children Archives - Ministry of Hemp America's leading advocate for hemp Tue, 28 Jul 2020 23:33:32 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.2.2 https://ministryofhemp.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Icon.png children Archives - Ministry of Hemp 32 32 A Hemp Children’s Book & Colorado Hemp Farming With Blue Forest Farms https://ministryofhemp.com/hemp-childrens-book-farming-colorado-blue-forest-farms/ https://ministryofhemp.com/hemp-childrens-book-farming-colorado-blue-forest-farms/#comments Tue, 28 Jul 2020 23:33:31 +0000 http://ministryofhemp.com/?p=62161 We meet Zach Dorsett, chief growth officer for Blue Forest Farms and author of an upcoming hemp children's book, in the lastest Ministry of Hemp podcast.

The post A Hemp Children’s Book & Colorado Hemp Farming With Blue Forest Farms appeared first on Ministry of Hemp.

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This week’s podcast guest created a unique children’s book about hemp, in addition to farming our favorite plant in Colorado.

First in this episode of the Ministry of Hemp podcast, our host Matt opens with commentary on the FDA submitting their CBD Enforcement rules and what it could mean to for the CBD business in America. Currently, the CBD market is almost entirely unregulated, so these regulations are a long time coming.

This episode’s conversation is with Zach Dorsett, Chief Growth Officer of Blue Forest Farms. They talk about everything from Zach’s background in medical cannabis to his upcoming children’s book, A Hemp Story.

About Blue Forest Farms and ‘A Hemp Story’

Blue Forest Farms is a 150 acre hemp farm in Longmont, Colorado. offering high CBD flower, seed, and extracts. With over 40 years of combined organic farming and extraction experience, their team of farmers, botanists and extraction professionals understand what it takes to deliver exceptional hemp products.

In Zach’s new book “A Hemp Story,” two children (Ari and Jacob) visit Grandpa’s hemp farm, where he introduces them to his “magical” plants. It’s sweetly illustrated in full color by Natia Gogiashvili. The book is due out soon and available for pre-order now.

You’ve got hemp questions? We’ve got hemp answers!

Send us your hemp questions and you might hear them answered on one of our Hemp Q&A episodes. Send your written questions to us on Twitter, Facebook, matt@ministryofhemp.com, or call us and leave a message at 402-819-6417. Keep in mind, this phone number is for hemp questions only and any other inquiries for the Ministry of Hemp should be sent to info@ministryofhemp.com

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Photo: A photo of Zach Dorsett under a Blue Forest Farms awning. The motto reads "choose hemp. change the world. join the revolution." Also pictured is his hemp children's book, "A Hemp Story."
Blue Forest Farms is a 150-acre hemp farm in Longmont, Colorado. Chief Growth Officer Zach Dorsett (pictured) is about to launch his unique new children’s book, “A Hemp Story.”

A Hemp Children’s Book & Colorado Hemp Farming: Complete episode transcript

Below you’ll find the complete transcript of episode 48 of the Ministry of Hemp Podcast, “A hemp children’s book & colorado hemp farming with Blue Forest Farms”:

Matt Baum:
I’m Matt Baum, and this is The Ministry of Hemp Podcast brought to you by MinistryofHemp.com, America’s leading advocate for hemp and hemp education.

Matt Baum:
Hello and welcome back, and today on the show we’re going to be talking to Zach Dorsett. He is the Chief Growth Officer for Blue Forest Farms but more importantly than that, he wrote a children’s book about hemp and we’re going to be talking about it among some other things. But before we get into that, some pretty big governmental news coming down the pike here. The FDA submitted their CBD enforcement policy draft guidance to the White House.

CBD and the FDA

Matt Baum:
This past Wednesday, July 22nd, the FDA submitted their CBD enforcement policy document for approval which means we could have some long awaited industry guidance along the way. As of yet, nobody really knows what that guidance is going to be and while CBD enforcement policy certainly sounds kind of scary, it’s actually a good thing. Upon approval, we could have rules very quickly. Like in the next couple of weeks. What does this mean? It means rules could be coming to the CBD business. Standards, practices, and rules as set down by the federal government, which CBD companies that are doing it right have been screaming for for years now. When it is approved, the public release of the enforcement policy could come very quickly, like a matter of weeks.

Matt Baum:
No one is really sure where the FDA is going to go with this but it looks like it’s going to go one of two ways. And that is they’re going to put out rules that are claims based or standards based. Claims based meaning they could crack down on CBD companies that are making false claims. Which is good. We need to get the snake oil salesmen out of the way so people that are doing it right can represent CBD well and get a good product to the public. The standards side basically means that everyone will be expected to produce CBD products in a safe and effective way. Basically setting up good and safe manufacturing practice requirements, which again, this is a good thing. It’s better for everybody whether you’re in the production business or you’re a consumer buying CBD.

Matt Baum:
This is a story we’re going to continue to follow and of course I’ll try and keep you up to date on it. But this is a great first step and this is something that CBD producers all across the United States have been looking for, rules. Because once the government establishes federal rules, that will also help states get in line. Right now, we have different regulations in almost every state. And that is not helpful for anyone. So fingers crossed this new policy draft guidance will pass and US CBD providers will finally have some rules that they can look to, to make sure that they’re doing it the right way.

Kansas hemp corrections

Matt Baum:
Before I get into my weekly conversation, let’s do a couple corrections from last week. My buddy Kelly, who I talked to, he’s officially my buddy now because we got along very well. I don’t know if he knows that but deal with it, Kelly. He wanted me to let you know we needed to make a few corrections from our talk last week. One, Kansas was first in the nation for hemp bushels per acre in 1863. Two, Kelly served on the Department of AG IHRAB as an appointed member. And three, Kansas has actually increased it’s number of hemp licenses from 2019 by 11. All good things and I’m glad we got that straightened out. Thank you, Kelly.

Meet Zach Dorsett of Blue Forest Farms

Matt Baum:
My conversation today is with Zach Dorsett. As I mentioned earlier, he’s the Chief Growth Officer for Blue Forest Farms, but he’s a lot more than that and he has very interesting story. Not only that, Zach tells interesting stories. He wrote a children’s book all about hemp that is coming very soon and of course I’ll have more about that in the show notes but here is my conversation with Zach Dorsett of Blue Forest Farms.

Matt Baum:
So, before we go into the children’s book that I want to talk about, because I know it’s a weird intro but I do want to get into that, tell me a little bit about Blue Forest. How did you get involved in this? Where did this start? For you personally, that is.

Zach Dorsett:
Yeah. So, I’ve been in the hemp industry for a few years now. Since about 2016 and I started on the marijuana side and the push to CBD was really pretty strong for me. It’s funny to think back on it because I didn’t really know much about CBD or the endocannabinoid system or some of the things that I really get excited about now.

Matt Baum:
It’s crazy because four years ago nobody did. 2016, nobody knew anything about this. It’s nuts.

Zach Dorsett:
Seriously. We’re all just babies.

Matt Baum:
I know. Right?

Zach Dorsett:
Yeah, so I had been doing some direct patient work in addition to doing some consulting inside the cannabis space. And so what the consulting looked like is it was primarily centered around extraction, which was still pretty new in 2014, 2015, even in 2016, and it was really powerful for the cannabis industry because we took this, at the time it was really about utilizing the waste stream. The trimmings or flowers that weren’t going to sell or weren’t as appealable to sell and being able to take that and turn it into an alternative revenue stream. And concentrates now, I think, in that journey, I’m sure people have all kinds of reasons for getting involved in concentrates but for me, it helped me understand the reasons why people need concentrates and why they’re such an essential part of our community and our toolbox and it really helped me understand some of the chemistry behind extraction and solvent extraction and how all that all worked. That kind of goes back before hemp and then in 2016, I was doing a little bit of direct patient work so I had a few patients I was caregiving for, and so one patient had MS-

Matt Baum:
I don’t mean to stop you, but tell me about this. You were caring for patients? I don’t know of this aspect.

Zach Dorsett:
Sorry. That is a term commonly used in the cannabis community.

Matt Baum:
Oh, okay. Gotcha.

Zach Dorsett:
Basically you’re providing cannabis to a medical marijuana patient. They’re not my patients.

Matt Baum:
Sure. Okay.

Zach Dorsett:
I’m not a doctor or anything like that.

Matt Baum:
Yeah, I was like, whoa. I didn’t see that part in the bio. Back up. “Oh, yeah. I got my doctorate a couple years in between there too.”

Zach Dorsett:
Sorry. No, no. So these are medical marijuana patients. That’s why, it’s kind of maybe not the best verbiage.

Matt Baum:
It is what it is.

Zach Dorsett:
You’re using marijuana for medical purposes.

Matt Baum:
Sure.

Zach Dorsett:
And I just kind of get to know them through the community. One of them was a neighbor. One of them was a friend that I had found through political activism and volunteer work and then another had found me, I think through a Craigslist thing or something. Or maybe I found him through a Craigslist. He had MS and he wanted just the leaves. So I had a small grow for myself, medical marijuana grow for myself, and he just wanted the leaves to juice, right?

Matt Baum:
Really?

