RESEARCH<br />
Chris Bond is the manager of the<br />
McKay Farm and Research Station at<br />
Unity College in Maine. His research<br />
interests are with sustainable agriculture,<br />
biological pest control as well as<br />
alternative growing methods. He is a<br />
certified permaculture designer and<br />
certified nursery technician in Ohio and<br />
a certified nursery professional in New<br />
York, where he got his start in growing.<br />
74 grow. heal. live. enjoy.<br />
myhydrolife.com
heal<br />
Do We Need Cannabis Breathalyzers?<br />
Roadside breathalyzer tests for alcohol have been a useful<br />
tool for law enforcement to remove impaired drivers from<br />
our roads. Should similar measures be applied to drivers who<br />
take cannabis? Alex Rea explains why he doesn’t think so.<br />
by Alex Rea<br />
It’s no secret that cannabis is more<br />
available and its use is increasing.<br />
With increasing use of cannabis, governments,<br />
police and anti-drunk driving<br />
organizations are calling for strictly<br />
enforced low limits on cannabis use<br />
while driving. Numerous tech companies<br />
are rushing to develop roadside breathalyzer<br />
and testing technologies capable of<br />
identifying minute amounts of cannabis<br />
metabolites. The undeniable fact is that<br />
testing positive for THC is not the same<br />
as being impaired. Recent research has<br />
confirmed that specific drug levels cannot<br />
reliably indicate driver impairment.<br />
Caught up in the effort to curb drugged<br />
driving are the legitimate patients using<br />
cannabis to improve their lives. These<br />
patients are being put at risk of being<br />
criminalized with little evidence of harm<br />
to road users or themselves. States such<br />
as Washington and Colorado have set<br />
legal limits for concentration of THC in<br />
blood while driving.<br />
Many lives have been lost due to the<br />
impairment of alcohol while driving.<br />
Drinking and driving has been reduced<br />
in large part due to public-service efforts<br />
and strict enforcement of roadside alcohol<br />
testing. Perhaps that’s what makes<br />
roadside cannabis testing so appealing.<br />
The easy reaction is to equate alcohol<br />
and cannabis. Driving under the<br />
influence of alcohol leads to deaths<br />
in a straightforward and predictable<br />
way; the effects of alcohol lead to<br />
impairments in both decision making<br />
and motor skills. Evidence shows that<br />
alcohol leads drivers to drive faster and<br />
with less control and reaction time<br />
leading to dangerous consequences.<br />
The same cannot be said for<br />
cannabis. Research conducted by<br />
the NHTSA has concluded that when<br />
adjusting for other factors such as age<br />
and gender, THC presence alone poses<br />
no statistical increase in crashes.<br />
Breathalyzers work for alcohol<br />
because there is a consistent<br />
relationship between blood alcohol<br />
level, impairment and levels<br />
detected by the testing equipment.<br />
The relationship is so strong that these<br />
technologies have stood the test of<br />
litigation to prove to judges that beyond<br />
reasonable doubt, they are accurate. It’s<br />
easy to use the same logic of alcohol to<br />
apply to cannabis.<br />
The profits from the company that successfully<br />
produces a breathalyzer technology<br />
could be immense; the potential<br />
market could be every police jurisdiction<br />
with a legal limit or a will to root out<br />
cannabis users. The consensus has been<br />
that it is not a question of if but when we<br />
will introduce a roadside breathalyzer.<br />
As our society figures out how to deal<br />
with cannabis use on the roads, there is<br />
still a glaring question looming over this<br />
issue: are cannabis breathalyzers the<br />
only way to have safe roads?<br />
Before the use of Breath Alcohol<br />
Content testers, there was the field<br />
sobriety test; a simple test to help law<br />
enforcement determine if an individual’s<br />
cognitive and spacial perceptions are<br />
so impaired that driving is dangerous<br />
and therefore illegal. There is no way to<br />
have perfect road safety with no crashes,<br />
so there may be an argument for using<br />
traditional methods to judge impairment<br />
rather than a catch all limit which will<br />
criminalize people unjustifiably.<br />
The main issue with drug impairment<br />
testing is that it is a more complex<br />
chemical and neurological relationship<br />
than alcohol. Five nanograms of THC<br />
could have no effect or a strong effect<br />
depending on the user. An experienced<br />
medical user may be unaffected by<br />
such an amount and be a safer driver<br />
because they are not in pain. States are<br />
trying to set a limit on cannabis use to<br />
discourage impaired driving but there<br />
is little scientific evidence to support<br />
the use of a strict limit for any drug.<br />
The most reliable way to ascertain<br />
impairment is the traditional method<br />
of a field sobriety test (with reasonable<br />
grounds to conduct the investigation).<br />
The difficult yet logical conclusion is<br />
that a roadside breathalyzer may be an<br />
improper way to do policing. It may cost<br />
police forces too many resources, likely<br />
won’t improve public safety and would<br />
unnecessarily impact innocent drivers<br />
with legal costs and disruptions to life.<br />
Alex Rea is vice-president of Homegrown Hydroponics in Toronto, Ontario, and the<br />
co-founder of Phytomedical, a cannabis consulting clinic. As a patient, advocate and<br />
business person in the cannabis industry, Alex has a keen understanding of the political,<br />
economic and social hurdles that underpin cannabis as medicine in North America.<br />
76 grow. heal. live. enjoy.<br />
myhydrolife.com
77
live live<br />
LOOSE<br />
LIPS<br />
SINK<br />
SHIPS:<br />
SECURING YOUR<br />
HOME GROW<br />
