Test Results anyone? THC, THCA, Formula...

States that have legalized in cannabis require testing for potency and contaminants in cannabis, and lab-testing cannabis is quickly becoming an important part of the industry. The tests for pesticides, mold, contamination, etc. don’t require any new or special analytical techniques and are part of standard practice for other agricultural products as well. With the right lab equipment, chemists can measure cannabinoids to a certain degree of precision if they do it right, but the lack of a standardized way of looking at the data has everyone confused.

The subject of this issue is Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinolic acid (THCA), which occurs naturally in the plant. THCA needs to be heated so it changes into THC, the active form that gets you high. All cannabinoids occur naturally in their acid forms, that’s just how their enzymes make them. The difference between THCA and THC is a carboxy group. Upon smoking, cooking or vaping heat gets rid of the carboxy so THCA gives of CO2, losing about 12% of its weight in the process. Why does this matter for lab testing? Because THCA is heavier than THC, and lab results are given in percent mass.

The root of the confusion is the fact that different lab techniques give inherently different potency values. Depending on the lab, the analysis machine might use one of two separation methods: gas chromatography (GC) or liquid chromatography (LC).

GC happens at high temperatures, enough to completely decarboxylate all the cannabinoids in the mixture. The oven it happens in decarboxylates THCA before passing on to the detector, so it only picks up THC. This makes GC almost useless for testing edibles, because you need to be able to tell the difference between orally inactive THCA and active THC. Furthermore, decarboxylation happens incompletely at those high temperatures in the injector port, conserving no more than 70% of THCA, according to one study.

Liquid chromatography happens at room temperature and does not decarboxylate any cannabinoids, giving separate values for THCA and THC, which are always both present. These results need to be interpreted correctly, and hold hidden information about how the sample was handled and temperatures it has been exposed to.

Let’s look at an example. Given one lab result you could get three THC potency readings depending on how you read it, but only one method really stands to reason. Consider a made up lab result of Hypothetical OG that used LC, say it has 22.32% percent mass of THCA and 2.41% percent mass THC (active THC).

If you just look at the THCA value, you might think it has 22.32% THC. If you add the THC value to that, you might think this strain has 24.74% THC. Neither of these values is correct.

To get a real potency value you need to consider both THCA and THC, but with a correction factor for THCA before you add in THC. To calculate THCTOTAL:

THCtotal = (%THCA) x 0.877 + (%THC)

0.877 is the molecular mass (mm) of THC divided by that of THCA; this factor boils it down to a simple formula: take 87.7% of the value for THCA, then add on the value for THC. This formula also holds true for finding the active CBD content (CBD TOTAL) because CBD and THC have the exact same mm. Therefore the correct value of THC TOTAL for Hypothetical OG is 21.98%, the weighted average of THCA and THC.

To get a real measure of the potency of a strain of pot, you need to look at THC TOTAL. This is because the relative amounts of THCA and THC depend on the amount of heat the flower, dry bud or extract has been exposed to. Since this is always different, lab testing needs to see past this variable.

Since GC doesn’t work for edibles, many labs are switching to LC to test for edibles. If you know you’re looking at a lab test that used LC, you’ll need to use this formula to get a consistent value of THC TOTAL.

When looking at lab results, make sure to take this into consideration. Be suspicious of lab results that just give you one number for %THC. If the lab used GC, you won’t have this issue at all. The %THC given from a GC machine roughly reflects THC TOTAL.

Read the original article from High Times HERE.

Clean Green Certified!

We are now Clean Green Certified!!

Here at Gorge Greenery we never stop striving for the best, and are one of the few Clean Green Certified Dispensaries. From sustainable labels and packaging, reclaimed wood and recycled furnishing, to Clean Green Certified cannabis and gardens with extended pesticide screening, we are always striving to protect consumers as well as our environment.

Clean Green Certified is the number one certifier nation-wide for cannabis cultivated using sustainable, natural organically-based and biodynamic practices. Legally, marijuana cannot be called organic — no matter how environmentally friendly the cultivation practices used to grow it — because the term is federally regulated and the USDA does not recognize cannabis as a legitimate agricultural crop. The Clean Green Certified program was created in 2004 as a way to regulate legal cannabis-products that called themselves "organic." Consumers can rest assured when they buy a Clean Green Certified cannabis product that it has met all of the requirements of the rigorous program.