Zach Dorsett:
Yeah. It was really giving him great relief. And so he would come and pick up these garbage bags. When we de leafed or pulled down the plants, we would take all those leaves and freeze them immediately. And so I had a chest freezer full of these garbage bags of leaves. And then he would take those and he would juice them. He would pick them once a month or something like that. So I caught up with him a few weeks ago and he’s doing really well. There was another gal, this is the gal through the political activism work, and she had fibromyalgia and she was taking cannabis to help relieve her symptoms presumably. And we kind of digged down on learning about the plant and I had this grow and so I was helping, giving her some of the medicine I was growing, and I always found it really interesting to just hear people’s experiences. You know? Cannabis has been essential to my growth and development and it definitely provides a level of support to my health and well being that I think I take for granted a lot but I’m not one of those folks that had a debilitating illness. You know? Where I use cannabis and it gives me this life changing-

Matt Baum:
I think I’m with you. I think I’m in a very similar space. I have aches and pains and whatnot but I’ve never debilitated and I’ve found it’s helped me a lot as well.

Zach Dorsett:
Yeah. It’s cool. It’s one of those things, I took a step back a while back and I was like, well, maybe that is a big part of why I’m so healthy. You know?

Matt Baum:
Sure.

Zach Dorsett:
You can’t really use cannabis and not get the benefit.

Matt Baum:
Right.

How Zach found CBD in Florida

Zach Dorsett:
Everything is medical. Anyways, all these guys were pointing me into CBD. They all said, “I need CBD.” Oh, the third was my neighbor. And he had Tourette and so he was using cannabis to control his Tourette syndrome. But yeah, they were all pushing me into CBD. Asking me if I knew about CBD. Where to get it. What made it different, better, etc? And they were all very attracted to it and I think it was my neighbor friend first that got a hold of some and found a dispensary that specialized in it here in Colorado Springs called Natural Mystic. And they were one of the first dispensaries to start offering CBD dominant marijuana.

Matt Baum:
This was still around 2016 roughly?

Zach Dorsett:
It was maybe 2015. Right before. Right before I got into the hemp space.

Matt Baum:
Gotcha.

Zach Dorsett:
They were all kind of leading me towards CBD. What’s CBD? So I started looking, what’s CBD? Blah, blah, blah. And I was actually out on a vacation in Florida visiting my sister, she lives there in Miami, and I had walked into a head shop and they were selling all this CBD stuff. And I just started talking to the guy that ran the head shop about what the deal was because this was before they had medical marijuana in Florida. And he kind of explained how it was through the hemp laws and I had heard about hemp being legal but never really connected it to cannabis. I’d always thought, “Oh, great. We can grow our own grain.”

Matt Baum:
We can make our own parachutes. Cool.

Zach Dorsett:
Yeah. Exactly. Cool but it’s not going to have a future in the industry. But this brought it all together for me and it was like, I had just been learning about the endocannabinoid system, I think, too. And what I learned about it, which was like, “Oh, what I learned was, we have a system in our body that utilizes and makes its own cannabinoids.” And I was like, that’s amazing. Pot is obviously for everyone. You know?

Matt Baum:
Right. We just solved all the mysteries of the universe right there. You know? There it is.

Zach Dorsett:
Yeah. Click. But then there’s people, and certainly people in my life that never wanted to get high.

Matt Baum:
Of course.

Zach Dorsett:
Or tolerated the high at best. And so yeah, when I learned about CBD, it kind of made everything click. I was like, oh crap. This is the answer. This is for all the people that don’t want to get high but need the cannabinoids.

Matt Baum:
Sure.

Baking CBD edibles in Colorado

Zach Dorsett:
And I was like, this is cool. I want to learn more about this. So I started to get involved just making edibles. And we were just, me and a roommate, in Colorado you’ve got cottage law and you can make edibles in your house, or make, not edibles, but you can make non-marijuana products.

Matt Baum:
Right. Non-marijuana products.

Zach Dorsett:
In your house and sell them to the general public or even to stores and stuff. And so that’s what we stared doing and we started making some chocolate bars. I had some family friend, a friend of my dad’s that had been going back and forth to Jamaica to this old growth cocoa farm [inaudible 00:13:56]-

Matt Baum:
Very cool.

Zach Dorsett:
And was bringing this … It was like magical chocolate. You know? That he was bringing back and so we were doing that, we mixed that with the CBD, and we actually got in a few dispensaries in before they couldn’t sell hemp stuff, and now they can again.

Matt Baum:
Right. It kind of blows my mind that Colorado cannabis guy had to go to Miami to find CBD. That is just … This was just a few years ago and now CBD, Colorado and Oregon are like the CBD capitals of the United States basically.

Zach Dorsett:
Well, it’s true. But I would say, I tell you what, I would say that in 2016, the consumer marketplace for CBD products was far larger in Florida.

Matt Baum:
Really?

Zach Dorsett:
Yeah. The thing is, is that in Florida they didn’t have marijuana.

Matt Baum:
I guess that makes sense.

Zach Dorsett:
There’s this whole group of people that need and want cannabinoids and it works directly with your physiology. You know?

Matt Baum:
And you’ve got a massive geriatric population down there too. I mean, hey, makes sense. From there, you decide to go into your own CBD business?

Zach Dorsett:
Yep. It was pretty small time at first and then we ended up renting this coffee shop out on the weekends because one of their customers wanted us to be in a commercial kitchen environment and so we rented this coffee shop out and we were just using it on the weekends because they were closed on the weekends and in the evenings. You know? And we would rent it out, we would just go in and we would have to keep everything perfectly clean so they could come in the next day like nothing ever happens.

Matt Baum:
I’ve done that same gig with catering. I know all about it. It’s a nightmare. You spend more time cleaning than you do cooking anything.

Zach Dorsett:
Yeah. It definitely limits your ability to produce. But eventually, we actually bought the coffee shop. It wasn’t profitable so we bought it for a pretty modest amount of money. Kind of took it off the guy’s hands.

Matt Baum:
That’s nice of you. I thought coffee was like a billion … Coffee shops, that’s like printing money, right? Come on.

Zach Dorsett:
You know, it was so interesting because it was in the old folks center, the senior center, in Colorado Springs. They had 150 unique seniors come in there a day. And so we got to expose all those guys to CBD.

Matt Baum:
That’s amazing.

Zach Dorsett:
And talk to them about CBD and start selling it. Then the landlord ended up kicking us out not knowing really what CBD was.

Matt Baum:
Of course. You were drug dealers. You brought these horrible drugs in. Of course.

Zach Dorsett:
Yep. And so when our lease expired, they declined to renew it actually. I guess. They didn’t kick us out.

Matt Baum:
They respectfully asked you to leave.

Zach Dorsett:
Exactly.

Matt Baum:
Got it.

Joining Blue Forest Farms

Zach Dorsett:
And at that time, I had been starting to think about going into processing. Basically starting a lab for hemp. And in my wide eyed, naïve-

Matt Baum:
How hard can chemistry be? I mean, come on. We all took it in high school.

Zach Dorsett:
Yeah. My question was, how different could this be than marijuana? You know? Because I was like, I already know how to do this for marijuana. It can’t be that much different.

Matt Baum:
How different was it? Was it a huge … Was it a massive jump? Or does it make pretty much sense? If you can do this, you can do this.

Zach Dorsett:
You know, the thing is that that process is largely the same but when you’re doing the process on five pounds, it’s so much different than when you’re doing it on 100 pounds. You know? When you’re doing it on a commodity that’s 50 cents, versus a commodity that’s $10, or $5, yeah. It’s just a lot tighter.

Matt Baum:
Sure.

Zach Dorsett:
So that was the learning curve. But that’s how I met Blue Forest Farms. So I had started this processing facility. It’s called [inaudible 00:18:23] Extracts in Colorado Springs, with another hemp farmer, Sean Putnam, he’s from New Mexico. He’s also an old family friend. We had started this thing, all gung ho and it was just this massive humbling experience.

Matt Baum:
As it should be, though. You’re either humbled and you succeed or you’re not humbled and you fail and you decide it was everybody else’s fault, not mine.

Zach Dorsett:
Right. No, 100%. Those are the two options.

Matt Baum:
Pretty much. Yeah.

Zach Dorsett:
That’s funny. Yeah, Blue Forest Farms was one of our first customers and they are still our biggest and best. Since I’ve started working with them, it’s become a little bit of blurred line but it’s been really good. Blue Forest Farms, they did 22 acres in 2017 and we were opening our doors at [inaudible 00:19:31] in September of 2017 and labs were in short supply. There were very few people doing extraction at that time.

Matt Baum:
Oh, yeah.

Zach Dorsett:
And then I kind of took some of my product development experience with Cannablossum and just coming from being a long time enthusiast, marijuana enthusiast-

Matt Baum:
It’s funny how all the CBD guys are. Every one of them, as a matter of fact.

Zach Dorsett:
100%.

Matt Baum:
If you happened to bump into one who is like, “Oh, no. I never smoked weed. No. Not for me.”

Zach Dorsett:
No.

Matt Baum:
No judgment. I’m hosting this podcast because I was an enthusiast. So I’m with you. You know?