It is extremely important<br />
for cannabis growers to<br />
protect their gardens by<br />
implementing security<br />
measures. Cameras, audible<br />
alarms, canines and secrecy<br />
are all security measures that<br />
can aid in the protection of<br />
your cherished plants.<br />
by Lee G. Lyzit<br />
Apart from<br />
the countless<br />
lives that have been<br />
negatively affected,<br />
the United States’ failed<br />
war on drugs has created<br />
a distorted black market<br />
pricing structure for illegal<br />
substances. Although we<br />
are slowly seeing a shift in<br />
the way government and law<br />
enforcement view cannabis,<br />
the fact is that cannabis is still<br />
severely overvalued due to its<br />
illegal status in most states. Thieves<br />
and scoundrels who are constantly<br />
on the lookout for opportunities and<br />
vulnerabilities will gladly snatch up<br />
a valuable cannabis crop if given the<br />
chance. It is extremely important for<br />
cannabis growers to protect their gardens<br />
by implementing security measures.<br />
78<br />
grow. heal. live. enjoy.<br />
myhydrolife.com
PERSONAL SECURITY CAMERAS<br />
AND AUDIBLE ALARMS<br />
There are countless personal security<br />
products available for home or commercial<br />
use. Many cannabis growers<br />
choose this level of security because<br />
it is simple, effective and discreet.<br />
Multiple-camera security systems are<br />
affordable and can easily be linked to<br />
an online server so they can be monitored<br />
from anywhere. A camera system<br />
is great at identifying a thief and can<br />
even be used as evidence if the police<br />
get involved. The downside is that<br />
camera systems alone don’t necessarily<br />
stop the damage before it is done. If the<br />
plants are destroyed, they cannot be instantly<br />
replaced, regardless of the perpetrator<br />
being apprehended or not. This<br />
is where an audible alert system can<br />
come in handy. Audible alarm systems<br />
can be used as stand-alone systems or<br />
in conjunction with a security camera<br />
system. When there is a breech, an earsplitting<br />
alarm is sounded. A would-be<br />
thief is often deterred when there is a<br />
siren screaming from the premise.<br />
PROFESSIONAL<br />
SECURITY SYSTEMS<br />
Although not as commonly used as<br />
personal systems, a professional security<br />
system can be an effective way to deter<br />
thieves. Professional security systems<br />
can include cameras, alarms, motion<br />
sensors or a combination of these<br />
security measures. Professional security<br />
systems are monitored by a security<br />
company. Each company is a little<br />
different, but these systems are great for<br />
growers who are not in the same vicinity<br />
as their grow sites. If there is a problem,<br />
the security company will intervene or<br />
contact law enforcement to intervene.<br />
Most professional security systems are<br />
affordable and are set up so the grower<br />
pays a low monthly fee.<br />
ANIMAL PROTECTION<br />
Man’s best friend is surely worth<br />
mentioning when it comes to garden<br />
security. Most robbers will think twice<br />
before messing with Cujo. Guard<br />
dogs, especially ones trained for that<br />
purpose, can go a long way in garden<br />
security. Many professional cannabis<br />
growers have dog runs set up around<br />
the perimeter of the garden so that a<br />
thief would have to attempt to cross a<br />
moat of highly trained mutts. In most<br />
cases, just the sight of a big, snarly<br />
beast will send a burglar running with<br />
his tail between his legs.<br />
LOOSE LIPS SINK SHIPS<br />
The old phrase, “loose lips sink ships” that<br />
originated during World War II couldn’t be<br />
more true for cannabis growers. In other<br />
words, don’t show anyone or talk to anyone<br />
about your garden. I have seen novice<br />
growers make this mistake time and time<br />
again. Many new growers are excited.<br />
They want to show all their friends and tell<br />
anyone who will listen. Stop it! The most<br />
effective and important security measure<br />
any cannabis grower can implement is<br />
to not talk about the garden. Remember<br />
the first rule of Fight Club: You do not talk<br />
about the fight club. If cannabis growers<br />
took this rule seriously, they would greatly<br />
reduce their chances of being burglarized.<br />
In most cases, a cannabis heist is done by<br />
a “friend” or colleague. It is as simple as<br />
this: you can’t steal what you don’t know is<br />
there. The best way to keep your cannabis<br />
plants safe is to refrain from showing<br />
anyone or telling anyone about them.<br />
“THIEVES AND SCOUNDRELS WHO ARE<br />
CONSTANTLY ON THE LOOKOUT FOR<br />
OPPORTUNITIES AND VULNERABILITIES<br />
WILL GLADLY SNATCH UP A VALUABLE<br />
CANNABIS CROP IF GIVEN THE CHANCE.”<br />
LIGHTS AND ODORS<br />
This should be more common sense than<br />
an actual security measure, but it is<br />
important to make sure the garden appears<br />
normal to the public eye. If a glowing light<br />
or strong odor is emitting from a building,<br />
chances are good that someone will notice.<br />
Always be sure your lights are contained<br />
and you treat odors with a carbon filter or<br />
other odor-neutralizing devices.<br />
For new growers, it can be difficult to<br />
perceive the gravity of good security<br />
measures. After spending a lot of money on<br />
growroom equipment, not to mention the<br />
time it takes to grow plants to maturity, the<br />
last thing you want is a crook to come in<br />
and snatch up your hard work. Cameras,<br />
audible alarms, canines and secrecy<br />
are all security measures that can aid in<br />
the protection of your cherished plants.<br />
Whether you are a commercial cannabis<br />
grower or a hobbyist medical marijuana<br />
enthusiast, implementing adequate garden<br />
security can mean the difference between<br />
