SDZ Today News

Law & Politics

Medical

Category: cultivation

Auto Added by WPeMatico

California Gov. Gavin Newsom To Review 17 Cannabis, Psychedelics Bills

September 21, 2023 Published by

As of the California State Legislature ended on Sept. 14, more than 17 cannabis or psychedelic bills were sent to California Gov. Gavin Newsom to potentially be signed. The bills include a wide variety of proposals, which Newsom must either sign, veto, or refuse to sign and allow them to be approved without his signature.

In the past, Newsom has expressed support for cannabis and psychedelics, but it is currently unclear which of these 17 bills he will support. However, he has under one month, or until Oct. 14, to address the following bills.

SB-51: Cannabis provisional licenses: local equity applicants

Social equity applicants would be permitted to apply for or renew their provisional licenses between now and January 1, 2031. Currently, provisional licenses are not being accepted in California.

SB-58: Controlled substances: decriminalization of certain hallucinogenic substances.

This bill was passed on to the Gov. on Sept. 13, and would legalize possession, cultivation, and transportation of substances such as psilocybin, psilocyn, DMT, and mescaline. The bill is led by Sen. Scott Weiner, who believes that it will help many patients, especially military veterans, within the state. “California’s veterans, first responders, and others struggling with PTSD, depression, and addiction deserve access to these promising plant medicines,” said Wiener when the bill passed in the Assembly. “SB-58 has prudent safeguards in place after we incorporated feedback from three years of deep engagement with a broad array of stakeholders. We know these substances are not addictive, and they show tremendous promise in treating many of the most intractable conditions driving our nation’s mental health crisis. It’s time to stop criminalizing people who use psychedelics for healing or personal well-being.”

SB-302 Compassionate Access to Medical Cannabis Act

While only terminally ill patients are currently allowed to use medical cannabis at healthcare facilities, this bill would allow anyone over 65 to treat chronic illness with medical cannabis if they choose. The bill is an expansion of the currently existing Compassionate Access to Medical Cannabis Act, or Ryan’s Law.

SB-540: Cannabis and cannabis products: health warnings

If passed, SB-540 would instruct the Department of Cannabis Control to make an education brochure that would be given to consumers when they purchase products from a dispensary for the first time (both at a retail store or upon delivery). The info would be updated on January 1, 2030, and every five years after that date.

SB-622: Cannabis regulation: plant identification program: unique identifier

A proposal from Sen. Ben Allen and Juan Alanis would change how cannabis products are identified with “a unique identifier to be recorded in a manner as determined by the department by regulation.” The bill doesn’t directly mention removing the plastic tags that are currently used to track cannabis plants, but it could allow digital tags to be utilized in the future for a more sustainable, ecofriendly approach.

SB-700: Employment discrimination: cannabis use

This bill would ban employers from inquiring about an applicant’s personal cannabis use, which is added to current applicant protections from the already existing California Fair Employment and Housing Act. According to Sen. Steven Bradford, 

SB-753: Cannabis: water resources

With the preservation of groundwater and environmental harm, this bill would make it a felony to grow and harvest more than six cannabis plants, especially if it is grown “Intentionally or with gross negligence causing substantial environmental harm to surface or groundwater, public lands, or other public resources.”

SB-833: Cannabis licensing: cultivation licenses: changing license type: inactive status

Currently, cannabis cultivators who wish to change their license status to a smaller grow to inactive (whether permanently or just temporarily), must redo the complete process through the Department of Cannabis Control (DCC). This bill would allow them to make this change through the DCC without resubmitting their application in its entirety.

AB-374: Cannabis: retail preparation, sale, and consumption of non cannabis food and beverage products

Presented to the governor on Sept. 15, AB-374 would make “Amsterdam-style” cannabis cafes legal. With approval, dispensaries will be able to offer non-cannabis food and drinks, as well as “live musical or other performances on the premises of a licensed retailer or microbusiness in the area where the consumption of cannabis is allowed.” According to the bill sponsor, Assemblymember Matt Haney believes the bill would benefit consumers and also cities. “Lots of people want to enjoy legal cannabis in the company of others,” Haney said. “And many people want to do that while sipping coffee, eating a scone, or listening to music. There’s absolutely no good reason from an economic, health or safety standpoint that the state should make that illegal. If an authorized cannabis retail store wants to also sell a cup of coffee and a sandwich, we should allow cities to make that possible and stop holding back these small businesses.”

