Tag: Canada

I have long theorized that part of the reason why it has taken so long for governments around the world to modernize their cannabis policies is that it is harder to regulate due to how variable cannabinoid levels are in harvests, at least compared to other crops.

Anyone who has cultivated cannabis knows how hard it is to cultivate the crop uniformly. Someone can cultivate the same strain in the same environment, and the quality and quantity of the flower from different plants can differ despite most things being equal. It gets even trickier when cultivating cannabis on a large scale, and only a short list of master growers can knock out large quality harvests reliably.

The variability of THC content in cannabis flower cultivated in greenhouses was at the heart of a recent study conducted in Canada by researchers affiliated with the Pure Sunfarms Corporation. Their findings were published in the academic journal Scientific Reports.

“Cannabis sativa and C. indica dried cannabis total Delta-9 Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is of importance to consumers/patients and must be accurately reported for both recreational and medical dried flower. In this report, the variation in Total THC in THC-dominant commercially relevant cultivars was investigated.” the researchers wrote.

“The variation in Total THC values within different strata of the plant and between plants of the same batch were explored using a single analytical method. Within one stratum across nine batches (n = 27–57), Total THC varied by 3.1–6.7% of actual content, with only ~ 30–41% of individual replicates falling within their respective 99% confidence internal (CI) (representative of the batch mean).” the researchers wrote about their methodology.

“Between the top and bottom of plants across three batches, Total THC varied by 4.7–6.1% of actual THC content. Between plants of one cultivar, average Total THC varied by 2.8% which was statistically significant (p < 0.0001).” the researchers found.

The variability of THC in cannabis harvests isn’t just important to the cultivators, consumers, and patients, but also to government regulators who often have to enforce unrealistic THC industry standards. That is especially true in the hemp industry, where harvests cannot exceed a certain THC threshold, typically between .2 and 2 percent. If a hemp harvest exceeds the THC percentage threshold, the entire harvest has to be destroyed.

This is why it makes far more sense to set THC caps at the end-product stage of the process rather than at the harvest stage. If there is a cap on THC content for flower, such as what is in place for flower sold in Uruguay’s pharmacies, then any flower that exceeds the set limit can be used for making other products, such as edibles, topicals, and concentrates.

Cognitive decline, in which a person experiences a gradual decrease in their thinking abilities, is a natural and unfortunate part of the human aging process. It impacts people’s ability to make decisions by slowing down their mental processing speed and working memory as they get older.

Some people experience cognitive decline earlier in life than other people, and/or at a more rapid pace compared to others. Mitigating age-related cognitive decline is a growing area of scientific research around the globe, including in Canada where a team of researchers analyzed preclinical data focusing on cognitive decline and cannabidiol (CBD).

Canadian scientists affiliated with the University of Lethbridge and McGill University examined preclinical data involving the use of CBD and aging mice. Their findings were published in the journal Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience.

“Aging is associated with cognitive decline, and currently, there are no approved medications that can prevent these impairments. Recently, cannabinoids derived from Cannabis sativa have emerged as promising therapeutic compounds with neuroprotective, anti-inflammatory, and cognitive-enhancing properties.” the researchers wrote about their investigation. “This study investigates the effects of cannabidiol (CBD) on memory impairment and brain inflammation in aging mice.”

“Fourteen-month-old C57 mice were administered CBD orally for 7 months and subsequently evaluated between 19 and 21 months of age using behavioral tasks that are sensitive to dysfunction of the perirhinal cortex, hippocampus, amygdala, and various brain regions that are crucial for motor control and coordination.” the researchers stated about their methodology.

“The findings of this study indicate that CBD reduces inflammatory response in the brain and improves cognitive decline associated with aging.” the scientists concluded.

As with all scientific studies focusing on cannabinoids, the results of this study need to be kept in proper context. Further research, particularly research involving human subjects, needs to be conducted until a final determination can be made regarding CBD’s effectiveness at mitigating age-related cognitive decline. With that being said, the results of this study are encouraging.

Medical cannabis has helped countless patients treat their health conditions, which, combined with an increasing amount of peer-reviewed cannabis research, demonstrates that cannabis is a truly effective medicine for many people.

