CannMed Coffee Talk

Kyle R.L. Baker is the CSO and Co-Founder of EcoBuds and CleanTheory. He founded the companies based upon a deep understanding and experience in socio-technical design and econometric modeling and their application to disease mitigation.  As a cannabis entrepreneur, Kyle focuses his attention on scientific verification methods and weighted decision-making to ensure the end-to-end delivery of clean and compliant cannabis to consumers, most notably medical patients. 

Clean cannabis is one of the biggest challenges facing growers. Microbes, viruses, and pests can devastate cannabis and hemp crops, greatly reducing product quality and yield. Growers must also meet state-mandated testing requirements for microbial contamination before the product can be sold in a dispensary.  

During our conversation we discuss: 

The different types of pests and pathogens and how they affect growers’ yield and product qualityWhy many disease and pest management solutions used in food do not apply to cannabisHow overly onerous testing requirements can force growers to irradiate productThe risks and downsides of irradiation and remediationCommon sources of contamination in cannabis growsSteps growers can take to prevent pest and disease in their facilities

Thanks to This Episode’s Sponsor: Medicinal Genomics

Medicinal Genomics uses its unmatched knowledge into the cannabis genome and the microbes that impact cannabis plants to create a diverse set of testing solutions that improve crop yield, accelerate breeding, and ensure product safety.

MGC’s PathoSEEK® qPCR Detection Assays are trusted by the top cannabis testing labs for microbial compliance testing and growers also trust PathoSEEK to screen crops for harmful pathogens.

Learn more at medicinalgenomics.com

Additional Resources

CLEANTheory websiteEPA Website Cannabis Microbial Testing Regulations by StateSubmit an Abstract for CannMed 23Review the Podcast!CannMed ArchiveCannMed Community Board [Facebook Group]Healthcare Provider Medical Cannabis Research Study

Dr. Dale Hunt is a plant scientist, a Cannabis lawyer, and a registered U.S. patent attorney with over 20 years of experience protecting plant varieties in the United States and throughout the world. Dale is the founder of Plant & Planet Law Firm, an Intellectual Property Law practice, where he provides guidance and expertise on patents and IP matters, and aids clients in establishing IP protection for their legal cannabis cultivars, products and businesses.

At CannMed 2022, Dale participated on a panel discussion titled, "The Impacts of Legalization on the Cannabis Legacy & the Need for Solutions to Create A Healthier Industry" where he provided his expertise with regards to how legacy breeders can protect their IP.

This episode's conversation covers:

The different types of patents that can be used to protect cannabis and hemp plants What plant patents cover as well as specific exemptions  How plant patents can be challenged or invalidated The panic that ensued after the Biotech Institute began patenting cannabis plants in 2017 and how it affected the industryThe biggest hurdles that prevent breeders from protecting their plants How breeders can determine which plants are worth patenting 

Thanks to This Episode's Sponsor: Breeder's Best

Breeder's Best is the first company to specialize in licensing patent-protected Cannabis genetics and the only company in the Cannabis space to exclusively serve independent Cannabis breeders. Borne from a desire to help independent Cannabis breeders become and/or remain economically viable and not be left behind in this rapidly changing industry, Breeder’s Best exists to bridge the gap between independent Cannabis breeders and the marketplace using a licensing model proven in horticultural industries.

Learn more at BreedersBest.com

Additional Resources

Dale's Plant Law Blog Submit an Abstract for CannMed 23Review the Podcast!CannMed ArchiveCannMed Community Board [Facebook Group]Healthcare Provider Medical Cannabis Research Study

Dr. Jeff Chen is the Co-founder and CEO of Radicle Science, a health tech company generating history's first dataset and AI to prove and predict the effects of health and wellness products.  Previously, he was the Founder and Exec Director of the UCLA Cannabis Research Initiative.

At CannMed 2022, Dr. Chen presented results for Radicle Health’s ACES study, a randomized clinical trial, involving 13 CBD products and 3,000 participants. The project was possible thanks to Radicle Science’s unique, virtual approach to clinical trials, which removes many challenges that make them expensive and difficult to conduct. 

Topics covered during the conversation include: 

The many challenges associated with performing clinical trials on cannabinoids How a virtual, direct-to-consumer approach overcomes many of those challenges The value brands, manufacturers, and distributors get from clinical trial data Results from the ACES Study, the largest randomized CBD clinical trial in history How Radicle applied lessons learned from ACES study to design the Radicle Spectrum study  Other minor cannabinoids that Radicle Science is investigating and which have the most therapeutic potential 

Thanks to This Episode's Sponsor: Planetarie

Female-founded Planetarie is truly plant-based wellness designed to keep you moving and playing. Planetarie created a water-based, hemp extraction method and built a vertically integrated company with USDA-organic certified products made from that full-spectrum stable CBDa. The answer for plant-based anti-inflammation is found in Nature, beautifully harnessed with science.

