Open Source Cannabis
Open Source, the concept of sharing information, not for one individual’s benefit, but for the benefit of all should be applied to Medical Cannabis. There is one critical piece of information patients and physicians are entirely missing with the current state of Medical Cannabis; we don’t know what we are medicating with. Cannabis doesn’t come with a chemical breakdown – “a list of ingredients”.
When we purchase cannabis from a knowledgeable source such as a reputable dispensary, we are able to feel comfortable that we know if we are using a Sativa or Indica strain (my prior blogs explain why).
We know, however, that all Sativa strains are not the same. The same is true for Indica strains. What are the differences? There are differences in THC content, CBD content as well as dozens of other Cannabinoids. We are all unique as human beings, and so our needs are unique. It stands to reason that certain strains will work better than others for different people. This is common in medicating with all treatment modalities in medicine – from the current Western model of medicine to the Alternative and Eastern type models of medicine.
How about if we had a listing of the most important Cannabinoids on the bottle of Cannabis? That would allow each of us to evaluate over time which of the various Cannabinoids work best for us. At that point, we could be much more certain to obtain the correct strain as well as potentially the “perfect” tincture or “concentrate”. The Cannabis plants are extremely complex botanicals with over 400 ingredients including over 50 Cannabinoids.
I envision a genetic research center that would breed cannabis to genetically alter the strains IN THE GARDEN. The goal would be to obtain varied but known and reproducible strains of Cannabis. We could all then share this strain information in centralized databases, much as we have learned how to share information in the world of Open Source Code; hence Open Source Cannabis.
Great content! Appreciate your sharing. I will subscribe to your blog and keep up-to-date.Good luck.
This is my first time I have visited your site. I found a lot of interesting stuff in your blog. From the volume of comments on your articles, I guess I am not the only one! keep up the great work.
Couldnt agree more…in any industry sharing should be actively promoted and how one obtained that knowledge should be completely transparent; thus propagating a stronger, more enlightened and like-minded community. Why shouldnt the same go for the cannibus community…nice post dr F
Thanks for your work Dr. Frankel!
We should start a website and get this data going. Wikipedia might even work.
Is there a testing method by which an indica strain may be be differentiated from a sativa strain? Or do we just assume the dispensary is correct.
I agree! Thank you so much for posting this blog and also explaining the differences between Indica and Sativa in person to me.
I think there’s some really great ideas in here.