Category Archives: Success Stories

GMO, Green Business, medicinals, Science, Success Stories, video

Organic Hemp Products

Intelligent Nutrients
Intelligent Nutrients
Horst Rechelbacher
Horst Rechelbacher

Organic Cosmetics
Founder of Aveda Products and Intelligent Nutrients, Horst is both a visionary business leader in the field of cosmetics and ecopreneur that has long been a proponent of organic ingredients in all his products. He applies his eastern teachings and philosophy of wholeness and smart earth policies to how he runs his business.

hemp body care products
hemp body care products

Hemp Oil Body Care
SPOKANE, Wash. — Maija Szymanowski works at a stand at Pike Place Market Thursday, Feb. 6, 2014 in Seattle that sells body-care products including lotions, salves, and serums made in Washington state with hemp that is grown in Canada. With recreational marijuana use now legal in Washington, state legislators are discussing whether the state should also launch an industrial hemp industry.

Medical_Marijuana-1medical-fda

Medical cannabis has several potential beneficial effects. Cannabinoids can serve as appetite stimulants, antiemetics, antispasmodics, and have some analgesic effects, may be helpful treating chronic non-cancerous pain, or vomiting and nausea caused by chemotherapy. The drug may also aid in treating symptoms of AIDS patients.
Medical Wiki

levi-strauss jeans

Hemp Textile Properties
As the premier plant fiber, True Hemp or Cannabis sativa has served mankind for thousands of years. This venerable fiber has always been valued for its strength and durability.

hemp-properties
Diverse Hemp Products

 

Green Business, medicinals, Science of Hemp, Success Stories

Making Pain More Bearable

hem-pain-shoulder
Cannabis Does Not Reduce Pain, It Makes It More Bearable
Last updated on Tuesday 18 June 2013
Originally published on Monday 24 December 2012
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com

Cannabis Does Not Reduce Pain, It Makes It More Bearable

Using cannabis for pain relief does help, however, it makes pain more bearable rather than getting rid of it, researchers from Oxford University’s Centre for Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Brain (FMRIB) reported in the journal Pain.

The authors added that people in pain act differently to cannabis, according to their brain imaging study.thc-structure

The principal psychoactive constituent of cannabis is called tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). The researchers found that when volunteers took oral tablets of THC, they tended to find the experience of pain more tolerable. There was no evidence that THC reduced pain intensity.

Several studies have found that cannabis is associated with some kind of improvement in pain symptoms. Researchers from McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) and McGill University reported in CMAJ in 2010 that patients with chronic neuropathic pain experienced pain relief, improved mood and better quality sleep after smoking cannabis.

Scientists from Imperial College London found that Cannador, another cannabis plant extract, effectively relives pain after major surgery. They reported their findings in the journal Anerthesiology.

Researchers from the Mayo Clinic, however, said medical marijuana is not recommended for teenagers with chronic pain.

Cannabis_sativa2
THC is one of 400 compounds found in the Cannabis plant

According to MRI brain imaging scans in this latest study, areas of the brain that interpret pain were not affected significantly when people took THC. It appears that cannabis affects people’s emotional state in a way that makes pain less awful.

Lead researcher, Dr Michael Lee, said:

“We have revealed new information about the neural basis of cannabis-induced pain relief. Cannabis does not seem to act like a conventional pain medicine. Some people respond really well, others not at all, or even poorly. Brain imaging shows little reduction in the brain regions that code for the sensation of pain, which is what we tend to see with drugs like opiates. Instead cannabis appears to mainly affect the emotional reaction to pain in a highly variable way.”
healthcare-prof-1
Health care professionals and administrators say that chronic (long-term) pain is a complex healthcare problem. In order to help patients effectively manage their pain, different approaches are needed, which can include physical therapy, psychological support, and medications.

For a number of patients who have not responded adequately to drugs, cannabis or cannabis-based medications are an effective way of controlling their pain. Many, however, report no benefits from cannabis and some undesirable side effects.

Dr. Lee said “We know little about cannabis and what aspects of pain it affects, or which people might see benefits over the side-effects or potential harms in the long term. We carried out this study to try and get at what is happening when someone experiences pain relief using cannabis.

