CBD Health

Aaron: Awesome! It’s a cool story. In your role, how do you think about developing products that differentiate in the market?

Stephanie: There are many opportunities for brand differentiation in cannabis right now. There is a focus on high bioavailability and water solubility and how that translates to onset times once consumed. Many of these technologies utilize ingredient technologies and systems that I have experience with from my past work in the flavor industry.

Gummies and jellies are a great infusion matrix to start with because of their shelf-life stability. There are a variety of formulation techniques that can be used to deliver on product differentiations. There is an abundance of flavor varieties, colors, processing steps and cannabinoid ratios that can be baked into a formula to make that product line unique.

Here in the cannabis space, SKU variety is essential. It’s exciting to be a part of a company where we develop products that appeal to a variety of customer wants and needs.

Aaron: In that vein, what’s your process then for creating a new product?

Stephanie: I’ll start with how we develop an edible. Most of my background is in this type of product development, but the same process is applied to how we develop and extract vape, topical, flower SKU, or ready-to-smoke type products. We follow a similar stage/gate process utilized by most CPG companies.

Marketing typically presents our product development team with a brief on a new concept based on how they’ve read the needs of the market. There are opportunities for us to come to marketing with ideas for innovation, too. The product development team regularly works in our processing facility, so we as a team are aware of the different capabilities of each state and production line. During the briefing phase, we determine what is needed to be achieved and the parameters that the team would like the new product to deliver on.

For edibles, we begin our development work at The Hatchery. The Hatchery is our non-infused product development space that we utilize outside of our processing facility. In this space, we have several pieces of pilot equipment that allow us to scale and create prototypes that are highly representative of what our finished product will look like. For vapes, flower SKUs and RTS (ready-to-smoke) products, development and processing trials happen within our cultivation center.

All infusions are conducted in our licensed processing center. We also conduct stability testing and analytical testing in-house on our products. Our analytical lab is amazing – we have talented chemists and the ability to run GCMS, HPLC, microbiological testing, and many other analytical tests that are important for ensuring consistency and product uniformity.

Aaron: Can you expand on a point about testing? How do you think about testing at the different points in your manufacturing or production process?

Stephanie: Testing comes in several forms. We focus heavily on analytical testing since that does not involve product consumption. Potency uniformity and consistency is critical for edibles. For infused products, we have one shot at hitting our potency – infusion science is extremely important for us. Our gummies and chocolates cannot be re-worked, so hitting our potency range on the first attempt is important. If we miss the target, the product has to be destroyed.

We have methods developed to conduct in-process potency testing where we can. With the processes and infusion methods that we have implemented, we are rarely outside of our targeted potency ranges.

Aaron: Okay, awesome, then, can you walk me through your experience with one of your most recent product launches?

Stephanie: We recently launched Mindy’s Dark Chocolate Peppermint Bark, a limited time offering for our Mindy’s chocolate line. There’s a series of commercialization trials that we will conduct prior to launch. We use these trials as an opportunity to train our production teams on the new manufacturing instructions and processes.

When it comes to launching products, our technical teams are very hands on with new product introductions. Since we cannot manufacture product in one state and ship it to another state, we have to build processing centers and secure the proper licenses in every state that we’d like to operate in. When we have a new product ready to launch in a new state, our team works with Operations on the tech transfer piece. We’re there on-site during launches to oversee and train on the entire process until our teams are comfortable with manufacturing and packaging the new SKUs.

We monitor launches carefully to ensure product looks as it should before and after leaving our facility for sale in licensed dispensaries across the state. When there are opportunities to optimize a process post-launch, we will do what we can to make the process work as well as possible for the teams producing our products.

Aaron: Okay, so next question is, how do you go about sourcing ingredients for your infused products?

Stephanie: We manufacture our oils and extracts in house, and then source other ingredients externally. We have a supplier quality assurance process for new supplier approval, and we have documentation needs that we need each supplier to be able to deliver on.