Zach Dorsett:
Totally. That’s so funny. And we all just wanted the same things. And we needed each other. The farm needs the processor. The processor needs the farm.

Matt Baum:
It just makes sense.

Zach Dorsett:
Symbiotic relationship.

Matt Baum:
Yeah. It’s the same with farm to table restaurants. The movement that has popped up where people are like, “Look, I want that beef every time.” Or, “I want those carrots every time.” You know? It just makes sense.

Zach Dorsett:
Yes.

Growing and processing great hemp

Matt Baum:
And you know where it’s coming from. You can control it. Is this how you got into the farm aspect of it, basically? And learning about the genetics? Or did that all sort of carry through from marijuana as well?

Zach Dorsett:
No. I didn’t really know much about the genetics from marijuana. You know? I didn’t have any breeding experience and I still don’t. But what I did have and what I have got that a lot of breeders don’t have is through [inaudible 00:21:18] Extracts, we processed for over 60 farms and we have done product development for 30. And so I’ve really been able to see a lot of material come through of varying quality. I’ve seen material that was grown in Southern Colorado, North Colorado, front range, western slope, I’ve seen all of that. I’ve seen all the strains you can imagine.

Matt Baum:
I’m sure.

Zach Dorsett:
It’s rare that something comes up that I haven’t seen processed. And I’ve seen drip versus pivot versus flood versus … I’ve seen some of the distinctions between the different methodologies and yeah, so that’s kind of what helped me hone in on the genetic piece and I really drew heavily from, and really to be 100% honest, you know, the breeding program relies on so many extraordinary people.

Matt Baum:
Oh, yeah. Of course.

Zach Dorsett:
I do so little compared to the people that are moving these plants everyday and handling them and caring for them and making sure that they’re healthy to the folks that are collecting the data and running the analysis to the genetics team that it’s going in and doing sequencing and looking through the sequencing data and trying to unlock the genetic markers. The only thing I really did in the breeding program, as far as creating [inaudible 00:22:56] and Queen Dream, which are just phenomenal strains in the hemp scene right now, really making waves, is just select those parents. And I drew heavily from those that experience through extraction, when we selected those families and the unique phenols that we used for that breeding program.

Matt Baum:
Did you start having other farms asking you about this? Like, “Hey, man, your guys’ product is kicking ass. What are you using?” Did it go the other way too? You know what I mean?

Zach Dorsett:
Yeah. I mean, I feel like that’s always, we do hear that and that’s always super flattering, right? When you hear that from another farm. But I think there’s a big sense of comradery in the hemp industry. You know? Everybody that we’ve worked with, and I would say almost everybody we work with is like a competitor quote unquote in one sense or another, right? But there just isn’t that feeling at all. At least when I meet with folks or meet folks, and it’s a lot, we’re trying to solve the problems, we are all, I know almost everybody I know in this hemp space is just working so hard.

Matt Baum:
It’s a battle. It’s just a constant battle.

Zach Dorsett:
Yeah. And I think everybody is driven by the same inspiration. I mean, most of the folks that are here now, at least. Now that the money is gone.

Matt Baum:
That weeded out the losers. You know? Right?

Zach Dorsett:
Yeah. No but people are really driven by that passion to create positive change, to empower one another, to create healing and those are just profound intentions. You know? To have.

Matt Baum:
Definitely. And like you said, you can have the best genetic strains in the world but if they’re not handled, if they’re not grown right, if they’re not watered right, if they’re not handled properly, if they’re not identified right, any step of the way that can break down. You have garbage. Doesn’t matter.

Zach Dorsett:
Yeah. And Queen Dream and Hot Blonde do really, really amazing in a lot of the prime growing regions but there’s always going to be room for improvement and there’s always going to be strains that are better acclimate … Well, I wouldn’t say always, but you know. There’s strains that are better acclimated for some communities.

Matt Baum:
But just like you said, you look at them and you work with each other and you talk to each other and you go, “What did you do there? What’s different from that from this?” And you start to put stuff together. And you go all right, these parents, these are the new parents I want to work with. Look what we’ve got here. You know?

Zach Dorsett:
Yeah. You know what’s a big one for that, is the horror stories. You know? And they don’t get told enough in our community, I think. They are being told right now because there’s a lot of them but we need those. We need those to come out. We need to talk about those. I’m ready to talk about my skeletons, the mistakes I made and how much it cost me so that someone else can avoid that.

Matt Baum:
Totally. Success stories are great but you never hear about, “Oh, yeah, this guy was a professional BMX stunt rider.” What was it like the first time you decided you were going to do that move off a ramp? I’m just curious. Yeah, I broke both my shoulders, my neck, and my back. You know? That is the stuff. I would love to talk to people. I feel like I talk to a lot of success stories. I would love to talk to people who are like, “Yeah, I failed. Over and over and over again.” Because that’s how you learn. Right?

Zach Dorsett:
Yes.

Matt Baum:
Going from there … Sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt you. Go ahead.

Zach Dorsett:
People have been vulnerable. I wouldn’t say, it’s not like, people don’t wear it on their sleeve but if you do talk to people in this industry and you get out there, people get vulnerable with you and they’ll tell you where they lost. You know?

Matt Baum:
Definitely.

Zach Dorsett:
And that’s as important as knowing where people are winning.

Matt Baum:
I just talked to a couple guys in the last show actually, the Harney and Sons and they do tea infusion with CBD and they came right out and they were like, “Yeah, we decided we were just going to plant our own stuff and live happily ever after. And it sucked. It sucked really bad. We did it totally wrong.” But they learned from that and now they have a very successful crop going. You know? They’re sustainable because of that now too, but it took a big failure just like anything else.

Zach Dorsett:
Yes.

Creating a hemp children’s book

Matt Baum:
Now, let me ask you, you have a successful business and you’re doing great, and you decide, “You know what I want to do? I want to get into children’s books.” And you decide you’re going to make a kids book about hemp. Where did this come from? What spurred this idea?

Zach Dorsett:
Man. So, this was just, I mean, I don’t even know. My sister is the biggest inspiration for this. She wrote a book called The Lion and the Elephant. It is just a really, really heartwarming story about two unlikely friends and there’s just simple, really warm messages. Right?

Matt Baum:
Simple truths.

Zach Dorsett:
In this book.

Matt Baum:
If you will.

Zach Dorsett:
Yeah. Yeah. The truth and it’s like, yeah so I was just really inspired by that and one of the things she did in it, in the last, it’s mostly a read along but the last part of the book actually teaches the students or reader something. I don’t want to ruin it but-

Matt Baum:
Sure. No spoilers here. I’m guessing the lion doesn’t eat the kid.

Zach Dorsett:
It’s really inspired. I was like, children’s books not only can be these incredible tools that can teach and culture and nurture the next generation that is going to inherit this planet, but it also can be this really cool tool. And so that was what was really inspiring for me. And so that’s what I tried to do with the book. In the end of the hemp story, there is a really, really fun activity that actually helps the student create long lasting change or contribute to long lasting change.

Matt Baum:
So did your sister help you with it? Are you from a family of children’s book writers or something? You just happened to have an amazing sister?

Zach Dorsett:
I’m from a family of children’s book writers. For sure.

Matt Baum:
That is crazy. That’s not something you hear very often.

Zach Dorsett:
I say that a little in just because we’ve both written one but I tell you, I’m enjoying it and I think I would like to write more if it’s well received and maybe even if it’s not. I can improve from it.

Matt Baum:
You can always waste more time if it’s not. You know?

Zach Dorsett:
Can only get better, I guess.

Matt Baum:
What is the idea though? Is it education? Is that the idea? Like, hey kids, this isn’t something to be afraid of even though you’re going to be told that it is?

Zach Dorsett:
So the biggest thing in why I wanted to read the book and the message is about the story. Hemp is going to facilitate this world change. You know? That’s happening right now.

Matt Baum:
Totally agree. 100%.

Zach Dorsett:
We’re in the middle of it. It’s just going to change the whole fabric of our community. The way that illness affects people. I call it the reverse frog in boiling water effect. We’re just going to turn around one day a couple years from now and our world is just going to look completely different because of hemp and it’s almost going to be like we didn’t even notice some of the things that were changing.

Matt Baum:
I hope so. I hope you’re right. That’s awesome.

Zach Dorsett:
In that is this really, really violent struggle. You know?

Matt Baum:
Definitely.

Zach Dorsett:
For existence and for the right to grow a plant and for the right to care for ourselves and our loved ones. And yeah, so that is the big part that I don’t want to lose touch with because I don’t think that … The inevitability of hemp’s positive change, it could go one way or another.

Matt Baum:
Of course.

Zach Dorsett:
And I think we’ve all got to be working towards an open access, making this more available to researchers and to people that want to use it and to just every aspect. Right? Of the chain. You’ve got to make this more accessible and continue to push forward and open up and a lot of that comes from really recognizing the struggle and the sacrifice that was made.

Matt Baum:
Without a doubt.

Zach Dorsett:
To get where we are today.

Matt Baum:
Definitely.

Zach Dorsett:
And that’s, I think, a hard story to tell to children.