profitable yields and utter devastation.<br />
Lee G. Lyzit has been involved<br />
in the medical cannabis industry<br />
for nearly 15 years. His passion<br />
for natural healing drives him to<br />
learn as much as he can about<br />
the cannabis plant. Lee breeds<br />
his own strains of cannabis to<br />
create concentrated glycerine<br />
and coconut oil extracts. Aside<br />
from cannabis education and<br />
consumption, Lee enjoys playing<br />
music, gardening, hiking and<br />
cross-country skiing.alternative<br />
growing methods.<br />
myhydrolife.com grow. heal. live. enjoy. 79
enjoy<br />
RISE<br />
Why More Cannabis Greenhouses are<br />
CROPPING UP<br />
Traditional greenhouses have presented challenges for cannabis<br />
growers that include security and environment control. Hybrid<br />
greenhouse technology is changing that, filling the niche<br />
between indoor and outdoor grows. Lindsey Schiller<br />
explains why cannabis growers now have another option.<br />
by Lindsey Schiller<br />
photos courtesy of<br />
Ceres Greenhouse Solutions<br />
82<br />
grow. heal. live. enjoy.<br />
myhydrolife.com
“UNTIL RECENTLY,<br />
cannabis growers<br />
faced two choices<br />
for housing a grow<br />
operation: indoor<br />
or outdoor.”<br />
Imagine the perfect cannabis growing<br />
environment–high light intensity,<br />
precisely controlled environment, CO 2-<br />
rich air, automated systems, minimal<br />
energy usage…this is the holy grail<br />
for many cannabis growers, and with<br />
advances in greenhouse technology it is<br />
one that is now within reach.<br />
Until recently, cannabis growers<br />
faced two choices for housing a grow<br />
operation: indoor or outdoor. Outdoor<br />
growers commonly tout the higher<br />
yields and lower costs of growing<br />
at larger scales under natural light.<br />
Indoor growers swear by the added<br />
climate control afforded by an enclosed<br />
environment where light, temperature,<br />
CO 2<br />
and airflow can be controlled with<br />
the punch of a button.<br />
As a category, greenhouses occupy<br />
a middle ground on this spectrum.<br />
However, until recently, standard<br />
greenhouse structures presented their<br />
own challenges for cannabis growers.<br />
Advances in greenhouse design and<br />
technology are changing that, allowing<br />
greenhouses to provide the best of both<br />
worlds: both natural lighting and a<br />
precisely controlled indoor environment.<br />
SHEDDING LIGHT ON<br />
TRADITIONAL GREENHOUSES<br />
Though artificial lights are becoming<br />
more efficient, it is still hard, if not<br />
impossible, to compete with the giant<br />
free lamp in the sky. On a clear day,<br />
indoor light levels in a greenhouse are<br />
in the range of 1,000-1,500 micromoles/<br />
m2/second. That wordy unit describes<br />
of the amount light that plants use,<br />
called PAR light, hitting a surface at a<br />
single point in time. In comparison, light<br />
intensity one meter away from a 1,000-<br />
W HPS lamp is in the range of 500-800<br />
micromoles/m2/second. Light intensity<br />
under a 400-W HPS lamp is only 200-400<br />
micromoles/m2/second.<br />
In short, natural light usually dwarfs<br />
artificial lights in its intensity. It’s<br />
also full-spectrum, providing all the<br />
wavelengths plants use. But most<br />
importantly, it’s free. By not having to<br />
run lights 12-18 hours a day, greenhouse<br />
growers dramatically reduce the costs<br />
of year-round cannabis production.<br />
Though estimates vary, most analysts<br />
predict a greenhouse will save 50-90<br />
per cent in energy costs compared to an<br />
indoor growroom.<br />
So why not greenhouses? Historically,<br />
the top reason has been our legal system<br />
and the underground nature of the crop.<br />
Greenhouses have traditionally been<br />
seen as less secure and durable than an<br />
opaque metal warehouse. Greenhouses<br />
have been seen as more difficult<br />
environments to control compared<br />
to enclosed growrooms. Standard<br />
greenhouses are constructed out of thin,<br />
uninsulated materials, making them<br />
more prone to temperature fluctuations.<br />
With natural light comes natural heat,<br />
and in sunny climates like Colorado,<br />
greenhouses can potentially overheat.<br />
To control overheating and humidity<br />
levels, commercial greenhouses are<br />
heavily ventilated. Constantly flushing<br />
the greenhouse with outdoor air<br />
increases exposure to pests, diseases<br />
and pathogens, making it more akin to<br />
an outdoor farm than indoor growroom.<br />
Another recent risk is airborne hemp<br />
pollen. If a greenhouse is in the<br />
vicinity of outdoor hemp grows, pollen<br />
can enter through vents or fans and<br />
pollinate flowering crops. The result is<br />
hermaphroditic, or seeded, cannabis<br />
that loses much of its value.<br />
Greenhouses also experience variable<br />
light levels. A heavily overcast day, for<br />
example, typically has only 10 per cent<br />
of the light compared to a clear sunny<br />
day. If growing year-round, a greenhouse<br />
normally requires supplemental lighting<br />
and light deprivation systems to achieve<br />
the right photoperiod.<br />
myhydrolife.com grow. heal. live. enjoy. 83
enjoy<br />
Let’s step back for a moment to<br />
differentiate between greenhouse<br />
strategies. Many cannabis greenhouses<br />
are seasonal; they provide added<br />
protection for a crop during the normal<br />
outdoor season, but close down over<br />
winter. Other growers use greenhouses<br />
to achieve year-round production<br />
for vegetative or flowering crops, or<br />
supplement part of a larger year-round<br />
operation. In many cases, a grower may<br />
use a growroom for cloning and as a<br />
veg room, and then move plants to the<br />
greenhouse for the flowering stage.<br />
Controlling the photoperiod for<br />
flowering crops requires both<br />
supplemental lighting and light<br />
