CBD For Lung Cancer
Abstract
Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide; however, only limited therapeutic treatments are available. Hence, we investigated the role of cannabinoid receptors, CB1 and CB2, as novel therapeutic targets against NSCLC. We observed expression of CB1 (24%) and CB2 (55%) in NSCLC patients. Furthermore, we have shown that the treatment of NSCLC cell lines (A549 and SW-1573) with CB1/CB2- and CB2-specific agonists Win55,212-2 and JWH-015, respectively, significantly attenuated random as well as growth factor-directed in vitro chemotaxis and chemoinvasion in these cells. We also observed significant reduction in focal adhesion complex, which plays an important role in migration, upon treatment with both JWH-015 and Win55,212-2. In addition, pretreatment with CB1/CB2 selective antagonists, AM251 and AM630, prior to JWH-015 and Win55,212-2 treatments, attenuated the agonist-mediated inhibition of in vitro chemotaxis and chemoinvasion. In addition, both CB1 and CB2 agonists Win55,212-2 and JWH-133, respectively, significantly inhibited in vivo tumor growth and lung metastasis (∼50%). These effects were receptor mediated, as pretreatment with CB1/CB2 antagonists abrogated CB1/CB2 agonist-mediated effects on tumor growth and metastasis. Reduced proliferation and vascularization, along with increased apoptosis, were observed in tumors obtained from animals treated with JWH-133 and Win55,212-2. Upon further elucidation into the molecular mechanism, we observed that both CB1 and CB2 agonists inhibited phosphorylation of AKT, a key signaling molecule controlling cell survival, migration, and apoptosis, and reduced matrix metalloproteinase 9 expression and activity. These results suggest that CB1 and CB2 could be used as novel therapeutic targets against NSCLC.
©2010 AACR.
CBD Slows Breast Cancer Growth and Metastases
Mol Cancer Ther. 2009 Nov;8(11):3117-29. Epub 2009 Nov 3.
Synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonists inhibit tumor growth and metastasis of breast cancer.
Cannabinoids have been reported to possess antitumorogenic activity. Not much is known, however, about the effects and mechanism of action of synthetic nonpsychotic cannabinoids on breast cancer growth and metastasis. We have shown that the cannabinoid receptors CB1 and CB2 are overexpressed in primary human breast tumors compared with normal breast tissue. We have also observed that the breast cancer cell lines MDA-MB231, MDA-MB231-luc, and MDA-MB468 express CB1 and CB2 receptors. Furthermore, we have shown that the CB2 synthetic agonist JWH-133 and the CB1 and CB2 agonist WIN-55,212-2 inhibit cell proliferation and migration under in vitro conditions. These results were confirmed in vivo in various mouse model systems. Mice treated with JWH-133 or WIN-55,212-2 showed a 40% to 50% reduction in tumor growth and a 65% to 80% reduction in lung metastasis. These effects were reversed by CB1 and CB2 antagonists AM 251 and SR144528, respectively, suggesting involvement of CB1 and CB2 receptors. In addition, the CB2 agonist JWH-133 was shown to delay and reduce mammary gland tumors in the polyoma middle T oncoprotein (PyMT) transgenic mouse model system. Upon further elucidation, we observed that JWH-133 and WIN-55,212-2 mediate the breast tumor-suppressive effects via a coordinated regulation of cyclooxygenase-2/prostaglandin E2 signaling pathways and induction of apoptosis. These results indicate that CB1 and CB2 receptors could be used to develop novel therapeutic strategies against breast cancer growth and metastasis.
Please Don’t Try Separate The CBD and THC?
To Those Wanting To “separate” CBD from THC, consider the following:
1. We have been working with strains with 18% CBD and 1-2%THC. There are others that are even a bit more CBD Rich.
2. In the non-pharmaceutical world, the best way to get a lot of CBD into your medicine is to use strains, such as Harlequin or Blueberry OG, or the various Cannatonic strains.