Our small-scale study, in a controlled setting, involved 12 healthy men and only one of many compounds that can be derived from cannabis. That’s quite different from doing a study with patients. My view is the findings are of interest scientifically but it remains to see how they impact the debate about use of cannabis-based medicines. Understanding cannabis’ effects on clinical outcomes, or the quality of life of those suffering chronic pain, would need research in patients over long time periods.”

Dr. Lee and team carried out several MRI scans on 12 participants at the FMRIB center in Oxford, England.

The volunteers were divided into two groups:
• The THC group – participants were given a 15 mg THC tablet. THC is one of 400 different compounds found in the cannabis plant. It is the one that gives recreational smokers the “high”.
• The placebo group – the participants were given a dummy drug that looked just like the tablet those in the other group were taking
Then the groups were swapped, so that each participant eventually had been tested with THC and placebo.chillies
The volunteers had either 1% capsaicin cream rubbed on the skin of one leg, or a dummy cream. Capsaicin is the ingredient of chillies; when rubbed on skin it causes a burning, painful sensation. Then the ones who received the dummy cream received the 1% capsaicin cream and those that had received the pain-inducing cream received the dummy cream.

In all, each participant underwent four situations:
• They took a THC tablet and had the pain-inducing cream applied to their skin.
• They took a THC tablet and had the dummy cream applied to their skin.
• They took a placebo tablet and had the pain-inducing cream applied to their skin
• They took a placebo tablet and had the dummy cream applied to their skin
In each different situation they had an MRI scan – a total of four scans per participants.

They were asked to describe the intensity and unpleasantness of their pain in each situation. The volunteers had to describe how intense the burning sensation was, and how much of a bother the pain was.

They found that with THC, many of the volunteers said the pain bothered them less, but did not report any change in the burning sensation.

Even though their findings showed that THC’s average effect was statistically significant, people’s reaction to pain after taking the compound varied considerably. Half of them reported a “clear change in how much the pain bothered them.”
Brain MRI
The participants’ reports regarding how unpleasant their pain was were backed up by MRI scan results. An area in the bran called the anterior mid-cingulate cortex, which has many functions, including the emotional aspects of pain, became less active after participants took THC.

The scans also showed that activity changed in the right amygdala, which correlated with the reduction in the unpleasantness of the pain after people had taken THC. Experts already know that pain can “prime” the right side of the amygdala.

The scientists were particularly interested in how closely the right amygdala and the primary sensorimotor area (a part of the cortex) were connected. The strength of the connection between these two brain areas correlated well with the THC’s varying effects on the pain the participants had reported.

The scans may help doctors predict who may benefit from taking cannabis for the relief of pain, the authors wrote.

Dr. Lee said:

“We may in future be able to predict who will respond to cannabis, but we would need to do studies in patients with chronic pain over longer time periods.”

Written by Christian Nordqvist
Copyright: Medical News Today
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com

Green Business, Legal Buzz, Success Stories

Ryan Loflin

Ryanloflin ryanloflin-harvest ryanloflin-2

Hemp: First harvest in more than fifty years begins in southeastern Colorado

By Melanie Asmar Tue., Oct. 1 2013 at 4:20 PM

Ryan Loflin.
America’s first (known) hemp harvest in more than fifty years began this month in southeastern Colorado. This past spring, following last year’s passage of Amendment 64, which legalized small amounts of marijuana for adults and paved the way for industrial hemp production, farmer Ryan Loflin planted 55 acres of marijuana’s sober sister. Last week, hemp advocates from across the country came to watch as Loflin and others harvested the first plants by hand.

“It felt very historic,” says advocate Lynda Parker.
See also: Free joint giveaway on Boulder’s Pearl Street Mall
“We think that, obviously, this is a symbolic first hemp harvest,” says Eric Steenstra, the executive director of the Hemp Industries Association.
With the U.S. Department of Justice recently indicating that it won’t sue to stop states’ marijuana policies, Steenstra predicts farmers in other states will soon follow Loflin’s lead. Steenstra is among those who believe the DOJ’s pot policy extends to hemp; although hemp contains little to none of the THC found in marijuana, the federal government doesn’t distinguish between the two and considers both to be illegal.
“Our eventual hope is to see the full commercialization of hemp,” he says.
Hemp Industries Association
Loflin harvests his hemp plants.
Loflin has only been able to harvest about a quarter-acre of his plot so far. He was planning to use a combine to harvest the bulk of it, but when he tested that method, he found that the combine destroyed part of the plant in the process. So now he plans to hand-harvest the entire field. That way, he says, he’ll even be able to save the roots.

