HempTalk - Business Blogs and Press Releases

Cannabis plants produce over 100 different cannabinoids, but the main cannabinoid molecules are: Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC): THC is the primary psychoactive compound found in cannabis. It is responsible for the "high" or euphoric feeling associated with marijuana use.Cannabidiol (CBD): CBD is a non-psychoactive compound found in cannabis. It is bel...

Hemp is a versatile plant that has been used for various purposes for thousands of years, including as a soil amendment. When hemp is grown for industrial purposes, it can be used as a cover crop or as a green manure to improve soil health and fertility. One of the benefits of using hemp as a soil amendment is its ability to absorb nutrients from t...

CBD, or cannabidiol, has become a popular ingredient in skincare products due to its potential anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. CBD is derived from the hemp plant, and is non-psychoactive, meaning it does not produce the "high" associated with marijuana use. CBD is believed to have a number of benefits for the skin, including reducing ...

The endocannabinoid system (ECS) is a complex cell-signaling system that plays a crucial role in regulating various physiological and cognitive processes, including appetite, mood, pain sensation, and memory. The ECS consists of three primary components: endocannabinoids, cannabinoid receptors, and enzymes. Endocannabinoids are lipid molecules that...

HerbalGram, the acclaimed quarterly journal of the American Botanical Council, recently published its 2021 “Herb Market Report,” which included data on sales of CBD as an herbal ingredient in mainstream and natural retail channels in the United States. The combined total from both channels — $58,293,034 — does not include CBD sales in licensed cannabis dispensaries or CBD products, such as vapes, tinctures, gummies, and other edibles sold online. (E-commerce sales of CBD in the U.S. in 2021 reached $2 billion, according to Statistica.)

The following excerpt analyzes CBD marketing trends reported by the American Botanical Council, a membership organization that educates consumers, health care professionals, journalists, and others about the safe and effective use of medicinal plants. Visit this link if you are interested in becoming an ABC member, which includes a subscription to HerbalGram.

A Top Selling Herbal Supplement

In 2021, for the fourth year in a row, CBD was the top-selling herbal supplement ingredient in natural retail stores. CBD first appeared on the natural channel’s top 40 list in 2017, ranking 12th, after sales growth of more than 300% from the previous year. Despite its top rank in 2021, sales of this ingredient have slowed in recent years.

In 2021, CBD sales in the natural channel totaled $38,931,696, a 24% decline. This was somewhat less than the nearly 37% decline seen in 2020. Sales appear to have peaked in 2019, when natural channel consumers spent more than $90.7 million on these products. Still, even after two years of declining sales, natural channel sales of CBD in 2021 were still significantly higher than when the ingredient first appeared on the top 40 list. Consumers spent roughly $31.3 million more on CBD products in 2021 compared to 2017 — a 413.4% increase in annual sales.

The marketing data firm SPINS tracks sales of two separate cannabis-derived ingredients: CBD and “hemp seeds and derivatives.” According to the FDA, “hemp” is defined as Cannabis sativa with a tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) concentration of 0.3% or less. (THC is the primary psychoactive compound in cannabis.) Cannabis sativa with more than 0.3% THC is considered “marijuana” or “cannabis.”1 SPINS’ CBD category typically includes sales of products that contain hemp-based CBD extracts, including CBD oils, gummies, and capsules.

Hemp construction, also known as hempcrete, is an alternative building material made from the woody core fibers of the hemp plant mixed with a lime-based binder. Hemp is a renewable resource that can be grown in a variety of climates, and hempcrete is a sustainable building material that has gained popularity in recent years due to its many benefit...

For all modern medicine can do, many mysteries remain unsolved. What is long COVID? Is there really such thing as a “cure” for cancer? And how to explain the surprisingly high prevalence of fibromyalgia, a debilitating, lifelong disorder of the central nervous system without a known cause that affects between 2 and 4 percent of adults worldwide?