3. Once the genetics of your plants is secure, your garden and plant makes the CBD for you
4. I am a physician, but admit to being much less intelligent than the plant; it knows best how to balance the cannabinoids, terpenes and other molecules for most of our needs. We can just help best by extracting all the cannabis medication and placing it into Water and perhaps Glycerine for preservation and using it as a dosable whole plant extract. Pharmaceutical products will ultimately be solo molecular, but that is not what we are talking about now.
5. At every step of the way the material is tested for cannabinoids and terpenes, so the patient ends up being able to find out precisely what dose of which combination works best for them
StateWide Collective Exchanges Rich CBD Plants for Rich CBD Tinctures
Don’t we all think this was the way it was SUPPOSED to be?
StateWide Collective, has begun a program for it’s members where they will exchange a pound of rich CBD flowers (greater than 12% CBD) for one liter of extract. This extract can be used sublingually or orally.
The doses are very different and SWC will be posting other blogs soon regarding the different ways to best use these products, or use the extract in cooking and baking. So, if you are already growing rich CBD or want to grow rich CBD, contact Angel at SWC. We will give you clones.
Pharma Loses Karma While Patients Look To Obama
The literature abounds with evidence that cannabis has anti-attention deficit properties. I think that some of the mixed results are very likely due to the studies employing perhaps the incorrect cannabinoid ratio for the individual patient, although most studies are extremely encouraging.
I have personally worked with over 1000 patients in the past two years who have tried varying forms of dosed and known quantity cannabinoids. So, how much CBD or THC for the individual with an Attention Disorder? Well, of course, it depends.
I still am not at all certain of which forms to pick for any given patient, but as a rule, the more the hyperactivity, the more the THC. The more common simple Attention Deficit patients often do best with CBD. In general, I will recommend their starting with a rich CBD mixture as it is much less likely to do anything of harm and often the anti-anxiety properties of CBD take care of the patient.
So, consider taking a Pharmaceutical break, as you have just been forced to to by this incredibly evil Pharmaceutical complex. As you probably already know, the Pharmaceutical companies are playing real hardball with the Feds. The Feds want them to cut their prices; they disagree and as punishment they are holding back on the Adderall supply as well as other drugs.
This is blackmail, and should not be tolerated by our government. We should have the feds stick it really, really hard to them and get all of us our supply of meds from Canada. Their stuff is virtually the same. Many of my patients always purchase their meds online to save up to 85%. That is insane.
The next time, it could be vaccines. This is more evil than I want in our country. This is what I expect in Iran? Isn’t this true?
So, while we try force Pharma to it’s knees, consider giving THC or CBD a try for ADD and ADHD.
North Hills lesbian couple first to wed in L.A. County seeks divorce
By the Daily News
Posted: 02/08/2012 12:14:57 PM PST
Updated: 02/08/2012 07:50:50 PM PST
The San Fernando Valley poster couple for lesbian and gay marriage want to dissolve their wedding vows.
When federal appellate court judges ruled California’s ban on gay marriage unconstitutional Tuesday, Robin Tyler and Diane Olson had already filed for divorce.
“We’re human and we went through difficult times,” Tyler told NBC (Channel 4).
Well….just more proof we are all pretty much alike. :)
“Hostile Social Interaction May Increase Inflammation”
I always suspected this would be shown to be the case some time, but don’t most of you feel that rage and hostility can make us sick?
Well, here is a study, that documents that repeated and excessive hostility actually increases cytokines, which we know are involved in pain and inflammation.
I wonder if in part, this is somehow connected to the lowering of stress and inflammation from cannabis??
A CBD or Cannabidiol Diet
Many have written about the anorectic effect of CBD. i.e., just as THC increases our appetite, as in the munchies, CBD suppresses our appetite. Personally, I wanted to lose a few more pounds and started using either the rich CBD tinctures or oral CBD. Both effectively kill our appetite.