“We’re going to try and save the entire plant and do as much as we can,” Loflin says.
Since hemp was illegal for so long, there’s very little seed available, making the seeds produced by Loflin’s plants quite valuable. “We’ll save a lot of the seed and replant it next year,” says Loflin, who also plans to make a small amount of hemp seed oil.
Loflin says he isn’t worried about law enforcement, especially in the wake of the Department of Justice’s announcement. “It’s time for this to happen,” he says.
The Colorado Department of Agriculture is currently working on rules for registering hemp farmers with the aim of having them in place by early 2014. Back in May, the department issued a statement clarifying that it’s not okay to plant hemp in Colorado until that registration process in in place — a distinction that didn’t stop Loflin.
The night before the September 23 ceremonial harvest, Loflin hosted a dinner at his farm, complete with hemp food. It was attended by Colorado hemp advocates, as well as national advocates from Vote Hemp, Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps and the Hemp Industries Association.

Rocky Mt. HempRocky Mt. Hemp

Green Business, Legal Buzz, Science of Hemp, Success Stories

David Bronner – Long Time Advocate and Hempreneur

David Bronner
David Bronner

dr_bronner_soap
Dr. Bronner’s

D.C.’s Pot Legalization Initiative Gets Some Unexpected Star Power
This long-haired soap tycoon has attracted a cult following for his inventively packaged hemp soap and history of strange political actions.

David Bronner is president of Dr. Bronner’s magic soaps and a quasi-cult hero.

By Lucia Graves – Huffington Post

District of Columbia residents might know David Bronner, the California-based owner of Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps, as the guy who camped out in front of the White House in a steel cage until authorities came and forcibly removed him with a power saw. At the time he was protesting U.S. hemp policy. Now the owner of a top-selling natural-soap chain has turned his sights to other perceived Washington wrongs.

In 2013 he donated $100,000 to successful legalization initiatives in Colorado and Washington; this year Bronner put $20,000 into an initiative to make it legal for District residents to possess up to 2 ounces of marijuana, to sell an ounce at a time, and to grow three plants in their homes. (The lead proponent of the initiative, Adam Eidenger, is Bronner’s D.C. media director.)

It’s a substantial amount of money for an initiative, first filed with the D.C. Board of Elections in January, that has so far raised just $28,000. But more important than the financial support is the celebrity of this pony-tailed marijuana activist whose rainbow Mercedes runs on french-fry grease.

Bronner, the grandson of company founder Emanuel Bronner, has managed to turn the quirky soap company, which sells tingly, liquid hemp soap in weirdly wordy labels, into a robust business with sales in the tens of millions.

The man is a master of marketing absurdity, so perhaps it makes sense that in an age when other hippie products like Burt’s Bees and Tom’s of Maine have been bought up by larger consumer-goods companies, Bronner has pursued a radical political agenda seemingly at odds with running a large business. Beyond legalization efforts, Bronner’s political agenda includes protesting policies that fail to differentiate between oilseed and fiber varieties of cannabis, and he’s fighting the rise of genetically modified foods.

It’s not your typical business move, but people love him for it. “As a resident, I’m truly thankful for the rare business leader like David who not only talks the talk about giving back to communities but who so clearly and consistently walks the walk,” said Tom Angell, chairman of pro-legalization group Marijuana Majority. “We need more like him.”

The measure, which would require the signatures of 23,000 D.C. residents to make it on the ballot in November, comes as District council members are preparing to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana. Under the decriminalization bill, possession of an ounce or less would be punishable only with a $25 fine. The council backed the bill in a preliminary vote this week, and the measure is expected to be signed into law by Mayor Vincent Gray.

Huffington Post

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