Learn more at planetarie.com

Additional Resources

Results of Radicle Science’s ACES Study: Largest Randomized Trial of CBD in History - CannMed 2022 PresentationRadicle Science WebsiteReview the Podcast!CannMed ArchiveCannMed Community Board [Facebook Group]Healthcare Provider Medical Cannabis Research Study

Jini Curry is the laboratory director at Modern Canna Laboratories’ Lakeland, FL facility, where she focuses on developing standardized methods for analyzing cannabis to ensure harmful toxins are not present. Before entering the cannabis industry, Jini gained valuable research experience at several well-respected institutes, including Emory University, the National Institute of Aging, and the University of Florida. Curry recently received her Master’s in Medical Cannabis Science and Therapeutics from the University of Maryland. In addition to running laboratory operations for Modern Canna, Jini is also active in other areas of the cannabis industry. She currently serves on the Scientific Advisory Board for Analytical Cannabis and is a member of the CASP Proficiency Testing Advisory Task Force with AOAC International.

Jini and her team recently performed a study that compared the various methods for testing total yeast and mold. Their results showed that there is very little agreement between the methods, calling into question whether total yeast and mold is even a useful test. 

In this episode we discuss: 

Why states require total yeast and mold testingThe different types of testing methods and how widely the results varyHow labs may not be giving yeast and mold enough time to grow Whether the variance in total yeast and mold testing lead to lab shoppingShould total yeast and mold even be a required test 

Thanks to This Episode's Sponsor: Modern Canna Laboratories

Modern Canna is regarded as Florida’s first medical cannabis laboratory and one of the most trusted third party testing providers in the United States. The company’s mission is to help set the standard for cannabis testing labs worldwide by providing the most accurate and efficient testing services, delivered with a sense of compassion, integrity, and moral obligation; and to attract and attain clients who value quality data that is verifiable, reproducible, and legally defensible. Modern Canna is the only Leafly Certified laboratory in the eastern United States and adheres to the industry’s strictest SOPs and quality control standards. Leafly assesses and selects laboratories based on the latest scientific technology, analytical services offered, inter-laboratory studies, data integrity policies, and the quality control systems in place. Modern Canna offers a wide variety of testing, rapid turnaround times, and consulting services to Florida Medical Marijuana Treatment Centers (MMTC’s) and hemp businesses throughout the US. With over 27,000 sq ft of combined lab testing space and the industry’s most advanced analytical technologies to date, Modern Canna’s facilities are second to none.

For more information visit https://www.moderncanna.com/

Additional Resources:

Total Yeast and Mold Counts with Jini CurryCannabis Testing Labs: What, How, and WhyIs there a correlation between Potency and Nutrients?Are cannabis packaging materials leading to heavy metals leachability?Modern Canna on LinkedInReview the Podcast!CannMed ArchiveCannMed Community Board [Facebook Group]Healthcare Provider Medical Cannabis Research Study

Markus Roggen, President and Chief Scientific Officer at DELIC Labs, is back to discuss the challenges that come with testing psilocybin and psychedelic mushrooms.

Markus has been in the cannabis industry since 2014 and has held several executive positions in analytical and production companies. His research into process optimization and analytical methods has been recognized with a number of awards, and he has become a trusted advisor and mentor to multiple startups, startup accelerators and organizations, including CannMed. At DELIC labs, Markus and his team have spent the past two years developing analytical methods for psilocybin and other psychedelics, which is an emerging medicinal industry that is following in the footsteps of the cannabis industry.  

Our conversation covers the following topics:

The regulations in Canada that make it favorable for psychedelic research What does psilocybin medicine look like and how is it created Whether psilocybin will become a mass-market recreational product How psilocybin analytics differs from cannabinoid analytics The difference between psilocybin and psilocin What types of impurities/contaminants are a concern with psilocybin productsThe process of discovering new tryptamine compounds in psychedelic mushrooms Future research projects (psilocybin extraction and optimal storage conditions)

Thanks to This Episode's Sponsor: Agilent Technologies

Whether you manufacture or test cannabis, you face the challenge of delivering high-quality products, increasing sample volume, and meeting emerging regulations. Agilent offers best-in-class cannabis and hemp analysis solutions featuring robust instruments, software, services, and consumables. Our team of experts can develop, implement, and optimize methods to get you up and running quickly.

