Herbal Knowledge
The mayor wants the ban, but few others do—and the results could be disastrous.
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If you’ve ever eaten hemp seeds, worn a hemp bracelet, or used body care products with hemp as an ingredient, you might find it hard to believe that cannabis’s non-intoxicating cousin was’t legal in the U.S. until 2018, when lawmakers finally made hemp legal as part of the 2018 Farm Bill after more than 80 years of prohibition. Prior to hemp’s legalization, and because of arcane FDA rules about the harmless crop, US farmers were not allowed to grow it on US soil.
Prior to 2018, some parts of the hemp plant, primarily textile made from hemp fiber and seeds from the aerial parts of the plant, could be imported to the US as long as the product contained less than 0.3% THC. This shortsightedness turned out to be a big financial loss for US markets since prohibition on hemp didn’t discourage consumers from seeking it out.
In 2017, US consumers spent $553 million on hemp food, supplements, and body care products, all of which were made with hemp seed oil from foreign countries — primarily China, as China, Hungary, and Romania are the top producers of hemp in the world.
American consumers love body care products, and are eager to try new cannabis-infused goods judging by the explosive growth of the CBD market, expected to expand by nearly 16% and become a $1.8 billion industry by 2022. With that being said, is investing in hemp body care products good for your skin and are they worth the price?
Hemp soap is exactly what it sounds like: a cleansing agent, typically found in either liquid or bar form, that contains hemp seed oil as one of its primary ingredients. But not all hemp soaps are created equal. Soap in general is made by mixing fat and oil with a base. Ingredient labels are required to list ingredients in descending order, so the ingredient with the highest concentration will be listed first, and those with lesser ingredients follow down the line. If hemp is toward the bottom of that list, there probably isn’t enough hemp seed oil in the soap to provide any of its myriad benefits. Other ingredients often in hemp soap typically include moisturizing oils like jojoba or coconut, and essential oils such as peppermint or lavender to sweeten the smell.
Both hemp and soap have been used by humans for thousands of years. The first known formula for the making of soap-like materials — water, alkali, and cassia oil — was found on a Babylonian clay tablet that dates back to approximately 2800 BCE. It is not known for certain whether prehistoric people used hemp for food but it is assumed, and we know for sure that pieces of hemp cloth have been dated to 8000 BCE.
Far from their primordial roots, hemp and soap have come a long way. In addition to hemp’s explosive growth, the size of the bath soap market in 2020 reached $20.5 billion and is expected to expand to $27.5 billion by 2026..
Keep in mind that hemp soap and CBD soap are not the same. CBD is the non-intoxicating cannabinoid sometimes added to body care products, often at an inflated cost to consumers. Make sure to read the label to ensure that the product a company is selling as CBD is not actually hemp seed oil.
Arguably the most well-known hemp soap on the market, Dr. Bronner’s All-One! Hemp Soap, was founded in 1948 by Dr. Emanuel Bronner — who wasn’t actually a doctor. You’ve probably seen the large sixteen ounce bottles with the eye-catching labels full of tiny text sharing Emanuel’s All-One vision on the shelves at your local natural grocer.
Though Dr. Bronner’s didn’t add hemp seed oil to their famous castile soap until 1998, according to their website, their hemp soap can be used for anything and everything. I took the company at their word and diluted the soap to do some cleaning around the house and found it worked well on the hardwood floor, but I’ve also used the refreshingly tingly peppermint soap in the shower. Other suggested uses are for laundry, washing the dishes, giving your dog a bath, and even to brush your teeth.
Most hemp soaps in the space are much more specialized and intended only for bathing, and you certainly wouldn’t want to use a hemp soap infused with CBD for house cleaning tasks like mopping the floor or cleaning the sink.
Using hemp seed oil can help even out skin’s oil production. It’s also full of omega-6 essential fatty acids which can be a powerful anti-inflammatory agent. Many people with conditions like psoriasis, eczema, and acne find some relief when using hemp soap. It may also be beneficial for those who do not have those conditions, but need some relief from sensitive or very dry skin.