deprivation systems. Artificial<br />
lights extend the short days of the<br />
winter, and light dep systems allow<br />
for a 12-hour photoperiod during<br />
long summer days. Some growers<br />
note that adding a light dep system<br />
increases the cash outlay for a<br />
greenhouse compared to growroom.<br />
However, due to the avoided costs<br />
of running lights, it is one that is<br />
quickly recouped.<br />
“MOST HYBRID<br />
greenhouses can<br />
be rated for any<br />
wind load or snow<br />
load, making them<br />
well-suited for<br />
growers in harsh<br />
winter climates.”<br />
Overall, greenhouses have often been<br />
seen as a more natural growing method,<br />
but one that sacrifices some control over<br />
the growing environment.<br />
THE NEXT WAVE<br />
OF GREENHOUSES:<br />
HYBRID STRUCTURES<br />
To accommodate for these drawbacks,<br />
a new variation of greenhouse has<br />
emerged. Part warehouse, part<br />
greenhouse, hybrid greenhouses<br />
combine insulated walls with standard<br />
glazed roofs. From the outside, the<br />
greenhouse looks like a warehouse<br />
and is nearly as secure. Constructed<br />
with metal framing, they are also as<br />
durable as a standard commercial<br />
building. Most<br />
hybrid greenhouses<br />
can be rated for<br />
any wind load or<br />
snow load, making<br />
them well-suited for<br />
growers in harsh<br />
winter climates.<br />
Beyond security<br />
and durability,<br />
hybrid structures<br />
are far more<br />
energy efficient<br />
than standard<br />
greenhouses. An<br />
insulated wall<br />
typically has an<br />
R-value of 10-<br />
20. Most glazing<br />
materials, in<br />
comparison, have<br />
an R-value of less<br />
than two. Replacing glazing with a<br />
durable, insulated structure creates a<br />
vastly more energy-efficient structure<br />
and more stable temperatures for<br />
year-round production.<br />
For these reasons, hybrid greenhouses<br />
are emerging as a new niche in the<br />
spectrum of growing options–one that<br />
is more high-tech and controlled than a<br />
84<br />
grow. heal. live. enjoy.<br />
myhydrolife.com
enjoy<br />
standard greenhouse, but still relies on natural light.<br />
Some growers are taking this one step further and<br />
completely enclosing the indoor environment. Sealed<br />
greenhouses are an emerging trend that allows<br />
for even greater control over climate conditions.<br />
These structures reduce or eliminate ventilation,<br />
so the crops are not constantly exposed to foreign<br />
contaminants like molds and pests from outside.<br />
Dehumidifiers, heat exchangers, or energy-efficient<br />
heating and cooling systems control the climate,<br />
providing air circulating and a CO 2-rich environment<br />
without ventilation.<br />
Adding to this, growers are integrating new lighting<br />
technologies to create consistent light levels and<br />
a precisely controlled photoperiod. Innovative<br />
lighting and control technologies can respond to<br />
outdoor conditions, only supplementing as much<br />
light as needed. For example, on a cloudy day, a<br />
sensor detects the light levels in the greenhouse. If<br />
below peak intensity, controls automatically turn<br />
on supplemental lighting, but automated dimmers<br />
only turn lights on as much as needed. In this way,<br />
greenhouse growers can take advantage of natural<br />
sunlight as much as possible while still ensuring<br />
consistent peak intensity lighting, eliminating one<br />
more disadvantage of the greenhouse grow.<br />
“HIGH-TECH greenhouses now sit squarely in<br />
the middle between the indoor and outdoor<br />
grow, blending the best of both worlds.”<br />
Other technologies involve motors that<br />
automatically raise and lower lights to provide<br />
intense lighting when they are on, and minimize<br />
shading when the lights are off. Finally, automated<br />
light deprivation systems seal tightly to the<br />
greenhouse frame, creating 100 per cent blackout<br />
conditions equivalent to an indoor growroom.<br />
With these advances, high-tech greenhouses now<br />
sit squarely in the middle between the indoor and<br />
outdoor grow, blending the best of both worlds<br />
while eliminating many of the sacrifices of each.<br />
As growers continue to demand more controlled,<br />
automated, efficient and durable structures, hybrid<br />
greenhouses will certainly be here to stay. Moreover,<br />
they will evolve along with the industry, carving out<br />
a significant niche in the spectrum of structures, and<br />
inching growers one step closer to that perfect grow.<br />
86<br />
grow. heal. live. enjoy.<br />
Lindsey Schiller studied at the University of Arizona’s<br />
Controlled Environment Agriculture Center before<br />
delving into sustainable greenhouse design after she<br />
moved to Colorado. In 2011, she co-founded Ceres<br />
Greenhouse Solutions to enable people to design and<br />
build their own sustainable, year-round greenhouses.<br />
She writes extensively on greenhouse technology and<br />
year-round growing through the Ceres blog. She is<br />
also the author of The Year-Round Solar Greenhouse:<br />
How to Design and Build a Net-Zero Energy<br />
Greenhouse (New Society Publishers).<br />
myhydrolife.com
myhydrolife.com grow. heal. live. enjoy. 87
enjoy<br />
RIDING THE<br />
Taking advantage of the blossoming legal<br />
cannabis industry in the United States can seem<br />
like a pipe dream at times given the numerous<br />
rules and regulations that must be followed<br />
to be successful. Enter cannabis compliance<br />
software company, MJ Freeway, which makes<br />
tracking software that ensures every gram and<br />
dollar is accounted for. Owners Amy Poinsett<br />
and Jessica Billingsley chat with <strong>Hydrolife</strong> about<br />
how they are helping thousands of cannabis<br />
business owners sleep better at night.<br />
BY JENN MCGARRIGLE<br />
88 grow. heal. live. enjoy.<br />
