Introducing "Perfect," a premium entourage blend of super terpy cannabis from Michael Backes. This is next level high end weed.

If there were an award for the High End Weed I’d vote for Perfect, a “premium entourage blend” of whole flower cannabis flower made by the author and innovator Michael Backes.

Backes -- author, innovator and cannabis connoisseur -- contends that when cannabis is cured and processed many of the most interesting and delicate terpenes (those powerful smell molecules that direct the high) are lost to heat and air. He has invented a process that takes a page from Bird’s Eye frozen vegetables: It extracts the terps right off the plant under refrigerated conditions, then freezes them in sticky liquid known as “sauce.” Once the buds are cured, the sauce is then added back and the result is a beautiful, rich blend comparable to the finest champagnes or Cuban cigars. “Most of us have never felt the full effect of the terpenes on the plant,” Backes says. “The cold infusion restores the entourage and delivers ten times the terps you’ll find in any other product on the shelf."

Besides flavor, there’s another potentially revolutionary benefit from this “UltraFresh” processing method: It enables reliable and consistent highs that are free from side-effects like paranoia and morning-after fog. This is unheard of. No cannabis is predictable—it’s part of the plant's surprise, delight, and occasional disappointment—but this episode explains how controlled refrigeration eliminates these variables.

At the moment there are three Perfect blends:

Happy Camper is Perfect's version of giggle weed

Pick me Up delivers a quick jolt of energy

Nightcap helps you chill.

The next two in development are SexPot (high in limonene which creates a mild psychedelic effect to “open the heart and encourage yoking”) and Brainstorm to spark association and improvisation. (Michael, I hereby volunteer to to try every single one.)

None of this comes cheaply—one “Perfecto” pre-roll cost $25 (and will only be found in the refrigerated section of a dispensary). It contains 1.5 grams of flower which Backes says is the equivalent to 1/8 of an ounce. He also swears it tastes amazing when relighted--unheard of. As renown cannabis expert and author Robert Connell-Clarke, succinctly put it, “If pre-rolls tasted like this, I’d smoke em.”

So listen to this podcast and check out the products here. And if you’re in California and can snag a Perfecto, definitely let us know if it is as perfect as its promise.

Nota bene: We rarely feature products on this podcast without sampling them but thanks to Covid-19 my travel plans to California were scuttled. But Michael has always been a cutting edge investigator, dedicated educator and generous mentor always worth paying attention to.

This episode is brought to you by the great folks at Summit 420, the "Best of the Best" business event in the Young President's Organization. Learn more at www.ypo.org/Summit4202020

Will CBD hurt my liver? Does it interfere with other drugs? Why's it making me high? How can I trust what's on the label?

In the last months the winds of backlash have been swirling around risks of using CBD and the ‘hidden’ side effects. On one hand, the attacks makes sense: Almost magically CBD appeared in the market about ten ago and almost immediately manufacturer’s began making all sorts of equally magical claims about it. It helps you sleep! Stops epileptic seizures! Eases your dog’s arthritis! Erases the frown lines! A product that treats the symptoms of so many illnesses with zero side effects sounded too good to be true and in fact, some of it wasn’t true, especially the claims about it having absolutely no side effects or risks. But the more recent reports about the “toxicity” of CBD or the way it can “damage our livers in the same ways as alcohol and other drugs” are equally and ridiculously false. Dr. Michelle Shuffett, VP of Scientific Research and Communications at Columbia Care, helps us make sense of this.

Part 2 of this episode is a new format we’re experimenting with. Dr. Mary Clifton, a colleague and new friend, agreed to do an on-air patient consultation with a listener named Jules, who has suffered with debilitating insomnia for over 30 years. Dr. Clifton, is a board-certified, licensed, internal medicine physician, author, and the founder of CBDandCannabisInfo.com. She agreed to try out this format in hopes of giving the listeners of this podcast and insider view into the challenges and benefits of prescribing cannabinoid meds and the need to educate patients about how to use them to ensure positive outcomes.

Have a listen and let us know your thoughts.

This episode is brought to you by the great folks at Summit 420, the "Best of the Best" business event in the Young President's Organization. Learn more at www.ypo.org/Summit4202020

Ben Chiarelli is the founder and CEO of Cellibre, a cellular agriculture company that is engineering cells to manufacture cannabinoids at industrial scale. Soon they'll be as prevalent and as inexpensive as vitamins. But at what cost?