In addition to its anti-inflammatory properties, hemp seed oil is an excellent moisturizing agent because of compounds like linoleic acid and oleic acid, which are not produced by the body. By using hemp seed oil topically, it may help reduce fine lines, wrinkles, and other signs of aging such as redness or dark spots. Hemp seed oil is also ultra-moisturizing and will not pull moisture from your skin, unlike products that contain chemical compounds found in soap like triclosan.
To add an additional layer to an anti-wrinkle, anti-aging regimen, consider adding hemp seeds or hemp seed oil to your diet to accompany graceful aging from the inside out.
Nope — hemp seed oil is made from pressing non-psychoactive seeds from the hemp plant into oil. In addition, cannabis topicals such as hemp soap are designed to be used at an actual application site — in this case the face or the body — and not internally.
The dermis is an excellent barrier to keeping out any cannabinoids that could show up on a drug panel.
Since hemp became legal in 2018 and the cannabis stigma has worn off a bit, more mainstream consumers are adding hemp soaps to their shelves, but the most reliable sources are those that have been stocking hemp soap for quite a while. Like your local health or natural market.
While large scale retailers like Target or Walmart can carry hemp soap, they are more likely to advertise soap that is not full of the all-natural ingredient goodness that a natural product store is likely to stock. Mass-produced soaps are often full of chemicals that can reduce the efficacy of topical cannabis products. However, on the large retailer side, Whole Foods Market tends to carry a good-sized offering of hemp soaps.
For those wishing to put their dollars behind smaller retailers, check out online sellers like Etsy, or better yet, find a co-op or street fair and get behind a local business.
Featured image by Gina Coleman/Weedmaps
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Source: wm
Lorena Cupcake, voted “best budtender in Chicago,” has answered hundreds of questions from cannabis shoppers and patients during their time as a budtender. And now they’re turning that experience into a monthly advice column, Ask a budtender. Got a question for Cupcake? Submit your questions to askabudtender@weedmaps.com.
Dear Budtender,
How can I normalize cannabis use within my family so that my relatives understand that this is my medicine?
Dear cannabis patient,
I’m glad we’re tackling this question, because the need to defuse and debunk stigma around cannabis is an almost universal challenge. Though I’ve been lucky enough to pass the bong with the former flower child who raised me, employers and health care providers have often made it clear that my daily regimen is seen as a vice. During my time as a budtender, I’ve helped many medical patients find discreet methods of consumption to avoid prying from nosy neighbors and judgemental relatives.
If we want to move into a future where no one faces unjust repercussions for using cannabis medically or recreationally, part of that battle begins at home. It means tough conversations with adult family members who might carry their loaded expectations to the table, as well as age-appropriate discussions with children.
Early conversations with children might focus on the need for them to understand that certain medicines are not appropriate for them and that certain storage areas are off-limits for their own safety. Over time, however, cannabis can be used as a teaching tool in the mission to show young people how to care for themselves and develop healthy coping mechanisms. At the same time, it can be used to encourage our extended family to develop more understanding and empathy.
If you’re not sure where your family members stand on cannabis, one way to test the waters is to reference recent news events. For example, you might bring up the November elections where many states voted to roll back drug laws and establish pathways for legal cannabis. Broaching the subject in a way that isn’t directly personal might give you a chance to gauge whether they’ve updated old-fashioned views before you divulge private medical information. With seven in ten Americans supporting legalization these days, you might find they’re more supportive than you’d expect.
Like other moms in the weed community, DC-based cannabis educator Jay Mills knows the importance of starting conversations with those around you. Explaining the medical benefits of cannabis to her skeptical family led to the creation of her first book, a self-published Cannabis Reference Manual. Her parents are both medical doctors, so when it came to their conversations, “Education truly was the key,” she said. “I had to have charts and research and references. That was the only way to get through to them.”