Now, there is one huge exception to this, but it is not a problem but another blessing. There are many patients out there who have difficulty eating due to a high anxiety state – head spinning. For these patients, when their anxiety and that vague sick feeling in their chest goes away with CBD administration, their appetite very soon increases and their anxiety pretty much vanishes.
So, it seems that THC is a better appetite stimulant in many of the Cancer and HIV patients, but we must ask in detail about the appetite issue as well as the patients emotional state before a physician can decide which approach to try first.
Here are some details of what I have been personally trying on myself with my own medication:
Knowing that oral buccal CBD/THC/Entourage has an effect of 10-12 hours for anxiety and pain, it seems reasonable that if we used our knowledge of “edibles” and how intense the THC effect can become by passing through the liver and being “hydroxylated”. This hydroxylation, the addition of an oxygen and hydrogen atom, makes the cannabinoids in a way stickier to the CB1 receptor and probably many other receptors. While THC’s agitation and toxicity is greatly enhanced by using the oral route and can cause problems, it seemed to me that since CBD goes through the same hydroxylation, we should be able to use oral CBD as a once daily medication. So far, so good and we have had an initial group of “testers” that tell us that it at times even lingers, but in a good way, into the next morning. It may be best for some patients to do their oral dose at night; we will have to see.
So, with regard to HOW we are working with the SWC collective patients and testing these oral routes, SWC makes available for no charge a few different oral preparations. This is how we are contemplating coming up with some rational way of even toying with treating women with breast cancer; this is exciting but we really do not honestly know the real benefit. On the other hand, if it were me or my wife, I would do it for sure. So if patients are very well informed, followed closely with their primary care physician, who must be onboard, we are just beginning to get into this.
The oral preparations currently being tested are:
1. CBD cookies made by the nurse at SWC. They each have 1 cc of a 13mg/6mg CBD/THC preparation. It is amazing how “incredible an edible” can be with a known dose of THC and a solid dose, it seems, of CBD.
2. Placing same dose as above, at least for now, into a 12 bottle of water and we have CBD Rich Water. As water is still legal, there should be no additional risks. :)
What A Mess, What Should The Pro-Cannabis Physician Do?
It really is a mess out there.
1.State law and Federal laws are different.
2.Laws are enforced differently inside California depending upon the usual rational bases such as:
-Skin color
-Skin Color
-Skin Color
-The local cop
-Every zip code is different
-Most cops don’t know or don’t care
-DA’s, assistant DA’s don’t know the law or just don’t care
-Every storefront gives the patient different advise and patients are generally just lost
-Doctors and corporations charging $30 for Recs is like going back to gas prices at a buck
-Patients have no idea of what is available or possible so the $30 is fine
-Doctors are mostly paid by corporations, not physicians, so the quality is corporate
We have patients without the ability to get any information and often times the information they receive is so wrong it hurts them. Anyone who has been a “stoner” for 40 years becomes an expert solely based upon how many years they have been getting stoned. So, who are the experts?
-Lawyers
-DA’s
-Growers
-Storefront employees are always a source of brilliant information as well. NOT!
What is really crazy, I mean totally nuts/gonzo, is that the system works best for the “folks” who just want to be able to legally and socially smoke weed. Period. As this represents probably 80% or more of total Physician and Collective visits, anything we say or do really does not truly matter much, as folks are getting their weed, going home and smoking it alone or with friends….i.e. social or recreational cannabis which is quite cool.
Of course I would much rather see these folks not needing to see any physician and just smoke if they want it. Nothing more and nothing less. The patients are quite happy. Their physician visit cost $30, took just 5 minutes and the patient can often just walk next door or upstairs. The only decision is how to smoke it and who to smoke it with. Pretty cool and very simple…..THIS IS SOCIAL OR RECREATIONAL CANNABIS AND IS AWESOME AND OF COURSE NEEDS TO BE FINALLY LEGALIZED.
