Revisiting Weed 101

THC, CBD, indica, sativa, delta-8... cannabis can be a bit complicated. We dive into the basics of weed, and hash out the changing landscape of cannabis.

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Marissa: Welcome to the Last Call Podcast. My name is Marissa Whitaker, and I'm the prevention educator at SUNY Courtland.

Sarah: My name is Sarah McGowan. I'm the assistant Director of Student Health and Wellness at Onondaga Community College. Our jobs are to educate students about potential risks associated with substance use.

Marissa: We approach substance use from a neutral stance, and our episodes are rooted in public health with a focus on science and harm reduction.

Sarah: In today's episode of Weed 101, we are going to be doing a deep dive into all things cannabis. Mary, do you want to start us off today?

Marissa: Like Sarah said, all things cannabis come from the cannabis sativa plant. So within that, there are subspecies under the cannabis umbrella. So there's cannabis sativa, cannabis indica, and cannabis router. Alice so the appearance and the characteristics and even the effects from each plant vary within each subspecies. So the sativas tend to have that more uplifting and euphoric effect, indicas more sedative and actually rude. Alice probably not something many people have heard of that actually produces low and almost nonexistent levels of THC. And it's a poor yield in terms of crops, so that's not typically grown.

Sarah: When I'm talking to college students or other professionals is that I have them think of each one and ways to remember. So for sativa, I have them think of as for stimulant. So typically sativa, like you said, have more uplifting or euphoric properties and then indica a way that you can think of that is indica. Typically, people are in the couch or they're kind of lazy, more relaxed, and those depending on the type of high that people are looking for, they tend to lean towards one stern or the other. And then we also have hybrid, which is a combination of both of the two.

Marissa: And so that's a good segue into where I'm going next is within those subspecies indicates in sativa there's different strains. So I always find this really interesting when people are like, oh, this is lemon haze. I'm like, did you do like, a CFI analysis? I mean, we don't know the 100% strain profile of OG Kush. So when people have these different strains, I kind of think of it like genealogy. You might think you're 100% Italian, but that day that you find out you're only 85%, cannabis strains are sort of like that, too. So there's not one thing that's 100% pure within that cannabinoid profile.

Sarah: Again, your drug dealer telling you that this is an OG Kush. They could just be calling anything OG Kush. That doesn't mean that it's actually that very good point.

Marissa: And we can't develop accurate profiles to what these strains are or really even accurate dosing until there's a regulated and tested cannabis market. And you can't have regulated cannabis with how it's currently scheduled as a schedule one drug. Tell me a little more, Sarah. What is the FDA's role in this process?

Sarah: Because the FDA has not approved the cannabis plant for any medical use. Specifically, there hasn't been a lot of research done on the cannabis that's available today in legalized market. So it's really interesting when you think about the high potency THC that we have now and all of the various forms and the lack of research that has been done around not only long term effects, but short term effects that these more potent THC products have and could have in the future. So when we think about the medicinal market, there have only been two cannabis containing drugs that have been approved medically for conditions like cancer or epilepsy. It's also important to look at the marketing that the cannabis industry does. They do a really great job marketing cannabis for every single condition out there, from migraines to depression to seizures. But again, there hasn't been enough medical research done on these things to truly say that using cannabis can help versus hurt.

Marissa: And that's not to say that it may not help with these situations, but just what you said, Sarah, until there's enough research done to say anything either way. And actually, here's a really cool recommendation. Have you ever seen or heard of the show Explained on Netflix?

Sarah: I have, yeah.

Marissa: So there's one, it's in the first season, it's on weed and it was so interesting and they cover a lot of the things that we just talked about. I really recommend that to people to listen to.

Sarah: One thing that I just kind of wanted to add, Marissa, and I know that you've said this quite a bit, but with any medicine that you're taking, I think a lot of the time we hear weed is a plant, it's not bad for you. What's the worst that it can do? So if you're thinking of weed as a plant or like medicine, that might be fine, but with any medication that you're taking you're outweighing that the pros will benefit you versus the cons that could come from taking that medication. So again, it's always important to kind of think through all of that completely. You might be taking this as medicine, but what are the consequences that could potentially come from that?