To reprogram the misinformation drilled into generations during the War on Drugs, Mills suggests teaching relatives about the many proven non-intoxicating benefits of cannabis, noting that you can even start by discussing hemp-based CBD. “I would talk about the benefits of it raw or topically, where you’re not even talking about the psychological side effects, just to introduce the idea that this thing can be medicine.”
After doing their own experimentation with cannabis-based remedies for headaches and sore joints, her parents have become advocates in their own right. “My father and my mother both call me to ask for advice, and advice for patients they would like to recommend for cannabis treatments,” she said. “Their coworkers continue to consult me for cannabis-related therapeutic recommendations.”
Of course, parents and siblings aren’t the only family members we might need to discuss cannabis with. While Mills doesn’t smoke in front of her seven-year-old son, it’s normal for him to spot her whipping up infused skin products in the kitchen, or see his grandparents pick up creams and oils for their aches and pains. By the time he grows into a young man, she hopes to have laid the groundwork for him to feel more comfortable sharing her high-end stash than smoking mids with his friends. “I would love to smoke with my kid,” she laughed. “If I don’t, someone else will.”
To get there, the key may lie in ongoing conversations on all aspects of how to care for your body’s physical and emotional state. “I constantly talk to my son about his mental health,” she says. “If you’re not feeling the best in your mental health, if you feel stressed, if you’re feeling depressed, we can go to therapy. Sometimes you may need some things to help you feel better. And [cannabis] is one of the things, but so is sunshine, and so is exercise, and so is vitamin C and D, and so is art.”
Perhaps the most convincing argument of all is that cannabis is a valuable tool for caring for yourself. Presumably, your family would understand if you needed physical therapy to recover from an injury. They would understand if you needed to take antibiotics to clear an infection or wear a cast on a broken limb. Once they understand that there are very real mechanisms by which cannabis treats the roots of various conditions — and that you’re not simply plastering over pain with a happy stoned feeling — I truly hope that people who care about you would want you to care for yourself in ways that are safe, effective, and don’t harm anyone else.
If you do encounter pushback during your conversations, remember that there’s immense pressure in our society to keep up appearances when it comes to our physical and mental wellbeing. Many conditions that respond extraordinarily well to cannabis — like endometriosis, fibromyalgia, and depression — are often minimized and disregarded as “all in your head” despite their significant impact on day-to-day life. If your family members can’t understand why you need cannabis to function, it’s possible that they don’t have a complete grasp of the challenges you’re facing. That alone can be isolating and hurtful.
If that happens, I encourage you to seek out resources like disability support groups, online communities for people with your specific condition, or a therapist who specializes in living with chronic illness. As someone who also uses cannabis to cope with medical issues, I can assure you that you’re not alone, and there are other people out there who will understand and support you.
Featured image by fizkes/Shutterstock
Need advice on how to incorporate cannabis into your diet or lifestyle? Write Cupcake at askabudtender@weedmaps.com for February’s column.
The post Ask a budtender: how do I make my family understand cannabis is medicine? appeared first on Weedmaps News.
Source: wm
When it comes to measurements and prices of weed, lots of slang and lingo get tossed around. One that can be a particularly confusing measurement is a “zip” of weed. We’ve all asked “what is a zip of weed?”
If you’re new to cannabis or someone who partakes only occasionally, a trip to the dispensary or a conversation with your cannaseur friends might leave you feeling completely baffled as you try to learn some odd cannabis terms. There’s insider cannabis lingo on product packaging everywhere you look, and words that you’ve never heard of are used constantly by enthusiasts.
It is totally normal and natural to wonder and even ask: what exactly is the difference between a joint, blunt, and spliff? What about concentrates like rosin, budder, and shatter? And strain names — who comes up with those? Alaskan Thunder Fuck, anyone?
However, there’s a good explanation for the confusion. Prior to widespread cannabis legalization, partakers and sellers of the herb had to create, and subsequently share, insider terms — or even code words — to stand in for the actual thing or topic (in this case “marijuana”) that was considered too dangerous or taboo to discuss openly.