Learn more at www.agilent.com/chem/cannabis

Additional Resources

DELIC Labs websiteReview the Podcast! CannMed ArchiveCannMed Community Board [Facebook Group]Healthcare Provider Medical Cannabis Research Study

Heather Grab is a Senior Lecturer at Cornell University’s School of Integrated Plant Science where she delivers best practices for the cultivation and processing of hemp to professionals in Cornell's Hemp Science MPS program. She works with plant breeders, pathologists, biochemists, extension professionals, regulatory officials, and industry partners in New York state and across the globe to translate the latest science and industry insights into a curriculum that covers hemp from soil to sale.

So it should come as no surprise that our conversation covered a wide range of topics related to hemp cultivations. Those topics include:

How Heather got involved in studying hemp Overview of the Cornell University Hemp Research Program Research into IPM in hemp. Finding out which pests are most harmful to outdoor hemp plants The wide variety of hemp varieties that Cornell grows in their field trials and how they prevent male fiber crops from pollinating the cannabinoid-rich plants What is preventing hemp from displacing other legacy crops How pollinators, specifically bees, interact with hemp plants How frost and other stresses affect cannabinoid levels

Thanks to This Episode's Sponsor Conception Nurseries

Conception Nurseries, the world’s largest micropropagation lab, brings proven agricultural technology to cannabis with tissue culture technology (micropropagation). To date, cannabis cultivators have been dependent on mother plants to produce clones – resulting in inconsistent harvests with diluted and uncontrollable traits. Tissue culture technology, which is widely used in industrial agriculture to address the exact problems cannabis cultivators face today, allows Conception to quickly mass-produce identical, disease-free plantlets with customized and consistent characteristics. This reduces cultivators’ operational risks and costs while increasing their revenues and delivering a dependable end-user experience.

For more information, visit conceptionnurseries.com.

Additional Resources

Cornell Hemp FactsheetsHeather Brab LinkedInEffects of Cold Temperature and Acclimation on Cold Tolerance and Cannabinoid Profiles of Cannabis sativa L. (Hemp)CannMed ArchiveCannMed Community Board [Facebook Group]Healthcare Provider Medical Cannabis Research Study

TJ Martin is the VP of R&D at Abstrax, a company that specializes in the research, development, and production of botanically-derived and cannabis-inspired terpenes. TJ and his team recently published a paper that identified a new class of aromatic cannabis compounds called volatile sulfur compounds (VSCs), which are responsible for the signature skunky, gassy smell that is so prominent in certain cannabis cultivars. This was a major breakthrough for their team because as TJ mentions in the conversation, a common criticism of botanical terpenes is that they can’t recreate the signature gas smell of an OG or Gelato. It was that critique that inspired TJ and his team to investigate what they were missing, and lo and behold they found VSCs! 

During our conversation, we discuss: 

Abstrax’s process for recreating flavor profiles for classic cannabis strains How TJ and the team used multidimensional gas chromatography to separate compounds by molecular size and polarity revealing additional compounds How even though VSC concentrations are orders of magnitude lower than terpenes, their effect on our taste and smell is much higher The similarities in structure between cannabis VSCs and VSCs found in garlic (view the figure) and what medicinal implications that discovery may haveAlthough VSCs are an needed to create the skunk, gassy aroma, it is actually a combination of VSCs and other terpenes that makes that signature smell

Thanks to This Episode's Sponsor: Advanced Nutrients. 

Founded in 1999, Advanced Nutrients was the first to develop a complete nutrient system that unlocks the true genetic potential of the cannabis plant. Since its inception, the brand has introduced more than 50 innovations to the cultivation community, and continues to revolutionize the space through proprietary scientific discoveries. 

Learn more at advancednutrients.com 

Additional Resources

AbstraxTech.comIdentification of a New Family of Prenylated Volatile Sulfur Compounds in Cannabis Revealed by Comprehensive Two-Dimensional Gas ChromatographyCannMed ArchiveCannMed Community Board [Facebook Group]Healthcare Provider Medical Cannabis Research Study

We are back with three more conversations that were recorded live on-site at CannMed 2022 in the CannMed Coffee Talk Lounge. First up is Cultivation Keynote Presenter Seth Crawford from Oregon CBD. Seth discussed:

THCV: How it is synthesized in the plant and why it is an important cannabinoid for hemp farmersWhy industrial hemp has not taken off the way some have predicted Oregon CBD’s move into the THC market, offering triploid and tetraploid varieties to cannabis growers.