Matt Baum:
That’s what made me, when I first saw this, I can’t remember who it was. Jill, possibly, that pitched this to me and was like, “Yeah, he wrote a children’s book about hemp.” And I just started thinking, okay let me just put myself in that mindset. I’m going to write a children’s book about hemp. Where the hell do you start? How do you boil this down for a kid? And one, make it interesting. Two, make them understand how ridiculous the situation is. And while demystifying it and teaching them something. I was like, I got to see this. Where do you start here? Tell me a little bit about the story without spoiling it.

Zach Dorsett:
Well, the story utilizes some characters from real life.

Matt Baum:
Fair enough.

Zach Dorsett:
We’ve got some characters right here in our hemp community and it starts with Trina Johnson, who is my partner at Blue Forest Farms and our strong and fearless matriarch there, it follows her two children through this story with their grandpa. Learning about how once upon a time, hemp was everywhere. Talks about some of the early uses. Right? Of this plant in history. And then we talk about what happened with the criminalization of marijuana and hemp alongside it. And how some of the special interest really sought to and were successful in controlling these various industries. And then how it broke free of that and what had to be sacrificed for that to be happening. Kind of where we are today.

Matt Baum:
I love what you’re saying here because it seems like it would be so easy to just be like, “Well, it’s a story of two kids and their grandfather and grandfather uses hemp to do this and they go, ‘Grandpa, I thought hemp was bad.’ And he’s like, ‘No, man, it’s not so bad. Here’s what it does.'” And you learn a lesson. But I like that you trust the kids enough that you’re writing about and to understand that yeah, there was corporate greed, there was racism, there was some really gnarly stuff that happened in this country that touches on so many other things.

Matt Baum:
I think that’s really important and I think that’s one of the things that when I was a kid, I fell in love with comic books and what not, and it blew my mind whenever comic books would step out and look at a real world problem and I would think, “Oh, man. Yeah, I read about that on the news and now Spiderman is dealing with it.” Or something. You know what I mean? And I think children’s books are an amazing way to one, trust kids and impart this knowledge. And teach them something at a young age that they’re going to look back on and hopefully think, “Well, that was the silliest, dumbest time in American History. I can’t believe anybody had to put up with that.” You know? I think it’s really brave, honestly. I really like what you’ve done here.

Zach Dorsett:
Hey, thank you so much. That is so kind of you, Matt. I really appreciate the work that you’re doing and Ministry of Hemp is doing and-

Matt Baum:
Guys like you make it easy. Honestly. We’re just trying to echo your voices. It’s awesome to find somebody that came from a space, a marijuana space, moved into CBD and then instead of just doubling down and going, “Let’s make this money. Let’s make this money.” You’re educating now but you’re not just educating. You’re trying to teach kids about this and I think that’s amazing. I really do. By the way, yesterday, completely unrelated. I was moving some dirt around, threw my back out, your package showed up today and I used the Broadway Balm on my back and it worked and it was great. I loved it. This is perfect timing. Fantastic.

Zach Dorsett:
I love it.

Becoming BFFs with Blue Forest Farms

Matt Baum:
I’m a fan. And I love the Blue Forest Farms, BFF, that’s great. That’s really nice marketing. I dig that.

Zach Dorsett:
It just happened like that. It’s so funny. Dave Asbury, he’s the farmer and he’s Trina’s partner at Blue Forest Farms, and they are our partner. He came up with that name. I don’t think he thought about that at all because he’s an old school farmer. He’s a real deal farmer. You know? But yeah, it’s funny that it really worked out great. We definitely feel that way.

Matt Baum:
Tell me, the book is on pre-order, correct? Where do we go to pre-order it?

Zach Dorsett:
Yes. At BFFHemp.com.

Matt Baum:
Okay.

Zach Dorsett:
And that’s where you can get that pain relief balm as well. Is that what it’s called? What is it called?

Matt Baum:
The Broadway Balm is what they’re calling it.

Zach Dorsett:
Broadway Balm, sorry.

Matt Baum:
That’s okay. I mean, they’re partners. You don’t own it. I get it. And when does the book come out?

Zach Dorsett:
You know, gosh. I think we’re looking at September being able to fill all the pre-orders and get it onto some shelves. But we are still waiting for some of the final illustrations and from there-

Matt Baum:
You’re not handling all of this yourself. You’ve got help because you’re a busy guy. It sounds like you have a couple jobs.

Zach Dorsett:
I do. I have really good help.

Matt Baum:
Good.

Zach Dorsett:
I work with an incredible local artist named Danny Star, he’s done some really cool murals around Denver and around Colorado.

Matt Baum:
The preview stuff I saw is adorable, by the way. It looks fantastic.

Zach Dorsett:
Oh, thank you. Yeah. He did all the design work and then this amazing, amazing artist, Nadia Gogiashvili, she’s an amazing artist. She does pretty much only children’s books and yeah, I mean, just phenomenal. And so she’s created all the characters, we love them, and it’s just a great cast.

Matt Baum:
Yeah. This looks like a riot. I’m excited to see this when it comes out.

Zach Dorsett:
Yeah. I can’t wait. I’ll definitely get you a copy on me.

Matt Baum:
Please do. Please do. What’s your next children’s book about, by the way? What’s the next one?

Zach Dorsett:
You know, that’s a really good question. I guess I haven’t thought about that. I really want to get some feedback first. I know there’s things I can learn and improve on and I really like already some of the feedback I’ve got on the vision but I’m real excited to put it in some folks hands. Really excited to hear what Jake and Ari and Asher, that’s Trina’s little ones that are featured in the story, what they think.

Matt Baum:
Nice.

Zach Dorsett:
And their opinion will matter of the utmost.

Matt Baum:
Yeah. Definitely. Make sure you get your main characters right. I mean, come on.

Zach Dorsett:
Yeah.

Matt Baum:
Especially when you work with them. That could be embarrassing.

Zach Dorsett:
Yeah. They’re brutally honest too. So they will not hold back.

Matt Baum:
That’s good. You’ve got to have good critics. That’s important. You can’t have a bunch of friends blowing smoke up your ass. Right? Come on.

Zach Dorsett:
That’s right. You won’t get better that way.

Matt Baum:
Well, just be careful. If it’s an instant hit, the first question they’re going to say, “What do you got in the can next, Dorsett? Let’s hear about it.”

Zach Dorsett:
Yeah. No, I need to start thinking at least of some subject matter. I’m glad you posed that because I hadn’t even asked myself that question.

Matt Baum:
Fair enough. Zach, you’ve been great to talk to. Is there anything you want to leave us with before you go?

Zach Dorsett:
Well, 2020 is a big deciding year for the hemp industry.

Matt Baum:
Most definitely.

Zach Dorsett:
Yeah. So I just want to bring a lot of attention to that and support your local hemp farm. People, you’re going to be seeing CBD companies popping up everywhere. Even more than you’ve seen already. And that’s because the research says that people need it. You know? And so yeah, I just say go with the flow, continue experimenting, do your due diligence, and know what you’re buying or trying.

Matt Baum:
Right. Absolutely. You’re lucky. You’re in Colorado so you can support your local hemp farm. I’m in freaking Nebraska. We’re still fighting to have local hemp farms, let alone support them.

Zach Dorsett:
Nebraska is one of the places that hemp still grows naturally.

Matt Baum:
Yeah. Absolutely. And that’s one of the things that was brought to the state legislature. We were like, this is not an invasive species. This has been here. It grows very well here. It is not the alien monstrosity that you think it is. We used to grow the hell out of it here, as a matter of fact. And now-

Zach Dorsett:
They’ve been trying to kill it for 50 years.

Matt Baum:
Yeah. Definitely and it has not worked. That ought to tell you something. Go out and try and kill corn. It’s real easy. You know? Everything wants to kill corn.

Zach Dorsett:
Seriously. So that’s cool. Well, I believe that it will come and I know that you’re working to create that change and I’ll look forward to having you out there and hopefully Nebraska joining in the season in 2021.

Matt Baum:
We’re trying, man. We’re trying as hard as we can. Just got to get some old ideas out of the way and I think, quite honestly, it might take a new generation of kids in Nebraska reading your book to grow up and go, “No, we should be doing this.” You know? So here’s to hoping.

Zach Dorsett:
If there’s a chance to read up there, you let me know, I will come up in a heartbeat.

Matt Baum:
That sounds awesome. I’ll keep you posted. Definitely. That would be very cool.

Zach Dorsett:
Yeah. I’m committed to do readings and to read my book. I have a good expressive voice and I certainly, I think it’ll be fun to hear me read it and yeah, I’m going to do book stores.

Matt Baum:
Most definitely. I’ll keep in touch if I hear of anything. Yeah. We’ll get you up here. That would be a riot, man. And who knows, maybe this Covid stuff goes away and we can actually have a beer and I can take you out to dinner or something. Who knows? Maybe.

Zach Dorsett:
Oh gosh. I always keep forgetting about Covid.

Matt Baum:
I know. It’s like, remember when society was normal? And we’re like, now we just feel like this is normal but it’s not. You know? It’s terrifying but at least we’re adapting, I’ll say that. We’ve adapted pretty well so far. Now tomorrow, the whole thing could burst into flames. We’ll see. But for now, we’re doing what we can.