Several of our suppliers have invested in research and development of products that will help us to meet our deliverables in the cannabis industry. Our suppliers, at times, have provided applications support in order to help with our speed to market and early phase prototyping. These types of partnerships are essential to us being able to make quick modifications and decisions on ingredients such as flavors and colors.

Aaron: Can you give me an example of a challenge that you run into frequently? This could be a business challenge or a cannabis-related challenge.

 “I’m a scientist at heart. I look forward to more spending on cannabis research to show how THC and other cannabinoids can be used to treat a variety of conditions.”Stephanie: A big challenge for us and other multi-state cannabis operators are the variations in compliance regulations state-to-state. We have compliance managers in every state who work to ensure we are meeting all of the state regulations. Our packaging reviews are in-depth because of all the language that needs to be included on our packaging.

Each state needs its own packaging with proper compliance labeling. Some states require a cannabis warning symbol of a certain type. If we sell Mindy’s Gummies in 8 flavors and THC mg SKUs in four states, that is 32 different pieces of artwork that need to be managed and cross-checked for accuracy. We have 32 separate pieces of packaging for this one line of products. We have many lines of products with multiples strains (flower and vapes) and flavors (edibles).

Aaron: You mentioned packaging, do you do all of your packaging in house?

Stephanie: We design our packaging artwork in-house. We have a creative team who works on our product artwork, and then a team of cross-functional members tasked with packaging editing and review. Packaging reviews go through multiple rounds before being released for printing. We source a variety of packaging depending on the needs of the product going into the packaging. For edibles, our packaging has to be opaque. Product cannot be seen through the packaging in most states. This is great for our products that are made with natural colors that may be light sensitive.

All of our packaging needs to be child resistant. This limits the amount of packaging variety that we have, but this is a big opportunity for packaging developers. We want and need more sustainable forms of packaging that are differentiated from other packaging forms currently on the market.

Aaron: What trends are you following in the industry personally?

Stephanie: Cannabis trends that are of interest to me personally are fast-onset and water solubility technology. There have also been many discussions surrounding minor cannabinoids and how those can be blended together to drive customer experience.

There are traditional food trends that also impact how we formulate. Our Mindy’s Edibles line is flavor forward. The flavors are sophisticated. In the Mindy’s line, you won’t find a generic orange or grape flavor. Instead, you’ll find a Lush Black Cherry or Cool Key Lime Kiwi Flavor. This flavor development work starts with Mindy Segal, who is the face and talented James Beard award-winning chef behind our Mindy’s Edibles line of products.

Aaron: Okay, so the last question I have for you is, what are you interested in learning more about?

Stephanie: I’m a scientist at heart. I look forward to more spending on cannabis research to show how THC and other cannabinoids can be used to treat a variety of conditions. People use cannabis for many reasons: to relax, to ease aches or pains, etc. It’s exciting to lead part of our technical team during a period of time where cannabis is rapidly growing and is of great interest and increasing acceptance across our country and in the world.

Aaron: Okay. So that’s it. That’s the end of the interview!

The information contained in this article is not a substitute for, or alternative to information from a healthcare practitioner. Please consult a healthcare professional before using any product and check your local laws before making any purchasing decisions.

As soon as my head hits the pillow on stressful nights, my brain becomes a windy race track, thoughts zooming by at 100 mph, commanding my attention. I wanted it to stop.

So for months I tried various cannabis products promising better sleep, hoping that one of them could serve as a red light and stop the buzzy traffic, at least until morning.

The products I used all included CBN, one of the hundreds of compounds found in cannabis. While CBD and THC are the plant’s most famous three-letter shorthands, wellness brands and pharmaceutical companies are hunting for the next cannabinoid with medicinal and money-making potential. Cannabis companies hope CBN, which has a reputation as a sleep aid (although one not supported by scientific research), may be one of them.

While I had some success, none of the products I tried with CBN, formally known as cannabinol, worked exactly as I wanted. When they did work, I slept hard, but my deep sleep often ended with groggy mornings. When they didn’t work, I continued to toss and turn. Whether a CBN product will help you get a better night’s sleep depends on what else is in that product, your tolerance for groggy mornings, and how willing you are to experiment.