What if I were to tell you that in the next five years medicines and supplements made with cannabinoids will be 1/10th the price -- that $60 bottle of CBD will cost $6. They’ll be labeled “organic” or “natural” and they’ll deliver consistent measurable doses -- no more take a half a dropper and see what happens. And that all this will go a long way to diminishing the stigma currently associated with cannabis-based medicines—that that they’re for stoners or will lower IQ, permanently kill memory cells or drive you to harder drugs (all unfounded myths, btw).

Now, what if I told you that these inexpensive cannabinoids will not be coming from a plant grown in the ground and fed by water and sun. That they are being industrially developed in a lab and will be produced in vats by biologists who are engineering the genetic structure of microbes like algae, yeast or E. Coli so that they produce and excrete cannabinoids. (That’s right, algae poop. If what the algae is fed is organic, the FDA may deem its excrement “natural” or “organic” no matter what is done to modify its genetic code). That they will being fermented in huge, 10,000 liter steel containers the size of grain silos. Oh, and if this sounds unimaginable consider that most of the vitamins you take today are made exactly in the same way. (You don’t really think there is enough cod in the ocean to produce all of that DHA Omega 3 fish oil do you?) And that this method of product could save billions of dollars in energy costs since indoor grows will soon be going the way of the coal fired steel factory).

All of this is underway. There are at least 20 well-funded cellular agriculture companies currently bio-engineering cannabinoids, and this podcast features Ben Chiarelli, CEO and founder of Cellibre, based in San Diego, CA.

To me, the implications of industrially produced cannabinoids are in equal parts thrilling and terrifying. The idea of Monsanto getting its claws into cannabis and creating GMO crops – Armageddon or at the very least, Soylent Green to many aficionados – is not a calming thought. And this new approach using microbes to make these medicines may be even more off putting. At the same time affordable cannabinoid meds will be a blessing to people with chronic illnesses. Remember, a month’s supply of the CBD you’re using today costs more than your leased car. And if they create predictable, clean and measurable formulations, well, that’s a future that most health care providers and patients would welcome.

Please listen to this podcast and let me know what you think. Send comments to [email protected]. I’m going to be exploring this topic for a long time – it’s a big one -- and I’m just starting to get my mind around it.

It’s not often I ask two strangers if they’d like to come on air to reveal how they use substances to spark up their sex and intimate lives. But as soon as I asked, Charlie and Shelley Wininger said "Yes!"

Meet Charley and Shelley Wininger. He’s 70 and an author and psychotherapist. She’s 68, a retired RN. They’ve been married for 20 years yet they claim their sex life has never been more charged. He’s having full body orgasms. Hers are getting more powerful the older she gets—half the time they “knock Charley out of bed.” Their secret? Cannabis (and other substances)…and a little dark chocolate.

I ran into this couple last year at a MAPS conference (Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies) through a friend who suggested I broach this topic with them. It’s not often I ask two strangers if they’d like to come on air to reveal how they use substances to spark up their sex and intimate lives but I did, and they jumped!

Some topics we cover include:

How to lose your mind to discover your senses

How cannabis can counter the diminished libido of menopause

What’s better Sativa, Indica or Hybrid?

Why Spotify is better for sex than Amazon Music

The double edged sword of using MDMA to enhance sex

And how you tell your kids that you’re about to come out about the way you use substances to heat up your sex on a weed podcast heard around the world

Whether you’re 70 or 27, I suggest you share this episode with your friends, parents and grandparents—I promise it’ll add a little spark your next intergenerational family gathering.

Bonus: MDMA Harm Reduction Protocol

(courtesy of Erowid and clinical practitioners)

These substances are available in health food stores and on Amazon

6 hours before you roll

200 mgs Magnesium Glycinate

1 glass grapefruit juice

1-3 hours before

100 mg Na-R-ALA

200 mg Magnesium Glycinate

1000 mg Vitamin C

100 mg Grape Seed extract

30 mins before

1 Tums/Rolaids (increases stomach alkalinity which prolongs the roll)

2 hours after dosing

100 mg Na-R-ALA

200 mg Magnesium Glycinate

1000 mg Vitamin C

100mg Grape Seed Extract

4 hours after dosing

100 mg Na-R-ALA

Following 3-5 nights

100 mg 5HTP

400 mg EGCG (Green tea extract)

This episode is brought to you by the 5th annual 420 Summit, which being held in beautiful San Francisco April 24 and 25. This is the most interesting and cutting edge Cannabis Conference I’ve ever attended. For the last two years, Summit 420 has been awarded the “Best of the Best” Business event in YPO, so if you’re a YPO member or among the cannacurious I urge you to register now.