Final thoughts from Matt

Matt Baum:
You can find links to Blue Forest Farm and the pre-order for Zach’s book, A Hemp Story, in the show notes for this episode. We find ourselves at the end of another episode but there is still plenty of Ministry of Hemp to keep you busy until the next show. Head over to MinistryofHemp.com, we have got a fantastic article about CBD and nausea and the science behind it. We’re finding that it’s actually very effective for treating nausea, whether it’s nausea that’s induced from chemotherapy or just nausea induced from certain conditions. CBD is proving to be very helpful. So go check that article out. You can always follow us on all your social media /ministryofhemp, @ministryofhemp, we’re all over the place and we’re always posting cool hemp stories and hemp links to our buddies that are doing great work in the hemisphere, if you will. I don’t know if that’s a word, but I’m going with it.

Matt Baum:
Thanks again to Kelly for getting back to me so we could get those corrections in here and huge thanks to Zach. He was a ton of fun to talk to. I hope you guys dug this episode and I hope you’re digging all these episodes and if you are, do us a favor and throw us a star rating or a thumbs up on your podcast app. Those ratings get us kicked up in search results so other people can find this information and if you really want to help us out, head over to Patreon.com/ministryofhemp and become a Ministry of Hemp insider. Any amount gets you access to podcast extras like the video we just posted of the Harney brothers who I interviewed two episodes ago, planting their own hemp. Early access to articles and Patreon exclusive articles too.

Matt Baum:
Plus, it really does help us to spread the good word of hemp. So if you like what you hear on the show and what you read on our site, become an insider. It’s the best way to help spread the word. Here at Ministry of Hemp, we believe an accessible world is a better world for everyone so we’ve got a full written transcript of this show in the show notes over at MinistryofHemp.com as well. I got to get out of here. I like to end the show the same way every time by saying, remember to take care of yourself, take care of others, and make good decisions, will ya? This is Matt Baum with the Ministry of Hemp podcast, signing off.

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CBD Health Questions With Matt & Kit (Ministry of Hemp Podcast) https://ministryofhemp.com/cbd-health-questions-doctors/ https://ministryofhemp.com/cbd-health-questions-doctors/#respond Sat, 16 May 2020 20:44:41 +0000 http://ministryofhemp.com/?p=61240 In the Ministry of Hemp podcast, we answered your questions about CBD and health, including how doctors handle hemp and cannabis.

The post CBD Health Questions With Matt & Kit (Ministry of Hemp Podcast) appeared first on Ministry of Hemp.

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In the Ministry of Hemp podcast, we answered your questions about CBD and health, including how doctors handle hemp and cannabis.

That’s right, our host Matt and Ministry of Hemp Editor in Chief Kit O’Connell are back to answer listener submitted hemp questions. This time there are questions about everything from how to find out what’s actually in your CBD tincture to feeding hemp to dogs. Other topics include CBD and children, and potential health risks of vaping during the coronavirus crisis.

CBD Health resources

Here are a few other links from our website about CBD and health:

We want to hear from YOU!

Send us your questions and you might hear them answered on future shows like this one! Send your written questions to us on Twitter, Facebook, matt@ministryofhemp.com, or call us and leave a message at 402-819-6417. Keep in mind, this phone number is for hemp questions only and any other inquiries for the Ministry of Hemp should be sent to info@ministryofhemp.com

Subscribe to the show!

Be sure to subscribe to the Ministry of Hemp podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Podbay, Stitcher, Pocketcasts, Google Play or your favorite podcast app. If you like what your hear leave us a review or star rating. It’s a quick and easy way to help get this show to others looking for Hemp information and please, share this episode on your own social media!

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If you believe hemp can change the world then help us spread the word! Become a Ministry of Hemp Insider when you donate any amount on our Patreon page. You’ll be the first to hear about everything going on with our special newsletter plus exclusive Patron content including blogs, podcast extras and more. Visit the Ministry of Hemp on Patreon and become an Insider now!

Matt and Kit answered CBD health questions on the Ministry of Hemp podcast, including questions about talking to doctors about CBD. Photo: A doctor wearing a lab coat and stethoscope, and holding a CBD bottle and dropper top.
Matt and Kit answered CBD health questions on the Ministry of Hemp podcast, including questions about talking to doctors about CBD.

CBD Health Questions With Matt & Kit: Complete Episode 39 Transcript

Below you’ll find the complete transcript of episode 39 of the Ministry of Hemp Podcast, “CBD Health Questions With Matt & Kit”:

Matt Baum:
I’m Matt Baum, and this is the Ministry of Hemp Podcast brought to you by ministryofhemp.com, America’s leading advocate for hemp and hemp education. Welcome back to the Ministry of Hemp Podcast. Today, I know I’ve been promising it for months now, we’re actually going to do a Q&A show. These shows are where I sit down with Kit O’Connell, the Editor in Chief of ministryofhemp.com, and a buddy of mine. We take your questions, your hemp, your CBD-related, questions, and we answer them right here on the show.

Matt Baum:
If you have questions, you can call the Ministry of Hemp Question Line. Notice I say Question Line. If you want to talk about ministryofhemp.com, then you’ve got to email them. Don’t call me. Okay? But if you have questions, (402) 819-6417 is the number to call. You can email me, matt@ministryofhemp.com with your questions. You could shoot me an MP3, if you don’t feel like calling. There’s all kinds of ways to get in touch with us, and we love to answer your questions right here on the show. Like I said, let’s get to it. Here is our hemp Q&A.

Matt Baum:
Kit, welcome to the Ministry of Hemp Podcast. Always good to have you back with one of our Q&As. Are you ready for this?

Kit O’Connell:
Yeah, let’s do it. It’s fun to be back.

Matt Baum:
All right. Let’s get right into it. Here we go with our first one.

What’s in full-spectrum CBD and how can you pick quality CBD?

Speaker 3:
Yes. I’m taking the Clean Remedies, 3000 mg, full-spectrum hemp extract. When I get my blood work done it shows THC in it. I want to know if this is a safe alternative? It helps me quite a bit. But then my doctor is really kicking it and wants me off of it. What she says is it’s not been lab tested and we really don’t know what’s in it. That would be my question. How do we find out…

Speaker 4:
Exactly what it contains.

Speaker 3:
What it contains so that I would really know what I am taking. It does help quite a bit. It is very good for back pain. I have some vertebrae bad in my back. It works quite well and helps me rest at night also. It is a back strength, 3000 mg. I’ve been on a while, but my doctor definitely wants me off of it. It’s Clean Remedies, 3000 mg, full-spectrum hemp extract, natural flavor. Thank you, Sir. Bye-bye.

Matt Baum:
It sounds like our friend is taking a Clean Remedies. He’s saying 3000 milligrams, which sounds kind of high to me, but could it be a big bottle I suppose. He’s worried because there is some THC that pops up in his blood work, and his doctor is telling him, “You don’t know what’s in that, and it’s not lab tested.” What can we say to our friend to help him out here? Give him a little info maybe. Whenever you’re ready.

Kit O’Connell:
Let’s just start there. Yeah. First of all, just to mention we’re not doctors.

Matt Baum:
We are not doctors.

Kit O’Connell:
We’re not experts on your health. Believe it or not.

Matt Baum:
Definitely.

Kit O’Connell:
The other thing to mention is that CBD is currently completely unregulated, which means there’s nobody behind the wheel from a government perspective that’s making sure that this is exactly what’s advertised. I also want to emphasize there’s hundreds of CBD brands out there. We haven’t actually evaluated Clean Remedies. I did take a peek at their website before coming on the show. I saw that they say that they offer lab tests for their products. Theoretically, you could look up their lab tests and see what’s in it. We do our own lab tests most of the time, whenever we can, on products we review. That’s because we’ve sometimes found products that don’t match what’s advertised. That’s not directed at Clean Remedies or anyone in particular. It’s just a general statement that sometimes things don’t match up.

Matt Baum:
Right. We’re not going to speak to anything we don’t know about.

Kit O’Connell:
Mm-hmm (affirmative). Mm-hmm (affirmative). You mentioned it was 3000 milligrams. That is strong, but it is possible to get that strength in a tincture. That is what we consider a high potency tincture, which just means it’s a strong dose of CBD, which is fine. I take a lot of CBD every day, myself. I use high potency tinctures.

Matt Baum:
So do I.

Kit O’Connell:
Yeah, exactly. As you mentioned, it’s a full-spectrum. What full-spectrum means is it has tiny trace amounts of THC in it. Legally it can only have…

Matt Baum:
It’s like 0.3%, right? A tiny amount.

Kit O’Connell:
Tiny, tiny, tiny, amount of THC. It’s true, though, that if you’re taking a high potency tincture regularly, full-spectrum, you are consuming these tiny amounts of THC. You’re never going to feel high most likely. Almost no one on the planet would feel high. It’s possible that it’s going to…

Matt Baum:
It’s also true that, if the THC is not in there, then it’s not full-spectrum.