What is CBN, and why is it associated with sleep anyway?

People in the cannabis industry have been whispering about CBN for years. And scientific research on it, although limited and rarely related to sleep, goes back to the 1970s. The compound comes from . Over time, exposure to light and oxygen will convert THC into CBN. You can also use chemical processes to turn CBD, hemp’s golden goose, into CBN, but it’s a more complicated process.

Dr. Ethan Russo, a neurologist who popularized , the idea that various parts of the cannabis plant work synergistically together to cause certain effects, explains it like this: Let’s say someone has cannabis that’s been sitting in a drawer for three years and decides to smoke it. If they’re looking to get high, they’re going to be disappointed with the outcome.

“So the person may feel sleepy or sad, but they’re not going to be high, and they’re not going to be cleaning the garage after doing this,” said Dr. Russo, who once advised the first company to get a CBD drug for epilepsy approved by the FDA, but has since founded a cannabis research firm called Credo Science.

Those effects don’t just come from the THC-turned-CBN, he said. Aromatic compounds that give plants and foods a particular smell and taste, known as terpenes, also play a part. Terpenes are in mangoes, peppermint, lemongrass, and yes, cannabis. In addition to their aromatic qualities, some terpenes tend to be energizing while others are sedating. Over time, the energizing ones dissipate from old weed while the relaxing ones stick around as they’re heavier, more stable molecular compounds. While THC is generally known to make you feel high, CBN isn’t as psychoactive on its own as THC, Dr. Russo said.

“If someone uses pure CBN, they’re not going to find it particularly sedating,” said Dr. Russo, who doesn’t take much stock in the compound’s new cache as a sleep aid.

What do the studies say?

Researchers have studied CBN’s effects on many mice and rats over the years, but few humans. They’ve found it seems to make ,  when combined with CBD, reduce , and a lab-altered version significantly  for mice already on a powerful sedative. One Canadian pharmaceutical company is in clinical trials to test if a CBN cream can treat . Like other parts of the cannabis plant, scientists are also studying its  potential.

In one of the few studies that compares THC and CBN, completed , scientists gave five men oral THC and CBN and found that while THC made the volunteers feel “drugged, drunk, dizzy, or drowsy,” the same feelings weren’t associated with CBN. CBN appeared to slightly amplify the effects of THC, but it wasn’t a significant change. The experience of lab rats and five men, of course, aren’t enough to make sweeping judgments about CBN, but that and anecdotes are all we got at the moment.

For all the talk about CBN’s sedative qualities, the scientific research isn’t there to back it up. Even with its well-known counterparts CBD and THC, which have been tested more often for possible sleep effects, scientists still say more research should be done to better guide consumers.

Formal research on CBN, and other cannabinoids, has been hampered for decades due to politics stigmatizing cannabis. As marijuana legalization expands, more research is underway, but the spotlight has mostly been on THC and CBD. New questions are being asked about the hundreds of other cannabinoids, but it’s still early days.

Steep Hill, a cannabis science and tech company, stoked a lot of the hype around CBN online when it likened CBN to the powerful sedative diazepam. Steep Hill later scrubbed that description from its website, noting, “Initially, it was reported that CBN was a promising adjunct in the treatment of insomnia, but with the advent of a few small trials, sedative qualities have not been observed.”

​A ​Steep Hill ​representative said its science team was unavailable to clarify which trials the update was referring to as it was moving facilities.

So did the CBN products make me sleepy?

None of the products I tried were pure CBN, which as Dr. Russo contends, won’t make you sleepy.

For example, Bloom Farms’ Dream tincture has both CBD and CBN, but it’s heavy on the CBD. Bloom Farms experimented with various ratios before landing on a 5:1 mix, said Sally Nichols, the California company’s president of CBD. Bloom Farms’ goal was to find a product that made users sleepy, and this ratio was “the sweet spot,” Nichols said. Bloom Farms provided samples to small populations of customers of 50 or fewer and got input from doctors with experience prescribing cannabis as it tinkered with the ratio.