So, just for arguments sake, let’s say that the other 20% or so are the “real” patients. We all know who these people are when we walk into a dispensary; we also can generally see who the less ill patients are. I KNOW THAT LOOKS CAN BE DECEIVING, but we all know most of the clubs are catering to young people.
On my birthday a couple of weeks ago, I went to Venice Beach and got two recommendations from two of the “kush doctor” places. It was of course pathetic, but quite fun to be “undercover”. The most important thing I experienced was that there were not just kids getting Recs; there were plenty of people in their 40′s to 60′s. These patients, at least to my quick glance, were “real” and seemed at a glance, REALLY SICK. They received NO information and of course just think smoking and maybe vaping is the answer. God forbid they get edibles, as one of the docs I saw, told me that edibles were harmless and that I didn’t need to worry…..I could eat to my hearts content. This doc also thought that a vaporizer is a steam pot 1/2 filled with water. You heat the water, drop in the cannabis and presto, place a towel over your head and you are there. UNBELIEVABLE!!
So, this brings me to the main point of my blog/article, what are Physicians to do with the REAL SICK PATIENTS??? Having docs who know nothing is dangerous. Without any help, an elderly person can easily get into deep trouble downing a full edible. The idea of DOSABLE CANNABIS MEDICINE, is not ever mentioned. Frankly, I am not certain anyone else even uses these words.
I hate to say it, but in my experience, there are only a handful of physicians in California who have even heard of CBD/Cannabidiol and if you brought up Terpenes, well you might as well just light a fatty, sit back and relax. Save your breath.
I know for a fact that very few physicians are aware of ANY of the science out there. I doubt more than a few ever read any scientific articles on cannabis.
Don’t you want your doctor and not your pharmacy picking your blood pressure medication or antibiotics? At the same time, we accept that the collectives are in charge, that they always know best and to top it off, we are told as Physicians that we “can’t” educate our patients as that is federal “aiding and abetting”. If, as physicians, we are really frightened to “aid and abet”, why do we even give Recommendations; that has always been odd to me. Every doc that signs a Recommendation is clearly helping/aiding a person/patient obtain cannabis. Although the Recommendation is just a “suggestion”, it does empower the patient to obtain the evil weed. I don’t see the difference and frankly I think most physicians just use this excuse to cover up the fact that in truth, they have no good advise or information and this is where the problem gets tricky.
If we really get true legalization, the social cannabis use will remain social and not involve any physician. Don’t you agree, we can get stoned without a doctor’s note?
But what if the patient is really ill? What if one of these physicians received a referral from another open minded physician to try help out the patient using cannabis as everything else has failed. If this referring physician learns that his/her patient was not helped but just told to go smoke or vape and eat edibles carefully, we have a very significant professional disconnect.
However, what if the referring physician finds out that the cannabis doc was able to explain dosable cannabis medication and all the advantages of both dosing and CBD to his patient. And, what if, the patient, with the help of BOTH DOCTORS finds that Dosable Cannabis workING great and the patient is able to get off 75% of their narcotics in a few weeks? Well, then either the cannabis doc gets a bunch more referrals, or sometimes, the referring doc gets trained by the Cannabis Physician and begins doing the Recommendations on his/her own patients. The referring doc knows that if he/she gets “stuck” that the cannabis specialist is always there to help. Doesn’t this begin to sound like real medicine??? SO:
WHAT SHOULD CANNABIS PHYSICIANS DO ABOUT THIS GROUP OF REAL PATIENTS
We are now speaking to a much smaller group than we began with. 20% or less of the total cannabis patients are now looking for real help. Most of them do not want to smoke, at least in my experience. They have mood disorders, sleep disorders, pain syndromes, neurological disorders, cancer, HIV, etc etc. and are looking for something that they can use in a safe, predictable manner. They should be able to know precisely the effects of any cannabis medicine. The goals of cannabis medicine and traditional medicine must be identical; the physician must do what he feels is the correct/best choice for his patient – regardless of the law. Now, I am not talking about having any greedy doc who breaks the law and sells “medicine” that has no value and is not supported by any mainstream medical group. With dosable cannabis, it is nothing new. It is in six countries around the world and just about to land on our shores and come down from Canada.