Kit O’Connell:
Right. Exactly. It’s only what we consider broad-spectrum or an isolate. You’re taking something that’s advertised as having tiny amounts of THC. What that means is that if you’re taking that high potency especially, it is possible to show up on a drug test when you take full-spectrum.

Matt Baum:
Sure.

Kit O’Connell:
You’re not feeling high, but you are taking enough THC that it’s going to trigger this drug test that you got from your doctor. With that said, you can consider switching to a broad-spectrum product to see. If that’s a concern of yours, if you want to make sure you’re getting no THC at all. On the other hand, something you could also just talk to your doctor and find out what their concerns are and try to address them, and say here’s a lab test for my product, or I’ve switched to these products that have been lab tested.

Matt Baum:
Right.

Kit O’Connell:
That’s an option but, at the end of the day, you and your doctor are going to have to make a decision about what’s best for your health. CBD is considered extremely safe on the whole. Obviously, there are exceptions. There’s even rare cases where it can interact with certain prescription medicine. It’s just something you need to talk to your doctor, do your research, make sure you’re choosing a brand that is good. We have some guides on our site to picking a quality CBD brand. Of course, we’ve picked some CBD brands on our site that we think are great. Even then, you still want to talk to your doctor and make sure it’s okay with them.

Matt Baum:
Also, like we said, we didn’t necessarily know Clean Remedies. That doesn’t mean that they’re not legit. Contact them. Ask for those lab results. If they are upfront about it and they give them to you, chances are they are legit. If they’re weird about it and they don’t, you might want to look into somebody else who will just so you do know what.

Kit O’Connell:
Matt, when I went to their website I saw that they have QR codes apparently on their bottles.

Matt Baum:
That’s great.

Kit O’Connell:
You may just be able to scan it with your smartphone, that QR code, and get right to the lab test for your product. You could try that, and that might give you some education right there.

Matt Baum:
Yeah.

Kit O’Connell:
Yeah. Feel free to reach out by email if you have other questions about what you’re finding out. I’m happy to try to talk a little bit more. Hopefully, you and your doctor can come to a good agreement.

Doctors, Chronic pain and CBD

Matt Baum:
Thanks a lot for the call. That was a good one. We have another doctor related one back-to-back here. This one is really interesting too.

Speaker 5:
Yeah. I have a quick question for you guys. My wife has an autoimmune disease. She sees a specialist for it, but she also was recommended to a pain doctor. We went to the pain doctor. In his initial visit, he asked if my wife had used THC to self-medicate. My wife, being the honest human that she is, she said yes. He said the only way that he would continue to take care of her, or have her as a patient, is if she agreed to do a drug test with every visit. He, threatened is a heavy word, but said if there was any THC on the test, he would instantly stop all of her pain medication and her prescriptions and would no longer keep her as a patient.

Speaker 5:
I guess my wonder is, is that legal? Is he allowed to threaten that? We’re in Nebraska. I don’t know if that makes a difference, but just super curious to see if that is even legal? Fear not, we have since moved on to a better pain doctor who, on the first visit said, “Hey, have you tried THC?? She said, yes. He said, “Hell yeah. Keep doing that. Let’s see if we can work with that.” I guess, just for my peace of mind, is that other doctor allowed to do that? Thanks, man.

Matt Baum:
This is a fantastic question. Honestly, I don’t know. I mean, in my opinion, it probably comes down to the doctor’s decision. Is that legal to make a decision like that and say, “I will ditch you as a patient if you are doing this.”?

Kit O’Connell:
Unfortunately, it absolutely is legal. It is legal. The thing to talk about here are first off, at Ministry of Hemp, we talk a lot about the hemp side of things, but we support the whole plant. We believe all forms of cannabis should be legal and accessible for people coast-to-coast. It’s important to remember that, though hemp has been legalized, that cannabis is not yet. The kind that has THC that makes you feel high is still not legal at the federal level. I’m also not a lawyer here, but I took a quick look at Nebraska’s law. It’s not legal there either. Something important to keep in mind there is that if you possess misdemeanor amounts of cannabis there, there’s some fairly low penalties on your first offense. If you’re caught with like vape oil or dabs, it’s a felony, a really serious felony in Nebraska, which is still against the law there.

Matt Baum:
It’s ridiculous.

Kit O’Connell:
It’s offensive. It’s true in Texas, too. If you’re caught with certain kinds of cannabis with flower, it’s usually relatively low penalties. But the dabs, they can go after you for felonies here too. That’s a common thing. It’s ridiculous. It’s offensive. It ruins people’s lives needlessly. As far as your doctor goes … This is something I know about because I have chronic pain issues myself. I have fibromyalgia. I’ve researched this quite a bit. This is what’s called a pain contract. Certain pain doctors… This is when you have serious pain and you go to a specialist who’s job is to help you with pain. Some of them, like you said, you found one that does not. I’m really glad to hear that, really glad. Some of them do require this pain contract. I think the idea behind it maybe is benevolent and that it’s meant to curb abuse. They don’t want to take on patients who are dealing with unchecked addiction.

Matt Baum:
Sure. It makes sense with opioids. I get that. If you’re going to say, look, you have a pain issue and I’m going to give you opioid pain pills. I understand. But what does that have to do with THC? This doctor has to know… Even like CBD with trace amounts of THC, this doctor has to know it’s not habit forming. It’s not addictive. It just blows my mind that there’s doctors out there that would treat it the same way they would treat an Oxycontin. It seems nuts.

Kit O’Connell:
I mean, unfortunately, reefer madness is not fully gone, especially in the medical profession. I don’t want to make any excuses for this doctor, but it’s important to remember that it is still theoretically possible for doctors to get in trouble for recommending cannabis use for their patients.

Matt Baum:
Right.

Kit O’Connell:
I don’t know of cases where it’s happened, but it’s still theoretically possible, again, because cannabis is still federally illegal. That doesn’t mean the doctor has to go this far. It really is up to them. This is fully legal and not just legal, but unfortunately it’s still relatively commonplace. There are a lot of people out there who need access to opioids because of their chronic pain issues. They may not be able to find a doctor who is as understanding as the current doctor that your wife is seeing. Some of them are having to make a choice between THC and opioids, even though they know that both could help. They’re making the choice, a lot of them, to keep that pain contract and not use THC or maybe even avoid CBD just because there’s a threat of having their prescriptions cut off. I hope that that changes and more people, more doctors, become educated about this because it’s 2020 for goodness sake.

Matt Baum:
No doubt. Fellow Nebraska boy, thank you for your call. I’m sorry about our red state and what we have going on with our government and medical system, unfortunately. I’m glad you found a cool doctor, and I’m glad your wife is not suffering. That’s good news. Okay. Let’s move on here. You got a question about vaping and COVID-19 here.

Vaping CBD and COVID-19

Speaker 6:
Hey, Matt, love your podcast. I just have a question about COVID-19 and vaping. I read in the news that smokers are more susceptible to getting COVID-19. Is that true for vaping CBD? Does that still apply to people who vape as well? Let me know. Looking forward to hearing. Bye.

Matt Baum:
That’s an excellent question. Very poignant right now, I think. Do you know anything on this one, kit?

Kit O’Connell:
I don’t think we know the answer from a scientific perspective. There’ve been a lot of studies showing that tobacco and nicotine separately and cannabis, they all seem to have sort of different effects on the lungs, even though all of them do contain… I mean, any type of smoke is always to have some bad health effects, inhale any kind of smoke. In theory, vaping is easier on your lungs, but that’s one of those things where the science is still being determined.

Matt Baum:
Right.

Kit O’Connell:
It seems like vaping, as long as you’re using it from a legal and reputable brand, is relatively safe. We just really don’t know, as far as COVID-19 is concerned, what affects the lungs. They’re learning so much so fast. Every day they’re finding some new thing about this novel coronavirus, a new way it affects our body. I don’t think we can even speculate about a lot of those things yet. I would say moderate your use. If you’re worried about it, it’s not a bad idea to switch to a CBD oil or a topical or something else that maybe helps you out. If there’s other forms that can help, see if those are good ones to experiment with while we’re dealing with this crisis, and until we’re totally sure about the answers to those questions.

Matt Baum:
Again, we’re not doctors, of course. It does seem like, right now, when you’re dealing with a virus that affects your lungs, anything that stresses your lungs in any way is probably a bad idea. Just play it safe.

Kit O’Connell:
Be safe. If you are showing symptoms, if you do have it, obviously, you shouldn’t be smoking or vaping or anything.

Matt Baum:
Absolutely.

Kit O’Connell:
While you’re actively sick. As to whether it increases your risk, I think we just don’t know the answers right now.

Matt Baum:
Yeah. I mean, it just can’t hurt to play it safe. Get your CBD from a tincture, get it from a gummies. We have all kinds of wonderful products that you can find on Ministry of Hemp right now that are fully vetted and are awesome. That is not to say that vaping is dangerous, but maybe it’s better not to take that chance right now. You know?

Kit O’Connell:
Yeah. We’ve just all got to make those choices and wear our risks. I agree.

Matt Baum:
All right. Moving right along here.

CBD for teething pain

Speaker 7:
Hi. Thanks for your awesome podcast first of all.

Matt Baum:
Lot of love today. This is great.