Researchers  CBD to be relaxing in high doses, but energizing . Frustratingly, what is considered a high or low dosage, may vary from person to person. At 1,000 mg CBD in each 30 ml bottle, Dream has the second-highest amount of CBD in Bloom Farms’ line of tinctures.

Bloom Farms recommends starting with a 1/4 ml serving under the tongue, which is about 8 mg CBD and 2 mg CBN in each dose. This is not a lot. Researchers testing the effectiveness of CBD to treat anxiety and sleeplessness have given volunteers anywhere from 25 mg to 900 mg, with negligible to significant effect.

I took the 10 mg serving for about a week roughly 45 minutes before my normal bed time in late August, as massive fires burned in Northern California, coronavirus deaths reached record highs, and campaigning for the election was in full force. It tasted woodsy and oily, but not bad; I felt a fleeting rush of calm within the first few moments. My mind still raced as my head hit the pillow, though, but after about an hour I fell asleep. I doubled the dosage soon after and had some great, deep sleep. Unfortunately, I continually woke up groggy and with a dry mouth. By week four of my one-month experiment, I was back to struggling to fall asleep. I took it randomly over the next few months, finding that sometimes it made me drowsy and sometimes it didn’t.

Dr. Junella Chin, an integrative cannabis physician in New York who’s recommended Bloom Farms’ Dream to her own patients, said it’s possible for your body to stop reacting to natural supplements or medications over time. She compared it to over-the-counter allergy medications. A brand may work for you one season, but next year it provides no relief and you have to try another. “Your body does adjust to it,” she said, noting that if switching products doesn’t help, “just take a break.”

I also tested two brands from Sunderstorm, its Nano5 Tranquility Sleep Formula sublingual and Kanha Tranquility gummies.

The Nano5 promises rapid effects. It uses small balls of fat, a tiny fraction of the size of a human cell, to deliver the formula. The pharmaceutical industry has used quick-acting s like this for decades, but it’s fairly unique in the cannabis space.

“It gets into the bloodstream very, very rapidly,” said Cameron Clarke, CEO and cofounder of the California company.

Within minutes of dropping the suggested 1/2 ml of the cloudy, yellow liquid under my tongue my eyes felt droopy. I was asleep soon after, my mind quiet. The Nano5, which is supposed to be a “citrus flavor,” was bitter with a faint mint aftertaste. It lightly burned as I held it under my tongue for the advised 90 seconds.

The Nano5, which ranges from $80 to $105 for its 30 ml bottle depending on the dispensary, seems to include everything and the kitchen sink.

The recommended 1/2 ml serving has roughly 2.5 mg each of CBD, CBN, and THC. In addition to the cannabinoids, it also has twice as much 5-HTP, a supplement that may , a hormone that , and 1/2 mg melatonin. The formula has additional terpenes known for their sedative qualities, myrcene and linalool, thrown in.

The Kanha gummies, which have a berry flavor and are one of the better-tasting edibles I’ve tried, take effect in about 90 minutes, according to the packaging, and include 5 mg each of CBD, CBN, and THC. They also have 1 mg of melatonin. For me, they started working within 30 to 45 minutes, so faster than expected.

“It gives you a little something, a little kicker,” Clarke said of the melatonin. When asked whether Sunderstorm followed any scientific research before deciding to add melatonin to the mix, he said it was more about trial and error.

“A lot of it is us just testing what we think can work.”

“I wish we had the science to back this up. As a product company we’re trying to develop products as quickly as we can to address a market need particularly with Covid anxiety and sleep issues that people have. A lot of it is us just testing what we think can work,” he said. (A similar strategy plays out across the wellness space.)

Dr. Chin doesn’t recommend mixing cannabinoids and melatonin because it may make you feel groggy in the morning. However, she noted that if a natural sleep aid isn’t as effective as one would like, adding 1 mg of melatonin to the mix is generally fine.

All three products made me feel groggy, which, for me, isn’t a typical reaction after consuming a similar amount of weed. The gummies, which cost $20 to $25, were the only ones that gave me a typical high feeling. On my first night of testing, I ate two (the package recommends one to three). Unfortunately, my mind continued to race before bed. I eventually fell asleep, but I woke around 3 a.m. feeling dizzy and nauseous. Luckily, that didn’t happen again, but I still had groggy mornings after future tests that did help me sleep.