Marissa: That's so true. All medicines have side effects, whether that's advil that you're taking antidepressants weed too. So yes, it could be used medicinally to help some people, but that person has to take a look at some of those side effects and how does that interact with their life.

Sarah: So next, I guess we'll kind of jump into cannabinoid. So it's really interesting because cannabinoid receptors are naturally found in the body, so that's the first thing to kind of think about. And there are over 100 plus cannabinoids, but we most often hear about THC and CBD. So for the most part, other cannabinoids don't get you high. So THC stands for Tatra hydrocannabinol, which is a psychoactive component that makes you feel high. CBD stands for cannabidiol and it's a non psychoactive, almost anti psychoactive. So CBD in the correct form will not get you high THC, kind of the whole Euphoric type high feeling. There's also a synthetic cannabinoid, so that could be pens, concentrates, even Delta Eight. And it's interesting when we think about synthetics, it is sold a lot of the time in gas stations or other places. But what it is, is it's potpourri. And it's sprayed with different types of chemicals that are very inconsistent containing ingredients. So you could have two packages of the same exact type of synthetic, but inside they are chemically completely different. They're not regulated very unsafe. The chemicals are being changed constantly and you have no idea what's been done to those synthetics.

Marissa: Yeah. So that's not to say smoke all the weed that you want if it's not a synthetic, but on a lot of levels, from a harm reduction standpoint, synthetics are a lot more dangerous than cannabis that is occurring naturally.

Sarah: One thing that we did talk about a little bit earlier was marketing. And the marketing that they're doing for synthetics is really kind of scary because they're marketing it with things that really appeal to kids, like pictures of cartoons.

Marissa: Right. They're named after cereals. Do you think that Lucky Charms is in cahoots with the weed industry? Heart healthy cheerios. If there's something that, especially from a trademark point of view, you're not going to have those Mario carts. That's not legit. Do you think Nintendo again has money into the weed industry and they're putting out synthetic cartridges?

Sarah: Absolutely. You bring up another really good point about cartridges when you think that you're consuming concentrates on a vape pen. Where did that cartridge come from and what exactly is in it? This is kind of a reoccurring theme that we do talk about on our podcast. But you don't know what's in any drug you take.

Marissa: Yeah, and I do, I ask students, I'm like, do you know where your drugs come from? And I get a side eye a lot. I'm like, I'm not asking for anyone's name, but do you know where they got it and where did that person get it and how far up the chain does it go? Do you know where your weed comes from?

Sarah: So, kind of going along with what we just talked about to Moris in terms of synthetic, there is a new type of cannabis product that is becoming more and more widely available and it's Delta Eight. And it's really interesting because right now, even though cannabis is legal in New York, like we've talked about, you still can't really sell it. But people are finding loopholes and selling Delta Eight in places where they're selling CBD. So when we think about Delta Eight, delta Eight has been marketed as like a diet weed. So people say that Delta Eight is supposed to be less potent than traditional cannabis compound Delta Nine, just as Sarah.

Marissa: Said, that legalization can be really hazy and that's a huge risk, especially because you're getting an unregulated product, something that's not been tested on. I've got to admit I'm super into cannabis research and it seems like out of nowhere Delta Eight has been available overnight. And that's not to say we had never heard of Delta Eight before, but it definitely hasn't been as accessible and available to people.

Sarah: It's really interesting to Morris, and I don't know if you've seen this kind of where you live and around your area, but CBD stores have been popping up everywhere and you don't find very many that are actually third party lab testing the products that they're selling. So when you're telling people that they're getting the healing properties of CBD, unless you actually see a third party lab test that CBD could be nothing and could have none of the healing properties that you're looking for or intending when you're consuming those products that that place is selling.

Marissa: And that takes away from the legitimate medical advances that cannabis is making for people that have found benefits from it. So when you can get CBD at the tanning salon as well as the Dollar store as well as your local laundromat, that's also problematic and not an effective way to be changing what perceptions are around the medical use of cannabis.

Sarah: It's really interesting too. So just for research type purposes. I've gone into several of the CBD stores that are located around where I live and even talking to the different workers about dosing and what they believe should be the correct dosing amount vary so much and you truly wonder the type of education that these people are receiving in order to give hope to others about treating certain specific conditions like these aren't doctors working in these places. These are sales people trying to sell you as much of a product as they possibly can.

