What to do if your pet ingests cannabis....

Step 1. Determine the type and potency.

Here's a quick rundown of the types of cannabis your pet could have gotten into, ranked from least severe to most severe:

• Raw cannabis flower - least severe because it's not decarboxylated, so the THC hasn't been activated

• Vaped or burned cannabis flower - not ideal because there could still be some activated THC in it

• Non-chocolate infused edibles - can vary in danger levels depending on the edible's potency and ingredients

• Cannabutter - can vary in danger levels depending on the potency of the cannabutter

• Concentrates - inherently potent; therefore, even the smallest amount of concentrate(e.g., a dab) can have an acute effect on an animal, particularly smaller pets

• Chocolate-infused edibles - can vary in danger levels depending on the edible's potency, but certain properties in chocolate can be toxic to animals such as dogs and cats

Step 2. Evaluate your animal's symptoms.

Check for the following symptoms your pet is exhibiting:

• Mild toxicity will result in sluggishness, lethargy, excessive saliva production, and wobbling.

• More extreme cases may result in loss of bodily control, urinary incontinence, low blood pressure, a slow heart rate, seizures, or even death (via asphyxiation on their own vomit)

Step 3. Soak up the bad stuff.

You can try avoiding a worst-case scenario for your precious furbaby by soaking up your pet's stomach contents. Activated charcoal is available at most drug stores and can soak up the toxins in your pet’s stomach, including any remaining THC that hasn’t been absorbed into their bloodstream yet.

Note: Do not attempt to use activated charcoal if you’ve already tried to induce vomiting.

Step 4. Induce Vomiting.

If step 3 didn't work, try to make your pet puke. You can use hydrogen peroxide to induce vomiting -- use one teaspoon per 10 pounds on your pet, every 15 minutes (no more than three times total).

Monitor your pet closely, as this method can result in excessive vomiting or bloody stool. Don’t overdo it and watch for signs of distress, in which case you may need to seek a professional.

Note: You will feel awful and heartless and your pet will not understand why this is happening. Sorry, that’s just how it goes.

Step 5. Seek Professional Help.

If all else fails, and especially if you realize that your pet has consumed a large amount of cannabis or THC, this may be a necessary, and even life-saving next step. Be honest with your veterinarian – he or she will be able to determine the outcome either way, so transparency will save you both time in the long run.

Give the vet as much information as possible – what kind of product, its potency, how long it has been since it was ingested, etc. For example, if the edible contained chocolate, this could put your pet at further risk, so try to be specific with details.

Read the full article from Leafly HERE.

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.

A BIG THANK YOU!

A big thank you to all who came out yesterday! 420 was a great success. From our staff, to patients, customers, and neighbors, we all had a blast. A special thank you to Matt from Freshies Bagels and Juice for manning the much needed munchies food cart, and to Cesar for hosting our Cannabis 101 social as well as those who attended it, including Dr. Steve from MAMAs. We are looking forward to our next class event. Follow us on social media for great deals, news and classes in the meantime!

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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.”

Our Labels just got better!

Our Compostable Labels
Are Now Made With Sugarcane Pulp!

Our new sugarcane face stock has a similar natural look and appeal to the old hemp material. It remains fully compostable, natural, vegan, and tree-free. It has been designed to be slightly thicker than the hemp material, which means it is more durable and significantly improved for machine application, as well as hand application.

We have spent months developing this new solution, and we are pleased to see that our regular customers already love it!
 

If you loved our natural hemp paper labels, these are even sweeter than ever!

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.