PHARMACEUTICAL CANNABIS MEDICATIONS ARE HERE AND PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES WANT IT ALL. It has become undeniable when you consider the patents, re-scheduling, grow licenses, etc. So, a pro cannabis physician is clearly not on shaky grounds, such as with Laetrile or other hair brained treatments. Cannabis medication is real, it is ancient and it is currently pharmaceutical in six countries; it is no longer really cutting edge. Sativex, has been around and in clinical trials for 14 years!! Let’s wake up??
Although the patient’s cannabis visit may represent “free speech” on the part of the physician, our oath dictates that we help the patient to the best of our ability, and herein lies the rub. The cat is out of the bag…for well over a decade. Every physician writing recommendations and helping patients, should/must know about dosing and should/must support ALL PHYSICIANS DEMANDING DOSABLE MEDICATIONS. How can we do any less and even take ourselves seriously?
If a professional cannabis specialist sees a patient and the patient has anxiety or pain, giving the patient options and instructions as to what dose of which medication is good for them. It is just good medicine. Don’t we do this for all of our patients? Why should it be different here? Is there some reason for treating our mainstream vs cannabis patients differently? Who ever heard of something so crazy. Our hippocratic oath forbids this. Our Oath, in any version you read, clearly states the physician is to treat and heal the patient to the best of his ability and use all his knowledge and available resources. How did it happen that our Oath, respected by everyone, was handed over to the feds and corporations? Shouldn’t we as physicians fight this? Stop this? What do patients EXPECT? If a doc is familiar, as all should be by now, with the new era of dosable cannabis meds and does not help his patient, he has violated his oath. Not to be overly morose, but at the bottom line, all these physicians are echoing a tragic but familiar statement:
“I was just doing what I was supposed to do”.
Both my parents are concentration camp survivors. They personally saw physicians torturing and experimenting on other “patients”. Why? Of course because their government said that was the correct thing to do. I admit this is extreme, but in fact, they are not so different. If physicians continue to jump and bark at the behest of the government, then we should stop using the Hippocratic oath at Medical School Graduation; it has become useless and physicians are allowing it. So, again, what should pro cannabis do.
The Cannabis Physician should:
1. Become knowledgeable (the docs in the “know” should help these other docs pull their act
together. At the very least for the Venice Beach types, LETS GIVE THEM FREE EDUCATION AND
spiff up their ability to help patients.
2. I don’t think we can achieve success by forcing these folks to do CME, but we can
in many simple ways, make their patients’ experiences much improved.
3. In addition to educating our own patients as well as helping other docs, we need to reach out
to the mainstream physician community. This is only possible when the cannabis physician
knows more than the other docs and is able to explain dosable medication to these physicians.
Cannabis Physicians need to:
-learn about cannabis medicine – read, take classes, go to meetings.
-learn about dosable products and non-smoking alternatives other than vaping
-know the law inside and out and help guide the patient in this area when necessary
-The cannabis physician should contact the patient in a few days after the visit to review
what is going on with the patient and adjust the dosable medicine as required.
Cannabis Physicians as a group need to:
1. Know about which dosable options are out there
2. Cannabis Physicians should attempt to work together with the goals of:
a. certifying laboratories
b. certifying growers and growing
c. certifying quality dosable cannabis medications
d. continue AS A GROUP, to define the rules and how they should be followed
e. making certain their patients can obtain CBD rich cannabis medications
f. HELPING CHANGE THE RULES TO WHERE THE PHYSICIANS BOTH KNOW WHICH MEDS ARE BEST
AND WHEN THEY SPEAK WITH COLLECTIVES THE PHYSICIANS DECIDE WHAT IS
AVAILABLE. PHYSICIANS AND NOT STOREFRONTS SHOULD DECIDE THE MEDICINE. RIGHT?