Marissa: It's a business partnership, not necessarily a medical dispensary where you're having people trained with cannabis knowledge and dosing with people. So we've just talked extensively about some of the science of cannabis. So let's talk a little bit about some of the ways that it's consumed. So we have the most obvious ways that people smoke weed. Someone can also vape it so they could vape the flower or the buds, but they can also be vaping the concentrates. So that's where you have like your dab rigs, your THC pens that's typically vaping concentrates. People can also take it sublingly or under the tongue and that's used a lot for people that use it for medicinal reasons, maybe they have some mobility limitations and so it's used a lot that way. And also for a lot of medicinal consumers, they use it transdermally as a patch onto the skin. And so with all the different ways that people can use cannabis, I think we have to change how we talk about it too, because you could ask someone, do you smoke weed? And they say no, not at all. But they could be vaping it, or they could be taking edibles. So as the ways that people can use cannabis changes, I think the dialogue around it has to change, too. So, Sarah, tell us a little about edibles.

Sarah: Sure, Maria. Edibles are becoming kind of more and more popular. And it's really interesting when we think of edibles in the legalized market that I've been doing it for a while, I think you can assume that you're getting more accurate type of dosing, but it's also important to think of the non legalized market and how accurate right now, especially in New York State, the dosing of those edibles are. We've kind of talked about harm reduction from an edible standpoint, but a lot of the time, the serving size of edibles is not really accurate to the way that people would actually consume the product. So you have a whole cookie, and the whole cookie contains 100 mg of THC. So typically, most people would not want to consume 100 mg of THC at one time. So you're supposed to, in theory, cut up that cookie into ten different pieces. Now, I don't know about all of you, but the last time I ate a cookie, I didn't cut it up into ten different pieces and make sure that every piece was specially portioned out to give me the exact serving size that I was looking for. People don't really eat like that, and they don't think of serving sizes of any food type of product in that way. So if you have a Hershey bar, you don't typically just eat one square of a Hershey bar. You eat the whole Hershey bar. So when thinking about edibles, that's also a big deal and something that people don't always understand if you're making it at home. That also adds a different aspect, because you don't know how much THC is in every piece or every bite of the brownie that you're consuming, and you try to do the best job that you possibly can. And also, the other interesting thing about edibles is that it takes longer for it to kick in in your system. So people end up consuming more because they want the same effects that they feel when they smoke weed, which is instantaneous, and you feel the effects almost immediately. With consuming edibles, it takes longer for it to kick in. And so you're waiting for that high, waiting for that high, and you're like, let me just consume more. And by the time you're actually feeling the effects now, you've consumed more probably.

Marissa: Than you should have, and then that will kick in even later. And that's all because the body metabolizes or breaks down edibles differently than it breaks down THC that's combustible or smoked. So I'm glad that you just broke it down. Like, that very helpful for people who may be edible consumers.

Sarah: One other thing that I just kind of want to throw out to Morris is that it's really interesting when you look at the legalized market, because there are so many additional products that have come onto the market that contain THC or CBD type products. And one of the things that I found interesting is that now there's even, like, a THC containing makeup primer. So it's like, raised that you wouldn't even think to use. Cannabis are just popping up onto the market, I think, because they're making a hot product and people are interested.

Marissa: Oh, my God. By the time you get to your mascara, is that found at Alta? I'm not living cool. So to sum everything up, cannabis is always changing. It's a very complex substance, and we're learning more information all the time. So, yes, there's a lot of really fascinating research out there, but there really needs to be more research to be sure that we're positive about the precise effects of cannabis. As a lot of information from the about cannabis is very outdated and has changed, I'm really curious to see how accurate this information will be in another five or ten years as we're learning more things. So one thing I love about this job is it's always changing. So to be continued as far as cannabis goes.

Sarah: Absolutely. And I think to be relevant and good at your job in this field, it's important to stay up on things like the research and the up and coming trends. So while we may have covered only a tiny bit of the whole picture, this is kind of what we look at as being the most important and most relevant in our field because so thank you all so much for joining us on this episode, and we will see you next week. Bye.