What’s the next big cannabinoid

Don’t expect CBN to be the end of the road for cannabis experimentation, even if scientists later find it’s not exactly the sleep miracle many believe it to be.

“These first few cannabinoids are just the tip of the iceberg,” said Dr. Jonathan Vaught, who has a Ph.D. in organic chemistry. The CEO of Front Range Biosciences, a hemp and cannabis genetics platform company in Colorado, rattled off an alphabet soup of cannabinoids consumers may start to see for sale, especially as marijuana legalization expands: CBG, CBDV, and THCV. Preliminary research, again on mice, shows CBG seems to treat  and . Bloom Farms recently released its own CBD-CBG product for customers generally interested in “gut health,” as Nichols described it. Extract Labs has had one on the market since last year. I tried it back then but felt no effects, although I generally don’t have stomach issues.

The “V” in CBDV and THCV stands for varin, which basically means they’re slightly different than their well-known counterparts. The varins may get absorbed differently, perhaps tweaking some outcomes, Dr. Vaught said.

“People anecdotally say when you have high THCV in your product, it decreases the tendency to get the munchies,” Dr. Vaught explained, emphasizing the anecdotally. “Whereas if you have plain THC in your product you may get the munchies.”

On the medical front, the U.S. Department of Defense has spent $1.3 million on a New York-based clinical trial testing CBDV on autism patients.

We may see various ratios of these minor cannabinoids pop up in new products as the cannabis industry seeks to squeeze more green out of its green crops.

“In the longer term, we may be able to create a regulatory framework that allows us to truly monetize a lot of the parts of this plant,” Dr. Vaught remarked.

What to know if you want to try CBN

If you still want to try CBN, there are several things to keep in mind. Firstly, its legality is a gray area. The thinking goes if CBN is made from hemp with less than 0.3 percent THC — which is possible but more difficult  — it may be allowed in states where hemp is legal. If it’s made from cannabis with a higher THC level, it may only be legal in medicinal and recreational states. Future legislation or court decisions are needed to clear up the haze, according to legal news site Above the Law.

Secondly, expect to pay up. CBN is expensive to produce, which means CBN products are pricey. So are CBD products for that matter.

“It takes mother nature a long time to degrade THC into CBN,” Sunderstorm’s Clarke said, and processes to speed it up aren’t cheap. On top of that, only 10 to 20 percent of the THC in a plant degrades into CBN, he said.

Dr. Chin, who has been recommending CBN to sleepless patients during the pandemic, suggests taking it slow. Start with a low dosage and move up. Like with other cannabis products, do your research on brands and make sure they third-party test and the plant is organically grown, she added. Ask to see certificates of analyses, which respected brands will provide, if not made available on their website or via QR code. You’ll want to check for pesticides, heavy metals, and microbials. This is where you can also nerd out on a product’s terpene makeup.

She warned not to mix sleep aids with alcohol, or you risk feeling dizzy and groggy when you wake up. It may also decrease your alcohol tolerance and is dangerous.

Dr. Russo wonders why one would want to buy a CBN product to fall asleep when the scientific literature isn’t compelling.

You may be paying a lot for the same experience you can get with a $10 bottle of melatonin. Melatonin has its own side effects, dizziness and nausea, and is best for short-term use, according to the Mayo Clinic, an academic medical center.

In the end, I mostly stopped using the CBN products after a few months. Every now and then I’ll eat a Kanha gummy. When I have a particularly frazzle-brained evening, I’ll lie on my back and listen to a meditation app for 10 minutes. Sometimes it helps and sometimes it doesn’t. (Sound familiar?) A colleague recently started  at night — mouth breathing is apparently bad for sleep — and says the quirky technique leaves him feeling more refreshed in the mornings.

Maybe I’ll try that next. The hunt for a better night’s sleep continues.