You’ll get the inside track on new investment possibilities, ground breaking technologies and compelling research projects. There will be live seminars on how to taste terpenes. You can sample an incredible dinner prepared by the finest cannabis chefs in the Bay Area. You’ll attend a ganja yoga class or visit with some of the most successful businesses leaders in the world’s largest cannabis market. This year Ethan Nadelmann, founder of the Drug Policy Alliance and a key player in pushing California to legalize in 1996, will be kicking off the proceedings with a keynote on “The New War on Vaping” and how it is echoing the failed War on Drugs.

Space is limited so be sure to register for this incredible event now at www.ypo.org/Summit4202020. And be sure bring your spouse/partner. This will be one you’ll want to share.

Introducing a new movement dedicated to growing fair trade, environmentally sustainable cannabis that also provides small farmers with the one thing they need to thrive: a lucrative cash crop.

Before introducing this episode I must apologize to Dr. Raphael Mechoulam, who is, apparently, a follower of this podcast. In Episode 70 (“The Strange Cannabis Illness that No One Understands”) I reported that Dr. Mechoulam thought the likely cause of this odd illness was strain or dose dependent. While that was part of what he said, I failed to offer his full explanation, which he made clear to me in an email dated Jan 10, 2020. “Hi, I do not recall stating that cannabinoid hyperemesis is strain dependent. I have published that it is probably an immune-type reaction. See attached.”

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3498425/

Needless to say I’m honored to be corrected by the man known as ‘the OG of Cannabis Research’ and thrilled to know he’s listening. ☺

On this new episode I’m happy to welcome back Jim Plamondon, the co-founder of the Thai Cannabis Corporation who joins us from Thailand to discuss the birth of the “Small Cannabis” movement. The premise is this: as more US states become legal, the price of North American cannabis is going to drop – this is already happening. At the same time as more countries around the globe legalize (Thailand did. Mexico plans to do so this year. India and Colombia are also heading in this direction) it’s crucial to establish a more economically sustainable future for small farmers who have been tending excellent sun-grown heritage strains such as Alcapulco Gold, Panama Red, Thai Stick, for hundreds—maybe thousands—of years.

The first step to this project is organizing a global cannabis supply chain and that is precisely what the Small Cannabis Foundation is designed to do. As more markets open, big industrial scale cannabis currently grown in “greenhouses on the tundra” will flood the market with high potency but not so interesting varieties. Prices will plummet and excellent old world varieties grown in the subtropics will begin to make their way to those who want them. “Big cannabis will become worthless the minute great Thai Stick comes back into the country,” Plamondon contends. “Cocoas of Excellence” is one such program devoted to preserving the diversity of indigenous cocoa strains and at the same time providing income to farmers. Small Cannabis has similar aims.

Plamondon is part dreamer, an essential quality to all visionaries, and part student of history who relies on Adam Smith’s time tested economic insights. As he points out, the cocoa, cotton and vanilla industries were established during the rush to colonize 300-400 years ago. They were wildly successful at enslaving vast numbers of people who depended on subsistence agriculture for their livelihood. Cannabis is one of the few new supply chains -- the internet makes import and fair trade transparent, traceable and enforceable. With good standards in place and a little bit of technology like QR codes and smart phones buyers will be able to know the farmer that cultivated their cannabis and be assured that he -- or in most cases, she -- got her a fair price for her labors, protected the environment and was not exploited along the way.

Jim gives great interview – don’t miss his wit and the broad perspective with which he frames the issues. To learn more, visit www.smallcannabisfoundation.org.