And much of the language that took root in the illicit cannabis market of yesteryear is finding a new niche in legal markets.
You may already be familiar with some of the nicknames for cannabis amounts that are making their way into the mainstream, like “dime” (a gram), “dub” (two grams), “eighth” or “slice” (3.5 grams or an eighth of an ounce), and “quarter” (seven grams or a quarter of an ounce).
This brings us to a “zip” — the gold standard of cannabis measurements. One zip equals approximately 28 grams, four quarters, or eight eighths. Or, to put it bluntly, one ounce.
Familiarizing yourself with what an ounce of cannabis looks like is important since many states use the measurement to determine legal possession limits. For example, under legal pot laws in California and Colorado, adults 21 and older may possess and transport up to one ounce of cannabis. For a visual reference, consider the utilitarian Ziploc plastic bag. An ounce of cannabis fits nicely into a Ziploc, and may be what inspired the nickname “zip.”
Though it’s hard to say for certain how the term originated, some basic logic probably applies. In the US, we shorten the word ounce to “oz.” It could be that the z from the abbreviation became the new shorthand. We also know that an ounce of weed fits in a Ziploc, so a second possibility is that the Z from Ziploc caught on.
Urban Dictionary shows definitions for the term that date back to 2002. Most of the definitions cited show that “zip” is simply defined as an ounce of weed, while a more thorough definition says, “an ounce of any kind of illegal drug. Usually used as a code name by paranoid drug dealers over the phone.”
The term may not be so familiar to non-consumers, but there are a lot of artists in the music industry putting the term out there for mainstream viewing and listening. Among them, Gucci Mane, Big Sean, Playboi Carti, Nav, and the Game.
Here’s how a few of them incorporated “zip” into their music:
“A Zip and a Double Cup” from Juicy J:
Ziploc bag full of kush double cup full of drank I get so damn trippy in my mind I go blank
“Stick Talk” from Future:
Fully loaded whip tote fully loaded clips F**king with my n*****, I'll smoke a zip
“It’s a Vibe” from 2 Chainz:
Gas in a Ziploc, now that's loud and clear This one outta here, this is our year
“Young, Wild, and Free” from Snoop Dogg, Wiz Khalifa, and Bruno Mars:
Zip in the safe, flippin' for pay Tippin' like I'm drippin' in paint Upfront, four blunts, like, “Khalifa put the weed in a J”
“Get That Zip Off” from Wiz Khalifa:
28 grams in a Ziploc It ain't nothin' to get that zip off
Unlike the above, let’s suppose you’re not a rapper, celebrity, or spokesperson extraordinaire, and you have to give some budgetary thought to how much you can spend on a zip. How much does it cost? As with all things cannabis, it depends on a lot of things, like supply, demand, where you live, and product quality. But expect a wide price range that will vary, anywhere between $150 and $300.
While that might seem like a lot of money to fork over up front, consider that buying in “bulk” — like you would paper towels or peanut butter at Costco — saves you money in the long run when you take into consideration the per dose consumption cost.
Think of it this way: a zip weighs one ounce, the same amount as six sheets of paper, a slice of bread, or 10 pennies. With that zip, you could roll 28 – 56 joints, 9 – 14 blunts, and smoke up to 56 bowls, depending of course on how fat your joint is or how tightly you pack a bowl. One zip can go a long way.
If you are a daily consumer, a zip could last a month or more, making it a smart and economical choice. However, zips aren’t for everyone. For the occasional consumer who enjoys kicking back with some ganga on the weekend, or takes a toke or two before bedtime, it could take 3 – 6 months to finish a zip.
Unless you are thoughtful and consistent about how you store your stash, freshness and flavor will be gone long before the zip is fully consumed. For the occasional imbiber, purchasing in an eighth or a quarter is the better bet.
Featured image by Gina Coleman/Weedmaps
The post What is a "zip" of weed? appeared first on Weedmaps News.
Source: wm