AB-623: Cannabis: citation and fine

According to current California law, cannabis laboratory testing is conducted by testing a batch of products to ensure that “the chemical profile of the sample conforms to the labeled content of compounds.” In order for licensed labs to test edibles and issue a certificate of analysis, the report must show “that the milligrams of THC per serving does not exceed 10 milligrams per serving, plus or minus 10%.” In other words, the certificate excludes products with less than 10 mg THC (such as low-dose edibles with only 5 mg THC). If passed, AB-623 would require new DCC regulations that keep low-dose edibles in mind.

AB-993: Cannabis Task Force

This bill would add representatives from the Civil Rights Department and the Department of Industrial Relations, the existing cannabis task force in California.

AB-1021: Controlled substances: rescheduling

This bill would allow California health care professionals to prescribe cannabis if it reschedules any Schedule I substance. Current Schedule I substances include cannabis, as well as LSD, heroin, peyote, ecstasy, and more.

AB-1126: Cannabis: citation and fine

This proposal would ban the use of the universal cannabis symbol on cannabis packaging for products that are not authorized to use it. Any companies using the symbol without approval will be seized by the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration.

AB-1171: Cannabis: private right of action

Legal action would be permissible for cannabis business license owners against illegal cannabis businesses in the California Supreme Court.

AB-1207: Cannabis: labeling and advertising

This bill would potentially alter the definition for cannabis product packaging, by “prohibiting the sale, distribution, or manufacture of cannabis, cannabis products, packaging, or labeling that are attractive to children, as defined.” It further prohibits imagery including cartoons, toys, robots, real or fictional humans, fictional animals or creatures, as well as fruits or vegetables (unless it’s used to describe the flavor of the product).

AB-1448: Cannabis: enforcement by local jurisdictions

A person currently engaging in illegal cannabis without a license is subject to civil penalty funds ($10,000 per day per violation but not to exceed $30,000 per day). This bill would take some of those civil penalty money and move them to treasurers of local jurisdictions.

AB-1684: Local ordinances: fines and penalties: cannabis

In this bill, fines attributed to illegal cannabis cultivators would also apply to other illegal businesses such as processors and distributors.

In the past, Newsom has expressed support for cannabis and psychedelics, but it is currently unclear which of these 17 bills he will sign. However, he has under one month, or until Oct. 14, to address these bills.

Newsom has signed three bills since July that are cannabis-related. In July, he signed SB-250 which provides immunity to people who test positive for a controlled substance, such as fentanyl, specifically in regards to working with law enforcement and sharing where they received the drug. Also in July, Newsom signed AB-128, which added cannabis event organizers to the list of license classifications, and updated requirements for background checks for cannabis-related businesses. He also signed SB-756 on Sept. 1, which allows the California State Water Board to investigate and take action against illegal cannabis cultivation.

The post California Gov. Gavin Newsom To Review 17 Cannabis, Psychedelics Bills appeared first on High Times.

Maven Genetics is One of the Rec Stars of 2023

September 16, 2023 Published by

If you’re a regular consumer in California’s recreational market, it’s pretty hard to miss Maven Genetics these days. Since the team broke out of their shell, they’ve made an epic run on shelf space up and down the state this year. The growth has been backboned by a solid spread of house genetics, and a few new accolades they received for their flower recently won’t hurt either. We sat down with the team at Maven Genetics a couple of days removed from their top-five finish with French Laundry in The Emerald Cup’s hyper competitive indoor division.

Maven’s co-founder and President Mike Corvington started the tale by noting how long the team had been working together previously to Maven being formed as an entity in the era of adult-use legalization.

“We obviously all come from the traditional side and have collectively been doing our thing since the late ’90s, early 2000s and kind of slowly scaled up our endeavors throughout that time from backyards and house grows to entering into the warehouse game,” Corvington told High Times.

Pink Monet / Courtesy Maven Genetics

Corvington’s partner, Maven CEO David Bosworth, was the first of the group to get a warehouse going in the early 2000s. From there they went off in downtown LA for a bit. But while Maven is now known for having a giant spread of flavors to pick from, they weren’t at that point back then.

“We were strictly OG,” Corvington stressed. “We were blessed with the original Triangle Kush cut from Miami. Essentially the same one Josh D had. Our other buddy Chad had a pre-98 that we traded for that back in the late ’90s. So we grew a little bit of Bubba here and there, but predominantly from the early 2000s all the way until, I think 2016-17, we just cranked out lots and lots of OG. We basically flooded the valley with OG and just really top-quality OG.”

In 2015, the team would eventually start to work with the XXX OG cut they run to this day. It’s still a staple of their lineup and breeding work, and Corvington swears by the cut.

“That one is just super special,” he said.

XXX OG is one of the strains they don’t expect to cycle out from the 20 or so they have in production at the moment. It’s a mainstay on their menu.