Speaker 7:
I love it so much. I was just calling… When I was a kid, my parents, right or wrong, used to rub booze or whiskey or whatever it was on my gums. I now realize, as an adult, that’s not probably why, but I have a one-year-old that is killing us overnight teething. I’m trying to find any solution I can. Wondering if CBD, is it safe? Can I can do that? It feels like it would be a wise move, but I’d love to get the facts before I accidentally damage my child for the rest of his life. Yeah, thanks so much again. I’m looking forward to hearing your response. Cheers.

Matt Baum:
This comes from the Irish book of parenting that I grew up with. My Irish mother definitely did that when I was teething. Is it safe to rub CBD on your teething child’s gums to ease pain?

Kit O’Connell:
I would say we really don’t know. I would say, don’t do it. CBD is believed to be very safe, but the way CBD works, to get nerdy for a second, of course, is to interact with this specialized part of our nervous system called the endocannabinoid system. We know that that taps into just about every part of our body. The current wisdom is it’s not a good idea to give any kind of cannabinoid to developing bodies in general. We just don’t know enough about how it affects young brains or nervous systems or bodies because of how pervasive cannabinoids travel through the whole body. We just don’t know what that would do. You’re applying it to the gums, but some of that is going to absorb into the bloodstream and, especially with such a small child, I wouldn’t even know how to guess at dosage.

Matt Baum:
Yeah. I agree. I think it’s another situation where, just like we said with the last thing, there just isn’t enough information yet. There’s a very solid chance it’s fine, but we don’t know. When we don’t know, it’s probably better to play it safe, lose a little sleep. He’s going to get through it. The teeth are going to come in whether you like it or not. It sucks right now. I’m sorry that you’re losing sleep over it, but we just don’t know. It’s probably better not to.

Kit O’Connell:
Exactly. Yeah. I would just say, in general, we’ve all kind of heard the stories about CBD being given to kids with epilepsy, for example like Charlotte.

Matt Baum:
Right.

Kit O’Connell:
Who, of course, we sadly lost a few weeks ago. When that’s done, that’s an emergency situation where nothing else is working for these kids who have severe epilepsy. Working with doctors that are open-minded about cannabis and hemp, they’re treating their kids, or because they just have no other option. They’re treating these very severe conditions with CBD. Just in general with kids, we have to look at CBD as a last resort kind of thing like that where nothing else is working and it’s not part of the normal development process like teething is sadly for your sleep deprivation.

Matt Baum:
Absolutely. It’s a great question though. I like where his head is at, but play it safe. There’s children’s Tylenol and things like that.

Kit O’Connell:
Thank you so much. Thanks for the love.

Matt Baum:
Yeah, that was great.

Kit O’Connell:
Yeah, exactly.

Feeding hemp to dogs

Matt Baum:
All right. This next one is a question about dogs and hemp. Not necessarily CBD, but hemp.

Speaker 8:
Hi. I have an older dog who I have given CBD to to help with her pain in the past. I was just wondering, do you think it’s safe to give my dog hemp incorporated into her diet? Thanks.

Matt Baum:
This is a person who has an older dog, had some pain, and has given them the CBD. I have an older dog that I’ve given CBD. They want to know about incorporating hemp into the dog’s diet. I’m not a veterinarian. We have to say we’re not doctors a lot. Let’s also state that we’re not veterinarians. [crosstalk 00:22:12]. I do make my own dog’s food. I have worked with my own veterinarian and looked at some stuff online to create a recipe. I used to be a chef. I mention that a lot I know. I figured I could figure out how to make raw dog food, which is good for dogs. One of the things about making raw dog food is that there is no grain involved because dogs can have a sensitivity to grain. Dogs typically don’t eat grains.

Matt Baum:
While it may not hurt your dog, I don’t really see any reason to do it. You know what I mean? I can see CBD, I get, but incorporating just hemp into your dog’s food, I don’t know if there’s a good reason to do that. I would say… I mean, talk to your vet, of course. There are a lot of dogs that are very sensitive to grain and have allergies because of it. When you take them off dog foods that have grain in them, all of a sudden they stop scratching, they stop farting and whatnot. They just will lose weight. They’ll lose bloat and stuff like that. I would say introducing a grain into your dog’s diet that’s not already there doesn’t really have any benefits. Kit, do you have any thoughts on this?

Kit O’Connell:
I mean, there is a movement to make hemp a part of animal feed, but I haven’t heard it in reference to dogs necessarily.

Matt Baum:
Right.

Kit O’Connell:
It’s about horses and other animals that are more omnivorous. Dogs are more omnivorous than cats, but… The one benefit that is in hemp, of courses, is you have the high level of Omega 3 and stuff. But I think that a lot of carnivores are going to get that in better sources from things like fish or other meats that they’re going to get those amino acids from. Talk to your doctor. I don’t think it would hurt them, but I haven’t heard a lot of talk about it being hugely beneficial for dogs. If you are a veterinarian or an animal nutritionist, please write in. If we’re wrong about this, I’d love to know.

Matt Baum:
I would love to hear about it too. I know that the dog that I had, my previous dog, had some weight issues and also had like flatulence issues and stuff like that. When we moved him to raw dog food and removed all grain from his diet, those things disappeared, all but disappeared. My vet said to us, well, let’s take them off of a grain diet and move him on an all protein diet. I don’t know. I’m basically it off of my own dog. Again, not a veterinarian. It doesn’t seem like there’s ever a time where it’s a good idea to introduce more grain into a dog’s diet. I love the idea of feeding hemp to horses, to pigs, to cows, to chickens. That makes sense because those animals benefit from that. I just don’t know that a dog or a cat would see that same benefit. If we’re wrong, let us know, please. Again, not veterinarians. This was great.

Kit O’Connell:
Yeah.

Matt Baum:
You guys had some fantastic questions today. These were really good. These are some of the best we’ve had actually. I really liked this one.

Kit O’Connell:
Yeah. This was fun. Some great, really interesting, questions. Thanks. Thanks for calling in with them. Please keep calling.

Matt Baum:
Definitely. Kit, thank you for joining me. Walking through this again, the Ministry of Hemp will not be held accountable for any legal or medical opinions you heard here today. We are not lawyers. We are not doctors, but we do love to answer your questions. Please keep them coming. This is why we do these shows.

Kit O’Connell:
Yeah, for sure. This is really fun. Thanks again.

Final thoughts from Matt

Matt Baum:
Yeah. Thanks for joining me, Kit. You can find our previous Q&A shows over at ministryofhemp.com/podcasts or anywhere you download your favorite podcasts. You can also find a really cool video called Meet the Editor that stars our very own Kit O’Connell there too.

Matt Baum:
Thank you, again, to everybody that called in today. We had some really cool questions. I really appreciate the animal stuff. I’d like to talk more about animals and hemp on the show definitely. Look for more of that to come soon. Like I said at the beginning of the show, if you’ve got questions, call me (402) 819-6417. That is the Ministry of Hemp Question Line, or shoot me your question in an email to matt@ministryofhemp.com, Matt with two Ts. I’m not cool enough to only have one. I also want to thank all of our Ministry of Hemp insiders that have been helping us out and spread the message. If you go to patreon.com/ministryofhemp, you can become an insider as well by donating any amount. You’ll get podcast extras. You’ll get early access to articles. You’ll get stuff that’s not even on the site. It’s really cool, and you can’t believe how much it helps us. Seriously.

Matt Baum:
If you believe in hemp and you believe in our message, please head over to Patreon and check us out there. You can follow us on all of our social medias backslash ministryofhemp, at Ministry of Hemp. We are all over the place, and we’re constantly putting out hemp content. Speaking of hemp content, over at ministryofhemp.com, we’ve got a really good article about five things to look for when buying smokeable hemp flower. I just spoke to a few different people about hemp flower recently on the show. You can find those episodes in the podcast section of ministryofhemp.com. Here at Ministry of Hemp, we believe that an accessible world is a better world for everybody, so you can also find a complete written transcript of this show in the notes at ministryofhemp.com. All right, I’m done talking about the website. Thanks for listening. Thanks for subscribing. I like to end every show by saying, remember to take care of yourself, take care of others, and make good decisions. This is Matt Baum with the Ministry of Hemp Podcast signing off.

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CBD For ADHD: What Does Science Say About CBD & ADD? https://ministryofhemp.com/cbd-adhd/ https://ministryofhemp.com/cbd-adhd/#comments Tue, 18 Jun 2019 21:09:38 +0000 http://ministryofhemp.com/?p=57618 As part of our continuing look at the science of cannabinoids, we thought we’d look at what current research says about using CBD for ADHD and ADD. We all have trouble concentrating and controlling our impulses from time to time. But for a considerable number of children and adults, these problems can disrupt their lives. […]

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As part of our continuing look at the science of cannabinoids, we thought we’d look at what current research says about using CBD for ADHD and ADD.

We all have trouble concentrating and controlling our impulses from time to time. But for a considerable number of children and adults, these problems can disrupt their lives. In the United States, approximately 8.1% of the population struggles with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) at some point in their lives.