Next, Ini Afia, Chief Scientific Officer from Cannasafe talked about how he and other California labs are preparing for the Department of Cannabis Control’s efforts to standardize lab testing in the state and crack down on lab shopping. He explains tge problem of lab shopping and how it harms everyone in the industry from consumers to lawmakers. Ini also took part in a panel discussion about cannabis nutrients, so we also briefly talked about how different cannabis cultivars can uptake nutrients differently. 

Finally, Dedi Meiri of the Technion Institute in Israel shared his vision of the future in which medicinal plants and polypharmacology will gain more acceptance from healthcare providers. He also explains why he believes cannabis opened the door for this new possibility. 

Thanks to This Episode's Sponsor: Medicine Women Health

Medicine Women’s team of specialists includes Medical Doctors, Naturopaths, Medical Cannabis Experts, Nutritionists and Alternative Health Practitioners. These integrative teams evaluate health issues and design targeted protocols to promote personal healing. Medicine Women’s Protocols have successfully alleviated symptoms of Cancer, Auto-Immune Diseases and Neurological Conditions, as well as providing overall Health Rejuvenation.

Learn more at medicinewomenhealth.com.

Additional Resources

CannMed Coffee Talk Lounge VideosCannMed ArchiveCannMed Community Board [Facebook Group]Healthcare Provider Medical Cannabis Research Study

CannMed 2022 is officially in the books. Thank you to all our attendees, presenters, sponsors, exhibitors, media partners, and team members behind the scenes who make it all possible. It was great to see everyone in person again and learn about the latest advancements in the field. We discussed novel cannabinoids, new treatment protocols, exciting new advances in breeding and cultivation, stronger safety testing methods and of course, the latest advances in our understanding and use of medicinal mushrooms.

We also had the chance to record interviews with some of our presenters in the CannMed Coffee Talk Lounge that we had set up at the venue. Today's episode will feature three of those conversations. The first is with Science Keynote presenter Ethan Russo, MD. The second is with presenter and medical practicum instructor Eloise Theisen, NP. And last but certainly not least is Medicine Keynote, Medical Practicum Instructor, and CannMed staple Bonni Goldstein, MD.  Each conversation is 10-15 minutes long and we talk about the value of in-person meetings, such as CannMed, as well as details about each of their presentations.

Thanks to This Episode's Sponsor: Medicine Women Health

Medicine Women’s team of specialists includes Medical Doctors, Naturopaths, Medical Cannabis Experts, Nutritionists and Alternative Health Practitioners. These integrative teams evaluate health issues and design targeted protocols to promote personal healing. Medicine Women’s Protocols have successfully alleviated symptoms of Cancer, Auto-Immune Diseases and Neurological Conditions, as well as providing overall Health Rejuvenation.

Learn more at medicinewomenhealth.com.

Additional Resources

CannMed Coffee Talk Lounge Videos CannMed ArchiveCannMed Community Board [Facebook Group]Healthcare Provider Medical Cannabis Research Study

Dr. Kevin Spelman returns to discuss what research has been done on the minor cannabinoids. The major cannabinoids, Delta-9 THC and CBD, have gotten most of the attention when it comes to cannabis medicine research. But we know that cannabis medicine is a team effort, and there are a variety of compounds that contribute to the entourage effect, including terpenoids, flavonoids, stilbenoids, and minor cannabinoids.

Kevin has a wealth of knowledge when it comes to medicinal plant, nutraceutical, and cannabinoid research and has authored 29 peer-reviewed publications on medicinal plants. Over the last 30 years, he has coordinated new product development, formulated product lines, and advised on analytical and QC guidelines, research activity, and educational curriculums for industry and universities. Kevin is also an instructor on the CannMed 2022 Medical Practicum. 

During our conversation we discuss: 

Most of the research into minor cannabinoids is pre-clinical and in isolation, which means our understanding of how they contribute to the entourage effect is largely unknown  The different classes of cannabinoids (neutral, acids, and varins) How different forms of cannabinoids can sometimes have an opposite effect on cell receptors. For example THCA vs THCV. What minor cannabinoids consumers can look for in products A recap of what is known about the major, minor cannabinoids (CBG, CBN, CBC, THCA, CBDA, THCV, and CBDV)

Thank You to This Episode's Sponsor: The Cannigma

The Cannigma is a cannabis education site that’s committed to making sure scientific information about cannabis is accessible to anyone who needs it – be it to relieve their own suffering or that of a loved one, to learn a bit more, or even just for fun. The site takes an evidence-based approach to every issue surrounding cannabis – from safety to cooking to medical research – and makes all of that information digestible and useful.

Learn more at cannigma.com. 

Additional Resources

The Spelman ReportphytochemKS.comCannMed ArchiveCannMed Community Board [Facebook Group]Healthcare Provider Medical Cannabis Research Study