While Corvington isn’t spending as much time in the garden as he did back in the day, he’s a critical piece of the Maven brain trust that determines what they’ll be growing, how much, and when, to make sure they keep a constant supply of product.

Before formally establishing the company, Maven sold genetics. Now they offer flower and concentrates featuring their genetics. Corvington explained that Maven officially became an entity when they got the trademark for the logo in 2017.

Blue Agape / Courtesy Maven Genetics

“The logo kind of evolved through a few different iterations. I mean, we had the brand established in like 2015. And then it kind of went through a couple of iterations,” Corvington said. “I think it’s 2017 we actually officially trademarked it as an apparel brand federally.”

Corvington went on to note that 2015 was also the year they really saw the writing on the wall as far as the need to become their own brand, as opposed to dudes just pumping out fire OGs.

“We entered a few competitions and we started to see the slow transition from deli-style and then realizing that people are entering our flower into competitions and winning,” Corvington said. “And so we’re like, ‘We just need to do this.’ And kind of early on we saw that brands were going to be the way of the future so that’s why being vertically integrated has always been our approach.”

Corvington added that Maven has never been looking to have a massive retail footprint but instead wanted to have a few flagship shops to distribute the flower they work so hard on. Their two shops make up a small fraction of a percent of the shelf space they now have throughout over 400 dispensaries across California.

2017 was the year that Maven started hunting down all the flavors they’re now famous for. The decision to start hunting new terpene profiles coincided with the transition to the recreational market.

We asked Corvington if the team hadn’t hunted anything in 15 years at that point.

“Yeah, pretty much man. I mean, you know, small scale. There were a few packs of seeds here and there that we’d pop but very rarely at that point was I finding anything that was worth growing on any kind of scale,” Corvington said. “So 2017 was really when we started pushing a larger genetic line.”

Maven Genetics
White Dahlia / Courtesy Maven Genetics

Maven will pop about 100 seeds when they’re hunting for new flavors. Some hunts have gotten up to 200 but they find that 100 number to be their sweet spot. Corvington noted they are looking for everything. Sure, the economics of things are critical, but they’re still excited to see those wild flavors and outliers that might not make sense in a full production run.

Maybe Maven can do something else with them given how robust the inhouse breeding program got in 2020 a few years after they started popping all the seeds.

“I’d say the breeding program was not really in full swing ‘till like 2020. We definitely popped different gear, but it wasn’t until 2020 that I would say we had any kind of impactful programming,” Corvington explained.

Some of the early successes of the program included the Blueberry Skunk. Maven would go on to run a few more Blueberry lines—such as Blueberry Zkittlez which is still in production—but Corvington argued they have evolved a lot since those early wins in the breeding room.

“I feel like you know, we’ve really kind of made some impacts in the past year and a half because initially even in the breeding that we’re doing, it was kind of more we were kind of feeling our way through it and finding more things that were commercially viable, but that I don’t know if I would at this point say we’re long term keepers like our XXX OG and things that, you know, we’ll forever hold on to at this point,” Corvington said.

Right now Maven is running about 1,100 lights. They’re also deep in the process of converting a couple of their spaces to double-stacked LEDs. They had previously run HPS exclusively, but they’ve already done some test runs with Hawthorne as they look to dial it in on the LED side.

Corvington believes a lot of the people who have struggled with LEDs aren’t handling the environmental conditions the right way. But he also admits some cultivars seem to do better under LED compared to HPS despite many being convinced it’s always the other way around.

“I think with LEDs you really have to have your environmentals tuned in properly,” Corvington said. “A lot of people will not be getting the yields—are not getting the quality—and it’s just a result of their photosynthetic photon efficacy being off or just their environmental not being dialed in properly. You really have to have your stuff on point to grow well with LEDs.”

French Laundry / Courtesy Maven Genetics

We asked Corvington if their cultivation standard operating procedures were strain-specific or if the genetics needed to fit into the system that Maven has built out. He argued it’s a little bit of both. While they certainly cater to the plant, they try and group the room with things that have similar tolerance levels to the environment.

Some of those rooms can get up to 162 lights. Corvington admits they obviously have a bit more control on the stuff in the smaller rooms where it’s easier to keep a tight rein on things. That being said, he’s happy with what the big rooms are putting out.

Corvington went on to speak about concerns that the big menu makes it hard for their rock stars to shine.

“I mean, that’s always there and I thought we could reduce the menu, but, you know, I feel like our cadence with our strain offerings works for the buyers that we work with in our relationships,” Corvington explained. “Because you get some groups that just kind of want six different strains and they’re happy with that. But inevitably, there are other groups that they’re perfectly happy. They want variety because the customer base wants variety.”

This article was originally published in the August 2023 issue of High Times Magazine.