So, in closing, once the 80% or so of “non-patients” leave the system, any cannabis physician remaining, will survive and thrive if they really know what is possible today and what might be possible tomorrow.
Great CBD Effects Without Tinctures or Dosing
As much as I am always speaking about dosing, I have recently come upon a situation where perhaps dosing is not as critical. I still always prefer to know precisely what is being given or taken, but here is what happened this AM.
I woke up and was considering whether to medicate or not. I have a number of options, so it is always fun to wake up and reflect upon what to do next. Last night, I obtained some CBD Rich flowers. Most will be turned into Dosable Tinctures and capsules, but this time when I took a sample for lab testing at The WercShop, I took a bit and smoked it; yes, I know vaping is cleaner and I suggest using one. Anyway, it is three hours later and I still have the typical CBD effect I generally obtain strictly from dosed tinctures.
Perhaps as dosable CBD becomes more and more available, this will not be an issue, but for now and for a time to come, we should all consider having some CBD rich flowers in our cannabis medicine chest. Lasts longer and no psycho-activity. Working great for my knee and back pain. Ask your local store for CBD flowers until they have the dosable tinctures.
UK Patient Can’t Afford Sativex
Here is a recent email I received from a patient in England with Multiple Sclerosis who can’t get Sativex
Here is a comment from a guy in England:
Dear Dr. Frankle,
I live in the UK and have MS. I am aware of Sativex and how it might help me, but the cost here in England is 150 pounds or around $300 every two weeks. This is $600/month!!!! I don’t know how anyone with MS or any other serious disease can pay for this – AND it is not covered by our our National Health Plan, which is generally the best.
So, only the few rich patients with MS can be treated here. Does not feel like National Health!!??!!
I am getting desperate and have been following your blog and work with Cannabidiol. I, myself, am a chemist professionally, so I am even more frustrated.
Is there any way for me to obtain any of the CBD Rich extractions you are familiar with in California? Can I order them online? Do you have a phone number or website?
I hope you can help me, as my muscle spasms and burning pain are bringing me to the edge and I am scared.
BT
What Cannabis Medicines Should Be In Dispensaries?
When you go to your primary care physician, he/she may give you a prescription for a specific medicine or two. This is either communicated to the pharmacy by phone, fax, paper or electronically. However, in every case, it is the physician, not the pharmacist, who must decide what medication is best for the patient.
The pharmacies work with the pharmaceuticals to help teach physicians about their own products. I am certain many docs are swayed by attractive drug reps, but regardless, it is, in the end, the physician who decides what the patient should have. Once the physician is writing orders for this new medication or any other medication, the local pharmacy stores are certain to have it in stock to sell to the physicians’ patients. If one pharmacy store does not carry the medicine, the patient goes to a different store; they don’t generally just get some substitute.
In the cannabis world, everything is backwards and physicians are in fact discouraged to help to their patients find the best medicine for them. This is ridiculous. Nearly every patient wants and is entitled to guidance by their physician. I won’t tell a patient where to get some “great OG Kush”, because that is not my business. However, when it comes to dosable medicines and there are just a small number of stores carrying the medicine, I will give patients a list of a number of dispensaries.
Let’s have doctors give patients help and direction? Right?
How Did I Get Into This Crazy Business
I have practiced Internal Medicine in the Santa Monica area for 33 years. I was trained at UCLA and remained on their clinical faculty for 17 years until politics intervened.
Despite being raised in the 60’s in Northern California, I never actually tried cannabis personally until I became ill 10 years ago with a cardiomyopathy. My own patients for whom I had written some of the very early cannabis “prescriptions” came to my home and performed a “reverse intervention”. They stayed with me for some weeks, threw away some of my “heart meds” and started me on cannabis at very high doses.