Although research is still preliminary, a growing body of evidence shows cannabinoids could be beneficial in ADHD treatment, not only by alleviating symptoms but by also improving the chemical imbalances that cause them.

Below we’ll look at what the current science suggests about using CBD for ADHD, including its safety.

What is ADHD?

A neurobiological disorder, doctors typically diagnose ADHD during childhood or adolescence, though it often persists into adulthood. Characterized by inattentiveness and hyperactivity-impulsivity, there are three subtypes:

  • Inattentive type, or attention deficit disorder (ADD), involves inattentive symptoms. These include being easily distracted and having trouble concentrating.
  • Hyperactive-impulsive type is the opposite of ADD. Symptoms include excessive talking and inability to sit still.
  • Combined type, as the name suggests, is when both groups of symptoms are more or less equally present.

Additional symptoms can include problems with managing stress, insomnia, anxiety, aggression, and self-focusing behavior (the inability to recognize the needs or wants of others).

Probable causes of ADHD

An extremely complex disorder, ADHD is thought to be caused by a combination of genetics and environmental factors. Widespread brain abnormalities, spanning from the prefrontal cortex to the cerebellum, are associated with the disorder.

Seen from behind, a girl swings on a swingset alone outdoors. Numerous factors contribute to ADHD, including both environmental and genetic contributors.
Numerous factors contribute to ADHD, including both environmental and genetic factors.

Whether dependent on genes or environment, individuals who do develop the disorder have lower than average levels of dopamine and norepinephrine. Both of these neurotransmitters play a critical role in the motor and reward systems, which may explain the inattentive and hyperactive-impulsive symptoms.

Environmental & genetic factors

The chances of inheriting ADHD from a parent is somewhere between 60-90%. This suggests genetics are the primary cause but not the only one. Chromosomal deletions and duplications, where parts of the genetic code are either missing or repeated, are common in individuals with the disorder. These likely cause the associated brain abnormalities.

Environmental factors during fetal development and infancy can aggravate pre-existing genetic issues. Prenatal exposure to alcohol and nicotine, low birth weight, malnutrition, and a lack of socialization early in life may increase the risk of ADHD.

Of course, it is not possible to alter genes using cannabinoids or any other medications. However, CBD may help with addictions, possibly reducing fetal exposure.

Dopamine deficiencies

People with ADHD have lower levels of dopamine, which affects reward-motivated behavior. Pharmaceutical stimulants, like Ritalin and Adderall, increase the availability of dopamine in the brain. Unfortunately, these medications do not work for everyone. They also pose a risk of severe or life-threatening side effects.

Some cannabinoids, like the psychoactive tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), may increase dopamine activity in the bain. They do this in the same way as stimulants, and all other drugs with a potential for abuse, by triggering the reward system.

CBD may also increase availability but in a very different way. In a preclinical trial, mice with lower than average numbers of G protein-coupled receptors (GPR6) in the brain showed higher levels of dopamine than mice with a normal amount of these receptors. This indicates that reducing activity in GPR6 increases either dopamine production or release.

A brain receptor is a sort of parking lot for different neurotransmitters, with spaces for them to ‘park’ and produce their effects. Because CBD can ‘park’ on GPR6 but does not do anything once there, it reduces activity in the receptor by taking up space. Theoretically, this may increase dopamine levels.

Norepinephrine deficiencies

A neurotransmitter and hormone vital to everything from movement to blood pressure, norepinephrine levels are also lower than average in people with ADHD. Nonstimulant medications, like atomoxetine and clonidine, increase levels of norepinephrine. This improves attention span and lowers hyperactivity and impulsivity.

The locus coeruleus (LC) region of the brain, which plays a role in the ability to concentrate, is a principal source of this neurotransmitter. CBR1 cannabinoid receptors appear throughout the LC. Stimulating these receptors seems to increase the release of norepinephrine into the rest of the brain.

Study shows some synthetic cannabinoids created in the lab may increase norepinephrine activity in the LC, consequently raising dopamine levels. Cannabinoids also show the potential to regulate this area of the brain by preventing over-activation, which can reduce the ability to focus. Because these chemicals mimic naturally occurring cannabinoids, plant-based treatments may produce similar results.

A woman sits cross legged in bed working on a laptop. CBD seems to be very safe in adults, and may show promise for CBD treatment.
CBD seems to be very safe in adults, and may show promise for some symptoms of ADHD.

The beneficial effects are possible due to the ability of cannabinoids to inhibit monoamine oxidase (MAO), which helps metabolize dopamine and norepinephrine. Slowing the breakdown process of these neurotransmitters can lead to higher levels throughout the brain.

Studies on cannabinoids, including CBD, and ADHD

While the body of research on the effect of cannabinoids in the brain is quite large, there are very few studies specifically on ADHD. The few that do exist show there is potential, but further research is necessary.

In a preclinical trial, researchers used a drug called MK-801, which induces inattentiveness and hyperactivity in rats. This mimics the symptoms of ADHD. Pretreatment with CBD reduced hyperactivity but did not appear to affect attention span.

A clinical trial conducted in 2017 compared the effects of a placebo treatment to Sativex (an oral spray containing a 1:1 ratio of CBD to THC) in 30 adults with ADHD. The adults given Sativex showed improvements in hyperactivity-impulsivity, attention span, and emotional control, while the placebo group did not.

Is it safe to use CBD for ADHD?

While the existing studies show cannabinoids indeed have potential, the likelihood of ADHD treatment beginning during childhood means more research is needed to determine their safety. Although 5.2% of children already take traditional stimulant or non-stimulant medications, most are not recommended for use in patients under six years old, and the effects of long-term use are not clear.

A young student hides playfully behind a piece of posterboard while sitting at a desk. Some research supports using cannabinoids like CBD for ADHD.
Some research supports using cannabinoids like CBD for ADHD. However, too little is known about the potential

Over 20 weeks, a group of 20 children took a cannabis extract containing 100 mg/ml CBD and 2 mg/ml THC. Most of the participants had mild adverse effects, such as tiredness and poor balance, but these resolved themselves within eight weeks.

While these results are encouraging, further study is needed to determine the long-term effects. Behavioral therapy is the recommended frontline ADHD treatment for younger pediatric patients. Medication is only appropriate in older patients, when therapy proves ineffective. And we just don’t know enough about the effect of cannabinoids on young minds.

When it comes to adults, there’s a growing body of evidence suggesting that CBD has very few side effects. Even the World Health Organization reported that CBD is safe and nonaddictive.

Final thoughts on CBD and ADHD

Approximately 26.5 million Americans struggle with ADHD at some point in their lives. If cannabinoids can help even a fraction of them, an enormous amount of lives could be improved.

We can’t stress this enough, but it’s vital to consult with a medical professional before beginning any treatment program. This is even more true when it comes to children and adolescents. It’s also important not to change your existing treatment plan without medical advice. Abruptly discontinuing behavioral or pharmaceutical therapies can be extremely detrimental and is not recommended in any circumstance.

We think it’s clear that CBD and other cannabinoids could help some people with ADHD. We hope scientists continue to investigate and we’ll continue to report back when they do.

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Teaching Kids About Hemp With Callie Cannabis & Friends (VIDEO) https://ministryofhemp.com/teaching-kids-about-hemp/ https://ministryofhemp.com/teaching-kids-about-hemp/#respond Thu, 26 Apr 2018 19:09:57 +0000 http://ministryofhemp.com/?p=53996 Two innovative parenting guides make teaching kids about hemp and cannabis simple. Watch our interview with Juliette Benz and Kris Morwood, the co-authors behind Callie Cannabis and Hana Hemp, two books that include everything from hemp history to safety tips.

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https://youtu.be/2JCrw1G4nB0

Two innovative parenting guides make teaching kids about hemp and cannabis simple.

Juliette Benz and Kris Morwood created Callie Cannabis and Hana Hemp to help with this complicated topic. Blair Barbour, an internationally recognized artist, joined the team on “Hana Hemp.” Each book focuses on a different aspect of the cannabis plant from a child-friendly perspective.

We met Benz and Morwood at the NoCo Hemp Expo where they offered a hemp arts and crafts area. Young visitors and the young at heart had a blast making bracelets and other simple jewelry from hemp.

These books are designed to replace years of fear, stigma and misinformation about cannabis. “Callie Cannabis” helps parents explain the overall benefits of cannabis and how it can be used. “Hana Hemp” focuses on teaching kids about hemp and its ancient history. The books gently address the war on drugs by helping kids understand why some people still fear cannabis. Callie also offers some safety tips for keeping cannabis and hemp edibles in the home but out of reach of kids.

Hana Hemp and her friend Callie Cannabis help parents teaching kids about hemp and cannabis.
Hana Hemp and her friend Callie Cannabis help parents teach kids about hemp and cannabis. In this illustration, Hana Hemp inspects a hemp plant. (Callie and Friends)

Morris Beagle, co-founder of the NoCo Hemp Expo, is also a fan of Callie and Hana.

“Kids need to be taught the truth about cannabis/hemp from an early age,” Beagle said. “The truth is cannabis is the best plant ever.”

Don’t miss our other coverage of NoCo Hemp Expo, including a jetpack launch!

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