One area of medical cannabis therapeutic application and research that is particularly clear on this point is epilepsy. Epilepsy is a serious neurological condition that results in patients experiencing recurrent seizures.

The frequency and severity of the seizures sufferers experience can vary from patient to patient. Medical cannabis has proven to be very effective at helping epilepsy patients reduce the frequency and severity of seizures.

A team of researchers based in Canada and affiliated with various health and academic institutions recently conducted a case series review involving epilepsy patients and medical cannabis therapies. The review’s findings were published in the academic journal Frontiers in Neuroscience.

“Seizure freedom (SF) is the primary goal of epilepsy treatment. More treatments that produce SF in drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE) are needed. Cannabis-based products for medicinal use (CBPMs) containing cannabidiol (CBD) and Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), administered as oils, have been shown to induce SF in DRE. However, there remains a paucity of published real-world evidence in both pediatrics and adults on SF resulting from CBPM therapy.” the health investigators stated about the purpose of their research.

International public health experts estimate that as many as 50 million people worldwide suffer from epilepsy and its symptoms, and that “nearly 80% of people with epilepsy live in low- and middle-income countries.”

“This is a retrospective case series at an outpatient neurology clinic in Toronto, Canada, on patients with DRE who experienced significant SF during CBPM treatment. All patients were treated via the clinic’s stepwise treatment protocol with CBPM oils only. The study describes clinical features of patients and their CBPM-related SF.” the researchers stated about their methodology.

“We report 19 DRE cases that experienced SF; 15 pediatric, 4 adults. The median cumulative SF duration was 245 days, split between continuous SF periods lasting at least 90 days.” they wrote about their findings. “Five patients had continuous SF periods lasting ≥ 1 year. Most patients used CBD+THC regimens. Three patients weaned all concomitant ASMs. Adverse events (AEs) were reported by half of the patients.”

“The results of the study support prioritizing CBPMs in cases of DRE. It also supports research into identifying clinical and biological biomarkers for DRE cases that may achieve SF under CBPM treatment. Lastly, the study supports improving the accessibility of CBPMs, using SF as a primary outcome in future CBPM epilepsy trials, and assessing the role of THC in reducing seizures.” the researchers concluded.

Anyone who has cultivated cannabis knows that certain strains produce better cannabis than others, and sometimes also in larger volumes. Even if all things were equal, from light exposure to environment to nutrients and grow mediums, some strains just perform better in the end.

For many years, home cultivators and commercial producers were unsure why certain strains yielded better harvests than others. However, new research out of Canada is shedding light on why some cannabis varieties yield more cannabinoid production than others.

Researchers affiliated with various academic and research institutions examined “cannabis accessions from the legal Canadian market” and focused on “identifying quantitative trait loci (QTL) and candidate genes associated with eleven cannabinoid traits using 282K common single-nucleotide polymorphisms.”

The study’s results were published in the academic journal The Plant Genome.

“This approach aims to transform our understanding of Cannabis genetics.” the researchers wrote. “We have pinpointed 33 significant markers that significantly influence cannabinoid production, promising to drive the development of Cannabis varieties with specific cannabinoid profiles.”

“Among the notable findings is a massive haplotype of ∼60 Mb on chromosome 7 in Type I (i.e., tetrahydrocannabinol [THC]-dominant) accessions, highlighting a major genetic influence on cannabinoid profiles.” the researchers determined. “These insights offer valuable guidance for Cannabis breeding programs, enabling the use of precise genetic markers to select and refine promising Cannabis varieties.”

Knowing which markers boost cannabinoid production will help cannabis breeders and cultivators selectively breed cannabis strains that contain those markers and develop crops that are rich in certain cannabinoids. Those crops can then be used to make products that patients and consumers need, and likely in a more efficient and cost-friendly manner.

“This approach promises to speed up the breeding process, reduce costs significantly compared to traditional methods, and ensure that the resulting Cannabis varieties are optimized for specific medical and recreational needs.” the researchers stated.

“This study marks a significant stride toward fully integrating Cannabis into modern agricultural practices and genetic research, paving the way for future innovations.” the researchers concluded.