In the absence of an answer — or a cure — treatment is the name of the game for fibromyalgia. No single drug yet exists to address all of the disease’s effects on the body, which can include widespread aches and pains, sleeplessness, fatigue, anxiety, and depression. Instead, patients turn to a mix of whatever individual medications, therapies, and lifestyle changes (especially exercise) help ease symptoms and improve quality of life.

On the drug front, anti-depressants, analgesics, and muscle relaxants might be prescribed. But there’s another option that can address mood, pain, and more at once, all with fewer side effects: cannabis.

It’s not a new idea. Researchers have been investigating the use of cannabis to treat fibromyalgia’s constellation of symptoms for decades, with early clinical trials in the 2000s1-4 suggesting a possible benefit of both pure THC and flower in managing the disease. Nor is it necessarily surprising, given the ability of cannabis to target the ubiquitous, homeostasis-seeking endocannabinoid system.

Recently published papers — a series of reviews, two human studies, and an animal study — only bolster the case that cannabis can help those suffering from this confounding condition. Still more may be forthcoming, including through a newly announced randomized controlled trial in the Netherlands that will compare cannabis, oxycodone, and a combination of the two for pain relief in 60 fibromyalgia patients.5

Farming hemp involves several steps and considerations, here's a general overview: Choose a suitable location: Hemp can be grown in a variety of climates and soil types, but it requires well-draining soil and ample sunlight. The location should also be away from areas with high traffic or pollution.Obtain necessary permits and licenses: Depending o...

CBD, or cannabidiol, is one of the primary active compounds found in the cannabis plant. Like other cannabis strains, CBD also contains terpenes that contribute to its unique aroma and potential therapeutic effects. Here are some of the most common terpenes found in CBD: Myrcene: Myrcene is one of the most abundant terpenes found in cannabis, inclu...

Think of your brain as an ocean, an ecosystem inhabited by numerous species of fish-like neurotransmitters and their receptors, with currents of electricity connecting and delicately balancing all the different components. Inflammation is like a bloom of red algae, harming everything around it and upsetting the homeostasis of the environment.

Enter our hero, Palmitoylethanolamide (PEA) – a lipid messenger kindred to the endocannabinoid system and a close cousin of anandamide (AEA), the famous endocannabinoid neurotransmitter. Sometimes referred to as “the endogenous version of CBD,” PEA is a powerhouse against inflammation and pain. Like CBD, PEA increases the levels of endocannabinoids and strengthens the endocannabinoid system. And, again like CBD, a constant theme in the scientific literature about PEA is its incredibly strong safety profile.

In our neural ocean metaphor, PEA weighs in as the “most venerable of the leviathans,” the grinning Right Whale, a stalwart fighter in our constant battle against inflammation and pain.

A Mystery

The PEA story begins with a mystery, which leads to another mystery — and ends with the next great wave of the cannabinoid revolution.

We begin during World War 2 – and indeed, geopolitics plays a significant role in our tale. Because of the war effort, we find it a prosperous time for the new-ish field known as “public health.” A healthy population of workers was essential to support the production of war materiel. Two NYC doctors named Coburn and Moore found that if they gave dried eggs to the poor children of the tenements, this helped to prevent rheumatic fever and other ills related to poor nutrition. They also discovered that egg yolks are an anti-inflammatory food.

What makes cannabis cannabis? The aroma of flower and the physiological effects of consuming it come down largely to two things: cannabinoid ratios and terpene content. These twin factors go a long way toward shaping the user experience of a given product, and distinguishing it from myriad other options. But what is the source of these distinctions, whether sweeping or subtle? New research points to the importance of an oft-overlooked influence: cultivation.

Variations in terpene and cannabinoid profiles are typically chalked up to genetics. Individual cultivars, defined by parental inheritance, may be grouped into broad categories according to their genetic predisposition toward a particular dominant terpene — caryophyllene and limonene for “dessert” strains, ocimene for tropical/floral strains, and terpinolene for Jack/haze strains, to name a few — or cannabinoid profile — high-THC, high-CBD, or balanced THC-CBD.