I continued to see my physicians, but of course never said I had altered my meds nor that I had started using a “lot of pot”; although I think they knew. :)
Anyway, one year after being told I would need a heart transplant, I was feeling pretty much back to normal. Soon thereafter, I healed completely and my heart function is normal today. I am not saying the cannabis did this. I know it certainly didn’t hurt and it may very well have played a role in many ways; that is why we need to study it more.
While healing, I designed and built a software system, called ChartScape, that ran the UCLA Bowyer clinic chemotherapy ordering for 9 years. It was just replaced by EPOCH. Sixteen years ago, I designed E-‐Script, the e-‐prescription software that was used by many Kaiser hospitals and recently also replaced by EPOCH.
Back to Medical Cannabis: In mid 2005, I started reading about CBD/Cannabidiol, and that the Feds had patented it in 2003. I began attending conferences and reading what was available with regard to CBD. In 2006, I began working as an Internist who was very active in cannabis research and patient care. It was a 6 year process to come to the place where we are able to reasonably control CBD strains of cannabis and have been improving a CO2 extracted CBD rich Tincture and oral preparation.
These dosable cannabis medications are critical if cannabis is to be seriously considered by the mainstream healthcare system. Smoking and edibles are just a mess and inefficient and certainly not dosable nor particularly healthy. Vaporizing does clean up the tars, but is of no help with dosing and is very short lived.
Beginning 3 years ago, with the launch of http://projectCBD.org, the hunt for CBD genetics began in earnest. I have been involved since the start and have worked with the folks at “Project CBD” and continue to work with them on a daily basis.
My primary goal from 30,000 feet is for medical cannabis, in dosable forms, to be recommended by mainstream physicians. To this end, I have been very involved with a very small group of physicians approved to give physcian CME credits.
I have been a lecturing physician to other healthcare professionals teaching them that in fact dosable and CBD based cannabis medicines are available in the community. I support their giving out the paper “recommendations” and helping their patients obtain dosable medications. Without the dosed meds, the mainstream physicians will never come onboard. With CBD being so huge, this should/could happen sooner.
As the impetus intensified for http://statewidecollective.org, a group of us launched http://certifiedcannabismedicine.com. This site is a statement as to what the medicine is all about. It lays out the framework for what in fact medication certification should be. I talk a lot about these and other issues at http://greenbridgemed.com and while you are at it, check out http://CBD4me.com.
I am not certain that any of the current storefront dispensaries actually operate anything close to what the Compassionate Use Act intended. I am yet to see a collective who only distributes to it’s members’ cannabis products grown, transported and tested all within the collective. The storefronts are scary to many and rarely offer dosable cannabis medications.
So, to enable the legal purification of the cannabis products as well as making them all dosable, setting up a collective was mandatory. There are no “business to business” operations allowed in the Medical Cannabis world. We all elected to setup http://statewidecollectiv.org, as the nonprofit, mutual benefits corporate collective. In addition, we are wrapping a StateWide Community around the collective, which will allow membership, group health insurance, super pac, cannabis cruise lines, etc etc.

All growers inside SWC grow only for patients inside SWC. Period. There are some collectives, mid-‐teens, that are now joining SWC to enable the legal “barter” of excess tincture beyond what SWC requires for it’s own members.
I envision mainstream physicians coming onboard. In fact this is rapidly happening. Three such physicians are Dr. Christine Paoletti, my office associate, Dr. Sheldon Jordan, a nationally renown neurologist, Dr. Robert Gerner, an internationally reknown psycho-pharmacologist and many others. They all are happy to use their names openly and send me patients for trials on CBD.
I am expanding GreenBridge Medical to incorporate other offices in the state. We just completed this with four offices with more on the way. My main interest in this is to really help SWC expand and become both the protection and the provider that we all need now and may need a LOT MORE in the near future.
I see our certified site, clinical medical site, collective site and medicine site, all coming together to allow hundreds of thousands of California patients grow, share and process cannabis medicines in a professional and compassionate manner.
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