A two-way interview between journalist Patricia Miller and Joe Dolce about the gut-wrenching illness called hyperemesis.A few weeks ago Patricia Miller, associate editor of Cannabis & Tech Today magazine, called to talk about hyperemesis, the strange and increasingly more reported illness that hits some cannabis users hard. Hyperemesis is defined as bouts of cyclical vomiting caused from combusting flower (i.e., smoking a joint), but trust me, what happens is way more painful than simple puking. It’s as if your stomach is being turned inside out – gut wrenching -- and it can last for hours, in extreme cases, days. The few scientific papers on it contend that it is followed by a compulsive desire to take hot showers. In my case I was so wasted after each bout I could barely crawl into bed, let alone stand in a shower. As one who always wants to be first on a trend, I was hit with hyperemesis while reporting Brave New Weed and about a half dozen times in the subsequent two years. I couldn’t understand how a plant that chemotherapy patients use to quell nausea would send me into paroxysms of puking. After months of investigating I never identified the cause but I did learn a lot about the chemistry and biology of the cannabis plant, and turned that into a book. There’s no consensus about what hyperemesis is or what detonates it. Dr. Raphael Mechoulam surmised it is dose or strain related. Others blame pesticides or other chemicals used in cultivation that have not been properly cleared from harvested bud. Others say it’s caused by today’s super strong weed that can clock in at 30% THC. My own experience elides all of these theories. I was smacked down after a fat dab as well as on the very first puff of a joint. As for the quality/variety of the herb, well, I’ve been privileged to inhale some of the finest, organic, sun-grown, pesticide-free weed grown in North America, so quality and variety aren’t the only culprits. Patricia proposed interviewing me about my experiences but I suggested we interview each other in hopes of informing more people who’ve been felled. I don’t think hyperemesis is necessarily a new illness; rather, I suspect more people are reporting it now that legalization has opened up the conversation. Some sufferers I’ve met have quit using completely to avoid any future misery. Personally, I’ve navigated a cautious path and have concluded that the only surefire way of inhaling flower without retching is through vaporization. My untested theory is that there is something in the plant matter itself that triggers the convulsions. Before this interview I asked a few chemists if they had come across any home grown remedies. The only response came from James Curran, who has appeared on Episode 67 of this podcast. He forwarded this study that identifies capsaicin, the fiery ingredient in cayenne pepper, as a possible antidote because it interferes with the biochemical triggering. And here’s a link to Miller’s report. Clearly, there’s more to learn, so if any of you out there in cannabisland have insights, observations or stories to share, let us know.

400 strains, 3 weeks, and they live to talk about it! Behind the scenes with the judges at The Emerald Cup, as they choose the best strain of the year.

For those who don’t know, the Emerald Cup is most exciting Must See (and must-sample) cannabis festival in the world. It’s held every December after the harvest with the aim of crowning the finest sun-grown craft cannabis and products of the year. It’s a mash-up of a science convention, 4H Club gathering and biker convention, all taking place under a sweet cloud of cannabis. It’s where the best and the brightest in the California scene gather to celebrate everything from beautiful flowers to concentrates, to most innovative packaging, to the most delectable edibles, both sweet and savory. The list of categories goes on and on and the innovation and dedication to craft is often mind-boggling and always impressive.

The inaugural Cup was held in 2003 on “Area 101,” the land owned by visionary Mendocino farmer and former event producer Tim Blake. It was, according to one early attendee, “like Woodstock without the mud,” a place where the area’s growers, musicians, and cooks gathered to celebrate the fruits of their labors. Today’s event is a long way away from those humble, homegrown beginnings. Some 30,000 celebrants gather on the sprawling Santa Rosa Fairgrounds. While the vibe is more regulated and less freewheeling -- gone are the pound bags being sold under the table --there are also a good deal of high-minded activities, such as seminars on regenerative agriculture and criminal justice.

I’ve always wondered how any group of judges, no matter their dedication and experience, can sample so many strains and still live to talk about it. For the answer, I got Swami Chaitanya and Nikki Lastreto, self-described as “friends, spouses, spiritual brethren and business and land partners, to join us on this week’s podcast. Swami and Nikki grow and harvest their own Swami’s Select flowers on their Ganja Ma farm in Bell Springs, one of the premier cannabis appellations in Mendocino Country. For years they have been leaders in the sun grown, organic cannabis movement, bringing the idea of premium cannabis into the wider world. In this conversation they explain the intricacies of selecting this year’s Emerald Cup winner.

The CEO (Cosmic Engagement Officer) of Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps, on how hemp (and psychedelics) can make America great again.

I’ve used Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps for years, but never understood just how progressive/impressive the company that turns out products with thousands of tiny words crowding its labels was. I remember the company as a sort of hippie outlier, but today it’s a paragon of a movement known as Constructive Capitalism. This is largely the brainchild of the company’s Cosmic Engagement Officer (CEO), David Bronner.

So I was pleased when David, 37, agreed to do this podcast from his home in Vista, California. Here are some fun facts to set the stage:

David, who has a BA in Biology from Harvard, has grown the company from $4M a year to over $122M in 2018. Under his (and his family’s) stewardship, Dr. Bronner’s has donated $60M to causes related to drug policy reform, animal rights, sustainable agriculture, fair trade practices, and over $5 million to ending cannabis prohibition. In September 2019 the company donated a matching grant of $150K to Oregon’s statewide ballot initiative to legalize psilocybin assisted therapy.

Another target of Bronner’s activism has been advocating for the US hemp industry. In 2001, Dr. Bronner’s funded a lawsuit against the DEA to prevent a ban of hemp food sales in the US. In 2009, he was arrested for planting hemp seeds on the lawn of the DEA. In 2012, he was arrested again for harvesting hemp and milling the oil while locked in a metal cage in front of the White House. He clearly understands the need for underscoring donations with dramatic action.