Modeled on national and international sustainability,  organic and biodynamic program standards, the Clean Green program requires on-site inspections. Clean Green Certified goes further that the USDA organic in some areas, requiring more strict regulations on pesticide testing for all operators and each cannabis operation must put into place a carbon footprint reduction plan, water conservation measures and fair labor practices.

Clean Green Certified has a certification specifically for cannabis processors and handlers. Whether it be a store-front or a cannabis concentrate company, certification audits the processor/handler's ability to keep Clean Green cannabis separate from cannabis grown conventionally. A consumer can have greater confidence when buying cannabis or a cannabis product from a Clean Green Certified outlet that it was grown fair-trade and sustainably, without the use of synthetic pesticides. 

Check out the Clean Green website here: www.cleangreencert.org

Why we need to rebrand the term "HIGH"

“My patients need that THC; they don’t really get a lot of benefit from CBD-only products,” says Bryan Krumm, a psychiatric nurse practitioner who currently works with about one thousand PTSD patients in New Mexico.

He has seen whole-plant cannabis heal all types of patients throughout 25 years in the psychiatry field. He has seen it relieve struggles with PTSD (including his own), as well as other psychiatric woes such as depression and addiction.

“There’s nothing wrong with that psychoactive effect,” he says. “People opposed to cannabis complain that this is a euphoriant and that it makes you high. But that’s what we do in psychiatry. We try to induce euphoria, to lift people’s moods. We don’t want people to be down and low and depressed.”

The difference between Krumm and a lot of other psychiatrists is this: he refuses to ever prescribe another pharmaceutical.

His only exception is the FDA-approved Marinol, a synthetic version of THC developed in the 1980s. A lot of cannabis physicians and practitioners frown upon Marinol because of negative studies and because whole-plant cannabis seems to be more therapeutic with its additional 100+ cannabinoids and multitude of terpene profiles.

But Krumm prescribes Marinol to certain patients when they travel out-of-state to places where cannabis remains prohibited. And some of his patients, contrary to what the studies tell us, actually prefer it to whole-plant medication.

By talking and listening to so many patients, Krumm has discovered that a lot of the studies out there are inaccurate.

In general, the term “high” is supposed to have good connotations, Krumm says.

“If you do the right thing morally and ethically, you’re said to be taking the high road. When we want to get smarter we pursue higher education. We set out to improve ourselves and lift ourselves, and we try to raise ourselves up out of poverty.”

But, like with so many other things applied to cannabis, the idea of getting high immediately gets a negative connotation, he says. “We need to change our understanding and reclaim that term as something positive – which is what it’s supposed to be.”......

Another expert I talked to, Sebastian Marincolo – a cannabis philosopher and writer who has been researching the herb for 10 years now – likes the difference between high and stoned. “When we say stoned we think of that couch-lock state of mind where you’re sedated, not thinking clearly – and for some people this is the desired effect,” he says.

“But the ‘high’ is something else,” Marincolo continues. “It is more euphoric and energetic – a different state of mind which comes with systematic changes in cognition and perception. And most people underestimate all of this and they don’t understand the full bouquet of changes.”

Where a lot of people view the psychoactive element as the adverse side effect of marijuana, Marincolo has methodically explored and laid out what he calls the bouquet of cognitive effects offered by the plant.

In Marincolo’s new book What Hashish Did To Walter Benjamin, he writes about many of these cognitive effects:

• Hyper focusing
• Episodic memory retrieval
• Pattern recognition
• Enhanced imagination
• Increased empathy
• Associative & lateral thinking
• Deeper introspection

“It doesn’t really give you a total enhancement of cognition, but there are a bunch of possibilities,” Marincolo says. “No matter what you do, you always have some functions enhanced and some that get worse.”

Read the whole article at GreenFlower Media HERE.

Spring Hours are here!

We have extended our hours for Spring!

Come in Mon-Thurs 10a - 8p, Fri-Sat 10a- 9p, and Sundays 10a- 7pm.

Join us on Wednesday, 4-20! 