myhydrolife.com
The laws and regulations governing the growing medicinal<br />
cannabis industry are complex and ever-changing, and<br />
navigating them requires lots of diligence and hard work.<br />
Luckily for cannabis business owners, the tech geniuses have<br />
stepped in with software solutions for marijuana producers,<br />
processors, infused product manufacturers and retailers.<br />
Amy Poinsett and Jessica Billingsley, owners of Coloradobased<br />
MJ Freeway, were both managing separate information<br />
technology and development firms in Telluride, Colorado,<br />
when they decided to open their own company together in 2010.<br />
Poinsett’s background includes directing technology<br />
development teams in software application design and<br />
research analysis in the financial, luxury tourism and<br />
medical technology industries. Billingsley’s experience<br />
was in building and managing very successful technology<br />
operations—prior to co-founding MJ Freeway, she was the<br />
founder, owner, director, COO and CEO of companies with<br />
revenues exceeding $11 million.<br />
“We founded MJ Freeway because we knew we had the<br />
skills to create a technology solution that would enable<br />
the legal cannabis industry to grow successfully and help<br />
business owners achieve their goals,” explains Poinsett.<br />
“Seed-to-sale compliance tracking makes it possible for<br />
governments to regulate cannabis and ensure public,<br />
patient and product safety. And our additional software tools<br />
and services help business owners accelerate their growth<br />
while achieving operational efficiencies.”<br />
On top of having the tech skills needed to create this kind of<br />
software, it’s an industry the pair believe in and truly want to<br />
help, adds Billingsley. “We believe in cannabis’s medicinal<br />
value and we believe that people who need access to<br />
medicine should have it,” she says.<br />
myhydrolife.com grow. heal. live. enjoy. 89
enjoy<br />
“<br />
We founded MJ Freeway<br />
because we knew we had the<br />
skills to create a technology<br />
solution that would enable the<br />
legal cannabis industry to grow<br />
successfully and help business<br />
owners achieve their goals.”<br />
MJ Freeway’s tracking and reporting systems include GrowTracker,<br />
MixTracker, GramTracker and MJ Mobile, which provide accurate,<br />
real-time data to cultivators, infused product producers, dispensaries<br />
and collectives. They ensure every gram and dollar is accounted for<br />
throughout the entire chain of custody process.<br />
In addition to these software systems, MJ Freeway offers consulting<br />
services that help business owners in the application and operation of<br />
their products, professional marketing advice, and access to essential<br />
materials and supplies for the regulated cannabis industry, including<br />
packaging, product labels and hardware.<br />
MJ Freeway’s Tips for Building<br />
an Extraction Operation<br />
• Do your research! Know what is required<br />
by your state.<br />
• Be sure to develop relationships with<br />
your local fire department and other<br />
community agencies to get the proper<br />
licences and permits.<br />
•Understand zoning and secure a<br />
location that both the city<br />
and state have approved.<br />
• Find a space that can be easily<br />
modified as the extraction<br />
process is constantly evolving.<br />
• Seek out a team or consultant with prior expertise who can<br />
help you make the best decisions for your business.<br />
90 grow. heal. live. enjoy.<br />
myhydrolife.com
Leaf Data Systems is the company’s regulatory<br />
solution, which combines compliance data from<br />
all licensed cannabis businesses in a state<br />
or municipality, giving regulators improved<br />
visibility into operations. The system offers full<br />
cannabis life cycle tracking and is customized<br />
based on differing state requirements to provide<br />
an efficient and easy-to-use solution.<br />
The company’s growth and innovative technologies<br />
led to Poinsett and Billingsley being featured<br />
in Cannabis Now’s Eight Cannabis Entrepreneurs<br />
to Watch in 2014. MJ Freeway was also included in<br />
Entrepreneur <strong>Magazine</strong>’s annual list of 100 Brilliant<br />
Companies and the company was listed in The Inc.<br />
5,000 list of fastest-growing companies in America.<br />
Amy demonstrating how MJ Freeway works.<br />
✔ Do the right thing<br />
✔ Show people that you care<br />
✔ Be part of the solution<br />
Why are thousands of businesses choosing<br />
MJ Freeway products?<br />
“Our seed-to-sale tracking system helps improve<br />
business workflow, tracks inventory, guarantees<br />
compliance, and manages customer and patient<br />
data,” explains Poinsett. “Each suite supports<br />
the entire marijuana production and distribution<br />
process from seed to sale. We guarantee state and<br />
federal compliance by providing intuitive tools to<br />
manage the entire process while controlling costs<br />
and maximizing efficiency.”<br />
If staying on top of state and federal rules, and running<br />
a more efficient business are two major goals<br />
for you, check out mjfreeway.com for more details.<br />
Jenn McGarrigle is a writer, editor, gardener,<br />
mountain biker and nature lover who has lived on the<br />
West Coast all her life. When she’s not telling stories<br />
and helping people get the word out about the<br />
exciting things they do and why they do them, you’ll<br />
find her on the trails or in her garden.<br />
4 Questions with Amy and Jessica<br />
What are some of the struggles and challenges you’ve<br />
experienced so far?<br />
Amy: At one point, we thought growth would be something we<br />
could easily handle, even embrace, but scaling our employee base,<br />
infrastructure and reach has proven to be more challenging and<br />
demanding than we anticipated. Managing growth requires the<br />
