April Pride: This podcast discusses cannabis and is intended for audiences 21 and over.

Dr. Jessica Knox: So, most people know about the cardiovascular system, our heart, they know about the neurological system, the respiratory system, these are the systems we all learned about in health class, in high school, right? But nobody learned about the endocannabinoid system. Even still, I graduated from medical school in 2012, the endocannabinoid system, the primary components have been discovered by the early 1990s, 20 years later I was not learning this in medical school.

April Pride: Welcome back to How to Do the Pot. I’m April Pride and I do the pot. According to a Gallup poll, one in seven Americans say they personally use cannabidiol or CBD based products. One major reason you’re seeing these products everywhere, in 2018 a federal law passed that legalized the hemp form of cannabis. You just heard Dr. Jessica Knox, a Harvard trained physician who practices cannabinoid medicine. Today we’re digging into why CBD and THC are helping so many women feel better, and why you should know about the body’s endocannabinoid system or the ECS.

April Pride: This is the audio newsletter. If you’d rather read it, visit dothepot.com to subscribe to our email newsletter. And if you like How to Do the Pot, please share it with someone and rate and review us on Apple Podcasts, it helps more people find our show.

April Pride: Okay, to start, let’s get a few things straight, is hemp the same as CBD? The answer is many reputable manufacturers do not label their products CBD, instead look for hemp extract or hemp oil, this is a long-standing way to work within the laws. Although federal laws now support the manufacture and sale of hemp derived CBD products, websites like Amazon continue to restrict the sale of products labeled CBD. Avoid anything labeled hempseed oil, while sufficient to treat some conditions hempseed oil contains negligible amounts of CBD. CBD Is your best friend when a high becomes too much. Keeping CBD around is great if you happen to consume too much THC. CBD cuts through the THC, minimizes your high, and allows you to maintain control, once again, in about 30 minutes. I just keep CBD on hand because it doesn’t always hit you the same way, and if you are entertaining or having guests or getting high with other people it is definitely an added bonus to have on hand.

Dr. Jessica Knox: I’m Dr. Jessica Knox, more commonly known as Dr. Jessica, because I am one of four doctors in my family who are all Dr. Knox’s. So, I’m Dr. Jessica or Dr. Jess. My mother, Dr. Janice had started working in cannabis clinics in 2011, and she was really the reason that the rest of the family got interested in and started working in the cannabis space because she went to cover one of these cannabis card clinics one day for another physician, went in very skeptical, sort of believing she would see all of the stereotypes that one expects when they think about cannabis card clinics. But instead she saw babies and grandmas and professionals and cops, and all of these people who were coming into this clinic because either they had been failed by the conventional medical system or they were sort of like on their last legs where it was like this is an option of last resort. They were real people seeking real relief, and many of them finding real relief with cannabis, and so her mind was sort of changed at her first day at that clinic.

Dr. Jessica Knox: The endocannabinoid system, really important system that’s sort of balancing and modulating all of these other systems in our body to maintain what we call homeostasis or balance in our body. But the endocannabinoid system, as powerful as it is, can be worn down by various inputs. The most common inputs that are wearing down the system, our food, or our poor quality food for most of us, Americans, pollution or chemicals, pharmaceutical drugs are a big one that can wear down the endocannabinoid system, stress, just like the daily anxiety and stress of our very fast-paced lives and social media, aging, genetics, all of these things can work against the health of our endocannabinoid system.

April Pride: Here’s what you need to know about how CBD and THC work differently in the body. CBD is amazing at fighting inflammation, calming the nervous system down, also known as relaxing. For full blown pain cannabis works a little differently, to get the full effect you often need a combination of THC and CBD, and this is where we’re going to get into a few definitions for the uninitiated. To date, at least 113 different molecules have been isolated from the cannabis plant, these are called cannabinoids. There’s the OG, sorry, THC, this is what gets you high. Then there’s CBD, shiny new cannabinoid, but really an OG as well.

April Pride: Not only are there different molecules that have different effects within the cannabis plant, it’s not only one plant, Cannabis sativa is a family of plants that includes two varieties, hemp and cannabis, both the hemp and the cannabis plant contain cannabinoids. THC and CBD are just two of over a hundred cannabinoids found in the cannabis plant. In the hemp plant CBD naturally occurs at higher rates. THC levels in a hemp plant are extremely low, less than half of 1%, whereas cannabis today has higher levels of THC with typically most of the CBD nearly bred out of our plants because people growing the plants wanted more of the get you high stuff.

April Pride: Equilibria, a premium CBD company created by two women who want women to do the CBD right. So, Equilibria offers one-on-one access to their highly trained specialists with each purchase. Today I’m joined by Equilibria’s lead CBD educator, Maia Reed.