Original Article: https://mashable.com/article/what-is-cbn-cannabis/

As more studies are published on cannabinoids and their potential medical properties, we are naturally going to see a demand for more effective products. This is especially important, as cannabinoids like cannabidiol (CBD) have very low bioavailability, meaning that not all of the dose you take will end up in the bloodstream.

Nanotechnology has the potential to solve this challenge and create a more targeted effect.

Simply put, nanotechnology can take a cannabinoid like CBD and break it down into extremely tiny particles. Proponents of nano CBD products say this miniscule size makes CBD more easily absorbed into the bloodstream when consumed.

Nanotechnology refers to substances that are the size of 1-100 nanometers, i.e. very, very small. At this size, substances can possess contrasting properties to their larger counterparts. These can include:

• Improved electrical conductance
• Higher degree of strength
• Varying chemical reactivity
• Varying magnetic properties

While this technology is promising, researchers wonder whether or not it can be applied to harder-to-reach illnesses. For example, some have questioned if nano formulations can be can effective for cancer cells.

One study found that when synthetic cannabinoids were administered as nanocarriers, they were more successful in treating triple-negative breast cancer compared to a standard formulation in cellular and pre-clinical experiments.[1] In addition, this nanoformulation was able to boost anti-cancer effects in concert with a chemotherapy agent. While preliminary, this evidence is encouraging for potential medical use.

Many believe that nanotechnology can be used to shape the future of how we look at medicinal cannabinoids. However, it’s important to note that come companies advertising nano CBD are using the claim to attract consumers and may not actually be using this technique; as always, be a vigilant consumer and do your research before purchasing new products.

Beyond allowing for greater bioavailability, nanotechnology may provide more targeted effects on the body. However, with a lack of research concerning nano CBD in humans, it will be some time before we see these advances in science become available for various ailments.

Reference

1. Griesh, K, et al. Synthetic cannabinoids nano-micelles for the management of triple negative breast cancer. Journal of Controlled Release. 2018;291:184-195.

Image Credit: Raphaël Biscaldi

Image Source: https://unsplash.com/photos/5PEy9UraJ5c

Cannabis legalization is an important and long overdue movement revolutionizing the world markets and society. However, without conscious efforts on the part of the movers and shakers in the industry, cannabis normalization will result in the perpetuation of many of the negative characteristics and trends that have plagued practically every other market and industry–most notably, a lack of diversity.

In practically every industry, from academia to journalism to tech, all minorities, including African Americans, Native Americans, Hispanic Americans, women, and Asian Americans, are severely underrepresented and have been for decades. And now that the cannabis industry has come online (particularly the cannabidiol, CBD, industry given the fact that it is federally legal in the US), it is falling into this same pattern of monoculturalism.

Fortunately, there are players in the CBD and cannabis industry who are working to increase diversity in this burgeoning marketplace. Kevin Ford, CEO of Uplift, is one of them.

Uplift is a company that provides comprehensive information for those looking for answers regarding Maryland’s medical cannabis program. It also works fervently to help diversify the industry and remove the stigma minorities face when trying to become cannapreneurs.

This stigma is a by-product of the failed War on Drugs, which disproportionately slapped people of color with criminal records compared to White Americans. And it’s these criminal records that are preventing minorities from joining the green rush.

In 2018, Uplift received one of five minority-training grants given out by the Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission. In a state like Maryland, these funds are needed to help boost minority involvement in the cannabis sphere. Currently, only 10% of investors in Maryland cannabis are minorities. Additionally, as of May 2020, only two of the cultivation licenses given out in the state were held by minorities.

This disturbing trend is found nationwide, which is why Ford wants to expand his group’s efforts outside of Maryland.

“It’s truly our goal to move from a statewide platform to more of a national platform so that minorities everywhere can get the support that they need to go about applying for these licenses or looking for employment,” said Ford in an interview with Benzinga.

With efforts from companies like Uplift, the nationwide CBD industry can become a more diversity and the rich industry.

Image Credit: Gerd Altmann

Image Source: https://pixabay.com/illustrations/diversity-people-heads-humans-5582454/