right infrastructure, partners and people. And scaling for growth is<br />
a job within itself. What we learned is our customers are facing the<br />
same challenges and opportunities with their growth, and we are<br />
developing next-generation products to solve those challenges.<br />
How do you support your clients?<br />
Jessica: Our software is powerful and flexible, which means it<br />
can support a variety of business models and business processes,<br />
whether it is an established business or a concept still to be<br />
executed. Our Implementation Package, which comes with each<br />
subscription purchase, is eight hours of custom software and<br />
hardware set-up.<br />
Any advice for new business owners?<br />
Amy: Build a strong foundation by establishing a banking<br />
relationship for day-to-day needs, hiring qualified staff from labor<br />
talent pools and completing a SWOT analysis to identify your<br />
greatest weaknesses and develop a long-term strategy. Choose<br />
a software partner that is best for your operation and business<br />
needs, and train your employees. Formalize your business<br />
operations with employee handbooks, workflow diagrams, internal<br />
controls, inventory and cash control processes, standard operating<br />
procedures, etc. Partner with people you trust, develop a formal<br />
marketing plan and, most importantly, enjoy it!<br />
How do you spend time outside the office?<br />
Amy: I’m a dive master and fine arts painter.<br />
Jessica: I’m an Ashtanga yoga practitioner and rock climber.<br />
myhydrolife.com grow. heal. live. enjoy. 91
enjoy<br />
by Watermelon<br />
A FOOL OF MYSELF<br />
A Cannabis Culinary Column<br />
Cookies are Sweet.<br />
Victory is Sweeter.<br />
Her days on Wreck Beach selling watermelon and ginger snap cookies were easy before her arrest.<br />
Then came the difficult days before a judge. In her latest column, Watermelon explains how she<br />
fought the law and won. She also shares the recipe that got her into trouble in the first place.<br />
92<br />
grow. heal. live. enjoy.<br />
myhydrolife.com
myhydrolife.com grow. heal. live. enjoy. 93
enjoy<br />
“<br />
WHY WOULD I willingly<br />
let them label me a criminal<br />
when clearly I am not?”<br />
In my last column, I told you all about getting arrested on a<br />
nude beach for allegedly trafficking ginger snap cookies.<br />
The comedy ensues. I am told to get dressed and taken to the<br />
police station where I am stripped searched. They wanted to<br />
know if I had anything “dangerous down there.” Hilarious?<br />
(Not right away though.)<br />
My cookies are stamped Exhibit A. I am photographed in<br />
the best pin-up pose I could muster at the time. Big smile<br />
on my tear-stained face. Arms at an angle behind my head.<br />
My hips slightly askew. Then finger prints, a phone call to<br />
a random lawyer, some yoga in the cold steel cell, and my<br />
eventual release on a promise to appear.<br />
In order to charge me with trafficking gingersnap cookies<br />
they had to send those cookies to a lab to be tested. I<br />
was charged initially with Possession for the Purpose<br />
of Trafficking. But trafficking what? Ginger snaps? The<br />
test results came in and I was charged with trafficking in<br />
cannabis ‘resin’, which obviously seemed suspect because<br />
there was no resin in Exhibit A. Then off to trial we go. Not<br />
one, not two, but three separate trials.<br />
I was getting arrested a lot in those days.<br />
After careful cross-examination of the Crown Prosecutors’<br />
lab technician, it was discovered the only reason I was<br />
being charged with trafficking in cannabis resin was<br />
because Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) at that time<br />
said if no defining botanical features of the marijuana<br />
plant can be seen but cannabinoids are present, they<br />
automatically call it cannabis resin.<br />
My lawyer, John Conroy, brought in a cannabinoid scientist<br />
named Dr. David Pate. The good doctor suggested on the<br />
stand that there is no actual resin in the cookie sample. With<br />
some scientific prodding, the Crown’s lab guy had to agree. I<br />
asked my lawyer to propose if it’s possible I put hemp seeds<br />
or hemp oil in my cookies. Would cannabinoids still be present?<br />
The Crown’s witness agrees again.<br />
Turns out there are lots of cannabinoids. Not all are<br />
illegal. They would need to isolate them in cookie batter<br />
to prove which ones are prosecutable. Then they would<br />
need to weigh that measurement and find out how severe<br />
my sentence should be.<br />
In Canadian law at that time, 30 grams or under of<br />
cannabis marijuana carried a lesser sentence than over<br />
30 grams. One gram of hash (a.k.a. cannabis resin) carried<br />
a lesser sentence than over one gram. Yes. One gram!<br />
Implying resin is 30 times stronger than marijuana and<br />
should be treated as such during sentencing.<br />
At the time, they could not prove origin of source<br />
or quantify measurements. They simply tested<br />
for cannabinoids and if those were present SOP<br />
says you automatically charged a person with<br />
trafficking in cannabis resin. When botanical<br />
features can be identified you charge them with<br />
trafficking in cannabis marijuana.<br />
In the end everyone agreed I was charged<br />
with the wrong thing, therefore I had not<br />
committed the crime I was charged with.<br />
Finally, to my great relief, for the third<br />
time, I heard that gloriously freeing word:<br />
Acquitted. The gavel drops, curtains close,<br />
and the comedy show is over.<br />
Before any of this happened, of course, I was<br />
offered multiple plea bargains. Almost threatened<br />
to plea bargain. But I refused adamantly.<br />
I wanted someone to look me in the face while<br />
they were giving me a criminal record. All for some<br />
delicious, well-made ginger snap cookies. I was then<br />