Dr. Bronner’s is a leader of the “constructive capitalism” movement. Over half of the company’s 226 employees are people of color and/or women; over 40% of managers are PoCs or women. The starting salaries average $18.71 and hour, 170% higher than California’s average wage and Bronner caps his salary at 5 times that of the lowest earner. Ten percent of the company’s revenue is donated to charitable causes (all of which are listed publicly) and their stated goal is to offset all of their carbon emissions by 2023. Rather than marketing, they invest in the causes they believe in. In other words, it’s perfectly possible for companies to do well and to do good.

If that intrigues you, download and share this interview. And please, if you enjoy this Podcast for the Post-Prohibition era and can afford to support us, please visit Patreon to contribute. We rely on the generosity of our listeners and like-minded companies to keep going.

If you want to know the secrets of the plant, talk to a plant scientist (or a shaman). This interview with phytochemist James Curran will make you reevaluate everything you thought you knew about cannabis – and appreciate how much more there is to learn.

I’ve found that cannabis, like many plant medicines, seems to select certain people at a very young age and cast a spell over them. That may sound woo-woo to you, but in the cannabis world, there are people who somehow, perhaps by divine intervention, make the plant their calling. They may not have a PhD from Harvard, or work in a research facility, but they are self taught experts and apply a great deal of science and erudition to their study of the plant. James Curran is one of those special people.

Curran is a phytochemist who has been investigating cannabis for the last decade, both personally and professionally. I originally called him because I wanted some some help cutting through the veil of hype surrounding so many new products and technologies on the market. How much more effective really are the new “water soluble” beverages at the moment? Does “nano-emulsification” truly deliver cannabinoids into the bloodstream more quickly? Can manufacturers buy terpenes off the shelf and simply add them into products to increase their efficacy, as so many are claiming? And what on earth is the difference between Delta 8 THC and Delta 9 THC (and where can I get some)?

James had the answers to these and other questions. But this interview gets really buzzy when he revealed that he has an extraction method that allows him to harvest fresh terpenes from fresh cannabis. Being a scientist who uses his own body as a laboratory, he has ingested just 1mg of these fresh terps and reports that just a small amount of Alpha-pinene produced “25 minutes of a near psychedelic experience.” Until now, I believed that terps help direct the high -- but his report, and that of others indicates that THC isn’t the full story, that terps act collaboratively to cause the high. Listen in to learn more.

If you want to contact James to talk about these and other issues, including remediation for “hot hemp” find him at [email protected].

Seth Ginsberg, co-founder of CreakyJoints.org and the ArthritisPower app on how patients and health care providers can get more info about using medical cannabis for their pains.

Medical cannabis is on the rise. Over 30 states have legal programs and CBD is more popular than God (at least in number of Google searches). But because the Feds classify the plant as a Schedule 1 drug, there are scant robust trials about efficacy. This leaves both patients and health care providers at a loss for verifiable scientific evidence.

Lack of clinical data hasn’t stopped patients from using medical cannabis, especially for pain and arthritis related conditions. According to the online community CreakyJoints.org, over half of arthritis sufferers have tried MMJ or CBD but only 2/3 of them have told their health care providers about it. For those who did talk to medical providers, over half said that they were offered no advice or dosing recommendations. At the same time, over 90 percent of respondents believe that cannabis or CBD improves their symptoms. That’s too high a number to attribute to placebo effect alone.

This week’s interview features Seth Ginsberg, co-founder of CreakyJoints and the Global Healthy Living Foundation. GHLF has also built an app called ArthritisPower that offers peer-to-peer support and patient-centered research on the different types of arthritis. The sites are now getting about 10,000 visitors a day -- not surprising given that over 50M people in the US suffer with pain or arthritis. (Seth is one of them. When he was 13 he was diagnosed with Spondyloarthropathy, a form of arthritis that essentially robbed him of his youth but catapulted him into the advocacy world. He is now in remission.)

Although he’s pro medical cannabis, Seth is not a user. As you’ll hear in this interview, his opinions and mine occasionally bump up against each other in uncomfortable ways. He’s not afraid to disagree, and that’s a good thing: Friendly disagreement is the fertile soil from which delicious things grow.

To learn more, check out:

CreakyJoints.org -- an amazing online community full of valuable information for people with all forms of arthritis and pain.

ArthritisPower -- a free app that allows patients with rheumatoid arthritis to track symptoms and shares that anonymized data with health care providers so that both can make better treatment decisions.