Our Canna Social and Cannabis 101 will run from 5-7, but we will be open 9-9 with specials all day!

For more details check out our FB Event here!

420 Canna-Celebration!

We will be hosting an intro to Cannabis 101 from 5:00p -7:00p with an open Q&A.
1.25 Cent Joints while supplies last starting at 4:20!

Deals, Specials, Giveaways and GG swag all day!
*Munchies will be available!!*
Extended hours 9:00 am-9:00 pm.
More details to come!

Happy Easter!

For our Easter celebration we are sharing some of the best Bible verses about cannabis!

Genesis 1:29, the most commonly cited pro-pot verse according to Driscoll, says, “Then God said, ‘I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.’”

Luke 6:37, a kind of catchall verse, says, “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.”

Are there other verses that might lend themselves in support of lighting up? Hint: Look for verses that mention plants or crops. Here are five:

Genesis 1:12 says, “The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.”

Genesis 9:3 says, “Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.”

1 Timothy 4:1-3, which is about people who will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits, says, “They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth.”

Revelation 22:1-2, which imagines the water of life flowing from the throne of God, says, “On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.”

Matthew 15:11 says, “What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.”

Stinky Pete

Stinky Pete has been released! Stinky Pete is 1/2 Snowtracks, 1/4 Vortex, 1/8 Dynamite, and 1/8 OG Kush causing an intense body high. Testing up at 25% this strain has and Earthy, manly smell, with an herbal nutty flavor with notes of cheese.

This strain is named after Pete Bergeman, who was well known throughout the Hood River Marijuana industry and passed away doing what he loved. Pete did a lot from Otis Gardens and he left his mark by building many custom work areas in the garden. He ran a tight crew and was well liked.

When Otis popped some seeds from their private breeding stock they discovered a large, powerful, and smelly 9 bladed plant. Pete died around the same time this strain was born so it is named in memory of him.

Come down and try this potent strain!

Is your endocannabinoid system balanced?

Leafly came out with an article back in April of last year with some pertinent information. The primary question posed was, as our headline states, "Is your endocannabinoid system balanced?"

To briefly review, the endocannabinoid system is a group of specialized lipids, their receptors, and the enzymes that produce and degrade them. Through direct and indirect actions, endocannabinoids are known to modulate and influence a variety of physiological systems, including appetite, pain, inflammation, thermoregulation, intra-ocular pressure, sensation, muscle control, energy balance, metabolism, sleep health, stress responses, motivation/reward,mood, and memory.

The endocannabinoid system is known to control the proliferation, differentiation, survival, and immune competence of the often-neglected integumentary organ system (i.e., skin cells and hair). Targeting and manipulating endocannabinoid balance with the intent to normalize unwanted skin cell growth and skin inflammation might be beneficial for a variety of human skin conditions (psoriasis, eczema, acne, dermatitis, systemic sclerosis, etc).

Read the full article HERE.

Gaia Medbar gets DOPE

On Feb 1, 2016 Dope Magazine published an article about Gaia Medbars, a delicious chocolate bar which we happen to carry. If you haven't tried one, come down quick to get a taste!

"Edible enthusiasts unite in celebration as talented culinary artisans and visionaries shake the shackles of cannabis prohibition and create progressive new dishes using THC infused ingredients. Accomplished chefs Megan Endres and Zack Derck have teamed up with DOPE Magazine to repurpose and give new life to the handcrafted cannabinoid-laden chocolate Gaia Medbar."

Read the full article HERE.

Cannabis Topicals, Healing and Fitness

"Balms or salves go a step beyond lotions. They stay on the skin longer and penetrate deeper into the muscle, working best for the more severe localized pain... or joint pain in knees and hips.

This type of application also takes effect quickly, sometimes in as little as five minutes. I’ve experienced relief from cannabis balms that lasts as long as 10 hours, which takes away the need to continually reapply to keep the relief going...

For generalized body ache, nothing beats a soak in cannabis bath salt, which can help you and your body to get some much-needed restful sleep for athletic recovery.

A soak in a hot bath using a cannabis-infused bath salt gives immediate all-over relief with a wonderful aromatherapy experience to boot.

... infused variety provides a level of relaxation that other salts can’t."

Read the full article here!