and I still am a hard-working, well-respected woman in<br />
my community. Why would I willingly let them label me a<br />
criminal when clearly I am not?<br />
94<br />
grow. heal. live. enjoy.<br />
myhydrolife.com
Most cases around this time got plea bargained out.<br />
Hardly any cannabis charges even went to trial. I was the<br />
first to test the waters in court on edibles and this is what<br />
we discover. We punched a lot of holes in this aspect of law<br />
and demonstrated a lot of flaws. Flaws that cost people<br />
their freedom. Their dignity. Their savings. Their jobs.<br />
Never plea bargaining is a great tool for modern<br />
cannabis activists. We all want our day in court, and I am<br />
perfectly willing to go again one day. It is a great place to<br />
be active. If you are successful there, you’re successful to<br />
marijuana lovers everywhere.<br />
If nobody plea bargains, all those cases go to court. In<br />
court, the Crown must assert the law you broke and then<br />
prove those allegations against you. In other words, you<br />
don’t have to prove your innocence, they have to prove you<br />
are guilty. The laws on cannabis are so perforated with<br />
inconsistencies, at least where I live, that I do not think<br />
anyone really knows the laws on cannabis as they are<br />
written. The grey area continues to widen.<br />
So, when real cases go to court, they tend to demonstrate<br />
constitutional discrepancies. The government is then<br />
asked to re-script the law to comply with the constitution<br />
or abolish it. So demand your day in court should you get<br />
charged with loving our favorite green leafy vegetable.<br />
With that I would like to share with you my criminally<br />
delicious ginger snap cookie recipe. Cookies are sweet.<br />
Victory is sweeter.<br />
“<br />
WE PUNCHED a lot of holes<br />
in this aspect of law and<br />
demonstrated a lot of flaws.”<br />
Ginger Snaps<br />
Ingredients:<br />
3/4 C oil<br />
20 g shake flour<br />
1 C brown sugar<br />
4 tsp molasses<br />
1 egg<br />
2 C flour<br />
2 tsp baking soda<br />
1 tsp cinnamon<br />
1 tsp ginger<br />
1 tsp cloves<br />
Steps:<br />
• Pre-heat oven<br />
to 350°F.<br />
• Sauté oil and shake<br />
flour on low heat for<br />
30 minutes.<br />
Let cool slightly.<br />
• Combine all dry<br />
ingredients.<br />
• In a bowl, mix<br />
molasses, sugar,<br />
shake oil and egg.<br />
• Add dry ingredients<br />
and mix well.<br />
• Form into small<br />
balls and roll in<br />
white sugar.<br />
• Bake at 350˚F for<br />
12-15 minutes.<br />
• Store in air-tight<br />
container.<br />
To see Watermelon in action, check her out on YouTube. Baked:<br />
Cooking with Mary Jean is a special show that features one<br />
special ingredient: cannabis! Follow Watermelon, a.k.a. Mary<br />
Jean Dunsdon, on Twitter @weeddiva to never miss an episode,<br />
or sign up for updates at potent.media.<br />
myhydrolife.com grow. heal. live. enjoy. 95
enjoy<br />
TRICK-OR-TREAT<br />
IT’S CANNAWEEN!<br />
by Lacey Macri<br />
Halloween isn’t just for<br />
kids, anymore. More<br />
and more, adults are<br />
partaking in grown-up<br />
treats on the scariest<br />
night of the year.<br />
Lacey Macri provides<br />
a twist on tradition<br />
for qualified medical<br />
marijuana patients.<br />
96<br />
grow. heal. live. enjoy.<br />
myhydrolife.com
Just because you aren’t a child doesn’t mean you can’t indulge<br />
on Halloween. On that same note, always make sure<br />
your cannabis-infused edibles are stored in a safe place out of<br />
reach of children and pets. Try these top five rated treats on<br />
a night in when you aren’t operating vehicles or machinery<br />
so that you can simply relax and enjoy all of the<br />
fruits of what infusion progressives have to offer.<br />
HI-FI CHOCOLATE BARS: BEST BANG<br />
FOR YOUR BUCK<br />
The marriage of chocolate and medical<br />
marijuana is by no means a new<br />
combination. This year, finding<br />
the absolute best cannabis-infused<br />
chocolate bar is at the forefront of<br />
every canna-trick-or-treater’s Halloween<br />
priorities. The Hi-Fi chocolate bar series is<br />
undeniably awesome. Ranging in donations<br />
from $10-$20, you can walk home from your<br />
local collective with one of these 200 milligram<br />
bars that may likely be enough to<br />
last you the whole week, depending on<br />
your tolerance. With this particular<br />
bar, I can’t emphasize the concept<br />
of tolerance enough. Do not<br />
underestimate the strength of<br />
these bars based on their<br />
superb flavor. It is quite<br />
possible that you will mistake<br />
these bars for a canna-free candy<br />
because they are so perfectly<br />
blended for optimal flavor. The Hi-Fi<br />
200 milligram bars are split into four<br />
sections, each as 50 milligram servings. I<br />
would not recommend eating more than one<br />
square at a time until becoming more familiar<br />
with your tolerance as it relates to this specific<br />
edible. The Hi-Fi chocolate bars are<br />
both a trick and a treat in one delicious<br />
crudite, so tread lightly and enjoy.<br />
FLAMING HOT WEETOS: THE<br />
MUST-HAVE GUILTY PLEASURE<br />
The ultimate munchies are now available<br />
in a cannabis-infused version of one<br />
of America’s favorite snacks: Flaming Hot<br />
Weetos. Available in three-ounce packages at<br />
a strength of 150 milligrams THC combined with<br />
1.8 milligrams CBD, this might be your best bet for<br />
a post-supper snack that will satisfy your craving for<br />
junk food while simultaneously medicating. You will<br />
notice a mild hint of cannabis in your first few bites, but<br />
the spicy seasoning helps to mask the pungent flavor and<br />
aroma of the medicine. The nutrition facts report that there are<br />
approximately three servings per package, so be careful not to<br />
scarf down the whole bag at once if it is your first time trying.<br />
If you want to save your Weetos for later, they stay relatively<br />