April Pride: Maia, what do women ask you most frequently about CBD?

Maia Reed: Firstly, they want to know what are some of the benefits of CBD? Most often the answer is for stress, chronic pain and sleep. After taking Equilibria’s daily drops and soft gels consistently, our members often report decreased stress, improved sleep and increased mobility.

April Pride: Another question we hear from women is, “How long will it take to feel the benefits of CBD?”

Maia Reed: Keep in mind when working with CBD the effects are subtle and the onset varies significantly person to person. While some women can expect improved sleep and mood, as well as reduced inflammation after two weeks, for other women it can take up to three months to experience the full benefits of Equilibria’s CBD.

April Pride: How do you want to feel three months from now? Equilibria’s CBD products ship to all 50 states, so visit their website myeq.com, that’s M-Y-E-Q.com, and use promo code DOTHEPOT for 15% off your purchase.

April Pride: Understanding how CBD and THC work differently in the body will help you know when to use what. We asked Michelle Mendoza of Los Angeles Patient’s & Caregiver’s Group, or LAPCG, one of the first cannabis clinics in California, the first state that allowed medical use of cannabis.

Michelle Mendoza: High CBD balms are typically going to be used for treating long-term inflammation, they’re really good at addressing that, and because it does have THC it does address that pain component, but the main focus is that inflammation. High THC is going to be more for that acute pain, and then short-term pain management and then that CBD in there’s going to help keep the inflammation down. So, they work wonders.

April Pride: We’ve all become so much more aware of how pervasive chronic pain is, which is part of how we’ve ended up with a deadly opioid epidemic. Could cannabis become part of the solution? Well, early clinical trial data shows that THC can help people cope with some of the symptoms of opioid withdrawal. There’s also emerging clinical trial data in which CBD has been shown to reduce cravings for opioids and people suffering from opioid addiction. The potential benefit of cannabis and stopping deadly epidemics is just one of the reasons we are passionate about making this show, How to Do the Pot.

April Pride: For today’s High Five Ellen shares her tips on using CBD.

Ellen Scanlon: Number one, I use CBD for sleep and pain related to inflammation, and it really helps. Number two, the highest quality CBD is always full spectrum, which means CBD derived from hemp and containing all the cannabinoids in the plant. To learn more about CBD testing visit, dothepot.com. Number three, I can fall asleep, but I used to wake up a lot in the middle of the night. Now, before bed, I take an extra strength soft gel from Equilibria and stay asleep all night. Number four, I like CBD oil tinctures from Juna, Rosebud and Chemistry. Chemistry’s only available from dispensaries in California. Hold the oil under your tongue for 30 to 60 seconds to get the full benefits. Number five Sagely Naturals relief and recovery cream helps my sore neck muscles and a cranky wrist from too much time on my laptop.

April Pride: For today’s strain recommendations we offer three high CBD strains that are super popular. The first is ACDC, and you’ll hear me recommend this time and again, it’s a 20 to one CBD to THC strain, which means that really there’s not going to be any psychoactive effects because there is so much more CBD than THC. It’s often recommended for social anxiety. I like to say that it’s like a glass of champagne when you walk into a party.

April Pride: Cannatonic, it’s smooth, it is a quiet high that suits the body and mind. It’s almost a one-to-one, it treats muscle spasms, stress and pain, and it also prevents and reduces inflammation.

April Pride: Harlequin, it’s a great daytime strain for work without stress, high CBD, low THC, effective for pain and anxiety and for not to getting high. It’s best for chronic pain relief or it’s great for meditating. I definitely recommend it for that.

April Pride: And here are three podcasts that Ellen and I recommend. I like Running from COPS, which is hosted by Dan Taberski, and he detailed how producers for the long-running show, COPS, exploited subjects over and over year after year, and thanks to this podcast the show was canceled after 25 years on air. Ellen likes Radio Headspace hosted by Andy Puddicombe. Every weekday morning these less than five minute episodes help bring a little peace of mind. And for How to Do the Pot, we recommend NPR Short Wave hosted by Madeline Sofia. The episode we recommend, Is CBD Safe? The FDA Can’t Say.

April Pride: Thank you for listening to this audio newsletter. Let us know what you think. Find us on Instagram @dothepot, and you can follow me @aprilpride, and for lots more information about cannabis and women visit our website, dothepot.com.

April Pride: Thanks to my co-founder Ellen Scanlon, Madi Fair our marketing manager, and our producer Nick Patri. I’m April Pride and we’ll be back soon with more of How to Do the Pot.