January 27, 2014  from Allan Frankel, MD

I love Colorado and I love the work everyone is doing there. I have no desire to accomplish anything other than making it very clear that medicine of equal value has been available in California for over two years.

The groups we have worked with in California were in fact the very first to obtain even early 2:1 CBD rich strains over 5 years ago through ProjectCBD.org in California. Project CBD and other groups inside and outside of California have been growing numerous “extreme ratio” CBD rich strains. They are mostly very similar and just different phenotypes of “Charlotte’s Web”. Even if someone believes this strain is “better” than so many others, how can anyone believe this ONE strain is so unique; it is not in any manner unique, but it certainly a wonderful natural version of these plentiful extreme ratio CBD: THC strains. One side note, when one has a THC value of <1 and a CBD value of over 10, very tiny changes in the value of the THC will greatly change the “ratio” that everyone is posturing over. For example, if you take one lab result that has CBD at 10 mg% and THC at 0.55, the ratio is 20:1. If the THC changes to 0.3, it is around 30. We are talking about VERY tiny lab changes not different than random error. Of course each crop will be a TINY bit different. Does it matter? Not one bit. Patients can’t differentiate anything over a 7:1 ratio. Also, there is plenty of evidence that THC can and IS useful for some seizure kids and of course many, many, many other conditions.

Some of these strains are extremely similar to Charlotte’s Web because genetics rarely has a zip code.

My personal belief is that pretty much the current wealth of CBD rich strains anywhere in the country came from Amsterdam five years ago. Taking these original cuttings, numerous California Seed Masters are on their 4th generation of various CBD rich strains. These seeds are available in California as well as cuttings of pretty much any of the rich CBD strains for legitimate patients. Many new and wonderful and more efficient strains are being developed and I am proud to say we locally have several ongoing seed/genetic studies where new strains are found, grown and tested.

At this point in time, we are finding a new extreme ratio plants that are worth saving.  As we can’t save all of these as “Mother” plants, we already have two Plant Tissue Culture labs storing these strains to make certain they are never lost. Over time, we will learn which particular extreme ratio plant works best for various patients and ailments. The CBD and THC mg dose or ratio, is only a tiny part of the whole plant. The hundreds of other Terpene and minor Cannabinoid molecules all work in consort to help manage patients’ conditions. BTW, it is these molecules that are mostly missing in hemp. This is why hemp is better left for clothing and nutrition, fuel, paper, etc etc etc and cannabis for medicine.

It is clear that the dose in mg of CBD is substantially lower the more complete the whole plant extract is. This was very easy to test by just obtaining a hemp based CBD extract and comparing MG/MG the clinical effect. The whole plant cannabis was many fold more effective and therefore requires a lower dose.

The average dose of our current 60 or so children with assorted genetic anomalies/autism spectrum disease/seizures is 35 mg per 24 hours. I can’t possibly see why use a stronger dose when a lower dose works.

Isn’t it patently logical that the lowest dose that works is the dose to use? We just do not know what, if ANY dose of cannabis in humans to be based upon a weight. It does seem logical that this would be the case – but very often in medicine it is just not the case.

Additionally, the medicine is expensive and in shortage? Right? Why would we waste 1 mg? I have encountered a few kids who need closer to 60-70 mg of whole plant CBD, but this is not common.

In the “California” group, extreme ratio CBD plants and extracts/oils are only one of many strains being grown and extracted. Certainly the children with challenging neurological disorders are amongst the most important patients to help, but what about everyone else?

  1. For pain patients, generally some THC must be added, but it can be added 1 mg at a time. These patients generally end up doing best on a 2:1 CBD: THC or even 1:1 or greater. CBD is an awesome miracle molecule, but please let’s not make THC an orphan. Trust me, I am a doctor…WE NEED THC IN VARIOUS RATIOS WORKING TOGETHER WITH CBD AND 600 OTHER MOLECULES TO GIVE PATIENTS OPTIONS.
  2. Anxiety and mood disorders. Very low doses of CBD rich, such as 4:1 CBD: THC ratio medications often work best for anxiety and mild to moderate depression.
  3. Multiple Sclerosis. Here is an illness that has a pharmaceutical history. GW pharma in England has been making http://sativex.com, a 1:1 ratio whole plant CBD rich extract for many years and of course have published hundreds of articles fo the use in MS and many other conditions. This literature is filled with dosing information.
  4. Insomnia. Just a spray or two?? Pretty simple
  5. Please read and read and read!!! THIS MEDICINE IS NOT JUST FOR CHILDREN! There are collectives in California that carry many various CBD rich extracts. They are all fully tested at http://TheWercShop.com under the direction of Dr. Jeffrey Raber. The plant material is extracted using Sub-Critical CO2 extraction, never alcohol or Butane like chemicals. It is then blended with Grape Seed or other oils to a fixed concentration of 15 mg whole plant CBD per ml and <1 mg THC. As stated there are also many various ratio sublingual extracts for many other conditions and dosed treatment plants rule the day.

RESOURCES FOR CBD RICH MEDICINE IN CALIFORNIA:

HTTP://PROJECTCBD.ORG

HTTP://PATIENTINFORMATIONCENTER.COM

So, yes you can get all your CBD needs met in California. It would be great if the various groups around the states could work more together in regard to both new strain development and treatment modalities.

Allan Frankel, MD, specializes in Cannabis consultations. His office is in Santa Monica. He blogs at http://www.greenbridgemed.com