fresh if the bag is clipped and stored in the refrigerator up<br />
to a few weeks, surprisingly.<br />
AWAKENING MINTS: FOR GUYS<br />
AND GALS ON THE GO<br />
Dixie Elixirs’ line of mints is the quick fix<br />
in the crowd. If you feel an oncoming<br />
headache, nausea, back pain, or mild<br />
“You will notice<br />
a mild hint of<br />
cannabis in your<br />
first few bites,<br />
but the spicy seasoning helps to<br />
mask the pungent<br />
flavor and aroma<br />
of the medicine. ”<br />
sense of mental or physical discomfort of any kind, these mints<br />
will help take the edge off while allowing you to remain alert<br />
throughout the day. Available in five- or 10-milligram tablets<br />
in the Awakening, Relaxing and Synergy formulas, there<br />
is something for every qualified MMJ patient. Although<br />
the packaging is somewhat reminiscent of birth<br />
control pills, it is also very functional. This discrete<br />
packaging approach makes it easy to medicate<br />
in public for those who have obtained their<br />
scripts so as not to alarm those of a different<br />
lifestyle. If you are new to MMJ, this may<br />
be a good place to start, as the effects<br />
are mild and the doses are light.<br />
COUSIN ANDY’S HARD<br />
CANDY BUTTONS: THE<br />
NIGHTCAP REFRESHER<br />
Cousin Andy’s catalog continues to grow, for<br />
those who are inclined to partake. These affordable<br />
hard candy buttons make a perfect<br />
refreshment for the middle of the day<br />
or for an after-dinner nightcap when<br />
added to your favorite non-alcoholic,<br />
carbonated beverage. There is<br />
a very mild trace of cannabis<br />
flavor when eaten as a hard<br />
candy, but if you are fizzing<br />
it out in a drink, it becomes<br />
even more difficult to detect.<br />
At 50 milligrams per button, this<br />
is a perfect dose for those who have<br />
some experience with MMJ, but aren’t<br />
looking for serious symptom management<br />
on a per serving basis. Enjoy it with a<br />
hearty meal for the perfect balancing act.<br />
CHEEBA CHEWS:<br />
CUT TO THE CHASE<br />
For those looking for a medication that<br />
has the ability to alleviate even the<br />
most severe symptoms, Cheeba<br />
Chews take the cake for strongest<br />
medicinal value in a small-package<br />
size. Each standard chew contains at<br />
least 70 milligrams of medicine, some<br />
being pure THC or CBD, and others offering<br />
a hybrid between the two. Because they are<br />
basically the size of a Tootsie roll, it is hard to split<br />
them up into multiple servings. If you are unsure<br />
about your tolerance, try taking a bite of one before<br />
swallowing it whole. These powerful bites are perfect for<br />
sleep deprived individuals or those who experience severe<br />
pain. The manufacturer has also released a new line of recreational<br />
cannabis edibles in select locations that offer milder<br />
doses for a gentler delivery. Cheeba Chews offer 11 different<br />
products in 800-plus dispensaries and have won three Cannabis<br />
Cup awards, so you know it’s got to be the good stuff.<br />
Lacey Macri works as head of sales at CleanGrow, focusing her<br />
time on business development within the company. She received<br />
a bachelor’s degree in communications and psychology from the<br />
University of California-Davis, where she worked at the California<br />
Aggie student newspaper on campus.<br />
myhydrolife.com grow. heal. live. enjoy. 97
y Gibson Lannister<br />
ADIAM<br />
BLACK WEDDING<br />
Swedish-born, Berlin-based<br />
artist Adiam is stunning<br />
everyone with her first fulllength<br />
album Black Wedding.<br />
She is a musical bumblebee<br />
collecting honey from many<br />
flowers, creating something<br />
new. Black Wedding is<br />
transfixing and memorable;<br />
it’s an experience from<br />
beginning to end.<br />
5<br />
AGES & AGES<br />
SOMETHING TO RUIN<br />
Chilled out indie pop rockers<br />
Ages & Ages remain at the<br />
forefront of their craft with<br />
their third album Something<br />
To Ruin. The band’s raw<br />
choral sound causes an<br />
unrelenting desire to sing out<br />
loud. Spark one up and sing<br />
along, won’t you?<br />
4.5<br />
LAUREN MANN<br />
DEARESTLY<br />
After a four-year hiatus,<br />
Canadian singer/songwriter<br />
Lauren Mann surprised her<br />
fans with an incredible followup<br />
to her critically acclaimed<br />
debut album. With Dearestly,<br />
Lauren has dropped the<br />
extended moniker “& the Fairly<br />
Odd Folk”, keeping things<br />
simple. Dearestly is a true<br />
masterpiece and will hopefully<br />
be recognized as such.<br />
5<br />
Gibson Lannister has<br />
been a musician for<br />
more than 15 years and<br />
continues to expand his<br />
knowledge of theory<br />
and technique.<br />
OH PEP!<br />
STADIUM CAKE<br />
Australian folk-pop duo Oh<br />
Pep! have released their<br />
debut LP Stadium Cake, and<br />
it is awesome! Far-reaching<br />
and relentlessly catchy, Oh<br />
Pep! deliver in a way that<br />
progresses and expands the<br />
genre. We all deserve music<br />
like this in our lives.<br />
4.5<br />
POLYMATH<br />
PLYMTH<br />
Pol-y-math // noun – a person<br />
of wide-ranging knowledge or<br />
learning. PLYMTH is the debut<br />
EP of alternative electronic<br />
group POLYMATH. They are<br />
a musical collective centered<br />
around two permanent<br />
members: Logan Carroll and<br />
Tanner Corley. PLYMTH is<br />
bright and shiny, the way<br />
something new should be.<br />
4.5<br />
TERRA LIGHTFOOT<br />
EVERY TIME MY MIND<br />
RUNS WILD<br />
Terra Lightfoot is my new<br />
rock and roll hero! There<br />
is something astoundingly<br />
potent about Every Time My<br />
Mind Runs Wild. Terra dips<br />
her toes in a bit of everything:<br />
rock, folk, soul, country and<br />
blues. I can only imagine how<br />
good her live shows must be.<br />
4.5<br />
98<br />
grow. heal. live. enjoy.<br />
myhydrolife.com