While helpful, these cultivar/genetics-based classification systems obscure an important consideration: the conditions under which the actual plant is grown. To wit, a new study in the journal Molecules finds that clones with identical genetics can produce meaningfully different levels of both types of chemicals when grown “naturally” versus “artificially.” Other recent papers report similar findings under different lights at indoor grows.

Science now confirms what cannabis connoisseurs have argued for years as cultivation has become increasingly commercialized in legal markets: it’s not all nature; nurture matters, too.

A Cultivation Experiment

Published in January 2023, the Molecules1 study was performed by researchers at New York’s Columbia University along with the owners of three independent Northern California cannabis companies: John Casali of Humboldt’s Huckleberry Hill Farms; Tina Gordon of Humboldt’s Moon Made Farms; and Christine Skibola of Novato’s Cosmic View.

Small producers have long been wary of the cannabis industry coming under domination by multistate operators (MSO’s) with the worst practices of corporate America. But the revelations of Russian oligarch money in the coffers of leading MSO Curaleaf appear to vindicate even the most cynical observers. These follow a slew of controversies concerning product safety and labor rights at the company.

Now based in the Boston suburb of Wakefield, adult-use cannabis colossus Curaleaf seems to exemplify the industry’s trajectory — from its origins as a local operation for medicinal users to its current status as a globe-spanning titan generating unsavory headlines and a string of scandals.

The World’s Largest Cannabis Company

Today Curaleaf ranks as the largest cannabis company in the world. Last year, it claimed $1.2 billion in profits. Until recently it had operations in 23 US states with 147 dispensaries, 22 cultivation sites, and 30 processing facilities.

Like other big MSOs, Curaleaf has achieved a dominant position in the cannabis industry by setting up operations primarily in “limited-license states . . . with natural high barriers to entry and limited market participants,” a strategy that helps “to ensure the company’s market share is protected,” according to the company’s annual investor filing in 2020.

But these “high barriers to entry” are hardly “natural.” They are constructed and promoted by policy-makers, regulators, and some opportunistic legalization advocates who favor restricting access to lucrative cannabis business licenses to a small number of well-heeled applicants.

Anyone who has paid any attention to the cannabis “wellness” industry in recent years — whether through state medical and recreational programs or the free-for-all national CBD market — will be familiar with cannabinoid-infused topicals marketed to treat minor aches and pains. Because they’re easy to use and non-intoxicating, these products may serve as familiar, low-risk entry-points for elderly, wary, or cannabis-naive individuals into the wider world of cannabis products.

Cannabis-infused salves, lotions, and the like work because cannabinoid receptors CB1 and CB2 — as well as secondary targets including TRP (“trip”) channels, PPARs (nucleus receptors), and serotonin receptors — are abundantly expressed in skin cells.1,2 Topically applied cannabinoids can bind directly with these receptors and thus reduce local inflammation and pain.

But properly formulated cannabis topicals may be able to do more than just that. For decades, researchers have studied cannabinoids’ ability to treat clinical skin conditions like acne, ulcers, and dermatitis. In the skin, as elsewhere, the endocannabinoid system works broadly to maintain balance, proper functioning, and immune response, including through the synthesis of the endocannabinoids anandamide and 2-AG.3 It’s even possible that cannabinoids taken internally, and not simply via a localized topical, may be able to help — especially if a condition is more widespread.

While skin disease remains a relatively little-known indication for cannabis use, and certainly demands more specialized attention than your standard soothing balm, numerous recent papers suggest it’s an area well worth exploring.

Cannabinoids for Inflammatory Skin Diseases

To start, consider a recent article in the journal Pharmaceuticals4 that examines previous research into cannabis-based medicines for inflammatory skin diseases such as acne,5 eczema, dermatitis, and psoriasis. The Portugal-based authors review 29 studies published between 2003 and 2021, 13 of which used human subjects and the rest cell and animal models. None of the human studies involved oral intake of cannabinoids per se, though one did find that increased consumption of hemp seed oil, but not olive oil, was associated with reduced symptoms of atopic dermatitis. The authors of the original study attributed this to the high concentration in hemp seed oil of polyunsaturated fatty acids, which are endocannabinoid precursors.