The post Maven Genetics is One of the Rec Stars of 2023 appeared first on High Times.

Colombia Breaks Coca Cultivation Record, UN Report Finds

September 13, 2023 Published by

Colombia broke a new record for cultivating the coca leaf, the plant used to make cocaine, according to a United Nations report. The process involves extracting alkaloids from the leaves using solvents like gasoline. This crude extract turns into a coca base by mixing it with alkaline solutions. Then, with a bit of further refinement, thanks to chemicals like hydrochloric acid, the result is crystalline cocaine hydrochloride. The final product is dried, diluted, packaged, and ready for distribution (and likely stepped on multiple times; one can only hope not with fentanyl) before hitting the illicit market. Colombia is the world’s top coca cultivator, producing 60% of the world’s cocaine, followed by Peru and Bolivia.

On Monday, The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) reported that 230,000 hectares, or 568,340 acres, of land, were planted with coca last year, 2022, which marks an increase of 13% since 2021. 

According to Al Jazeera, Columbia’s potential cocaine output skyrocketed by 24% to about 1.73 million kilograms (1,738 tonnes), the highest number reported since the UN began monitoring the situation in 2001. Colombia has been the world’s biggest producer of cocaine for a long time and is under pressure from the U.S. and the world at large to implement changes to cut down on production. 

However, producing coca is such a valuable profession for so many farmers that it’s been challenging to implement changes. Distanced from the harmful effects of the drug made from the crops they grow, coca farming is a means of survival and a way of life for many Colombian citizens. The government has previously promised subsidies and other incentives to move growers away from the coca plant, but so far, officials have yet to follow through.

Colombian Justice Minister Néstor Osuna said that they’re “flattening the curve” and that the increase rate was much lower than in 2021, the BBC reports. However, the UNODC’s Leonardo Correa warned of a sharp rise in potential coca production in 2022.

“The crops that were young last year have now reached maturity and are now productive. In other words, the rate of growth in hectares is decreasing. But the rate of cocaine production is increasing,” he said.

Colombian leftist President Gustavo Petro has previously called the war on drugs “irrational.” He likes to call out poor politics on the topic, such as during his first speech at the General Assembly in 2022. In it, Petro said that the world’s addiction to money, oil, and carbon is destroying the Colombian rainforest through what he described as a “hypocritical” war against drugs, the UN reports.

“The forest that should be saved is at the same time being destroyed. To destroy the coca plant, they throw poisons such as glyphosate that drips into our waters, they arrest their cultivators and then imprison them,” he said. “The jungle is burning, gentlemen, while you wage war and play with it. The jungle, the climatic pillar of the world, disappears with all its life. The great sponge that absorbs the planetary CO2 evaporates. The jungle is our savior, but it is seen in my country as the enemy to defeat, as a weed to be extinguished,” Petro continued.

He has proposed his own ideas to fight the cocaine problem, such as directing enforcement on the drug gang leadership rather than the farmers, increasing social funding in production areas, and expanding voluntary crop substitution programs in high-production areas. 

On Saturday, Petro asked for an alliance among Latin American nations to secure a united front in the fight against cocaine trafficking. Rather than continue confronting the problem with what he describes as a “failed” approach, he also proposed recognizing drug consumption as a public health problem. 

“What I propose is to have a different and unified voice that defends our society, our future and our history and stops repeating a failed discourse,” Petro said in a speech that concluded the Latin American and Caribbean Conference on Drugs, held in the Colombian city of Cali.

“It is time to rebuild hope and not repeat the bloody and ferocious wars, the ill-named ‘war on drugs’, viewing drugs as a military problem and not as a health problem for society,” Petro added. 

The recent UN report shares that almost two-thirds of Colombia’s coca farms are in the southern regions of Narino and Putumayo, which border Ecuador. There has been a 77% rise in coca cultivation in Putumayo, alone, the BBC reports. This area is currently engulfed in gang-related violence. Additionally, roughly half of the coca comes from indigenous reserves, forest reserves, and natural parks controlled by drug cartels or other armed groups such as leftist fighters and right-wing paramilitaries.

The Colombian government promises to adopt new drug policies soon directed at shutting down such criminal groups while protecting the farmers who grow the crop. 

The post Colombia Breaks Coca Cultivation Record, UN Report Finds appeared first on High Times.

Number of Licensed Hemp Farms in Kansas Decreases From 200 to 41

September 12, 2023 Published by

A recent report shows that the state of Kansas once had hundreds of licensed hemp cultivators, but that number has decreased significantly. Numbers for 2023 show that there are only 41 licensed hemp cultivators currently operating in Kansas.

The surge in hemp cultivators was initially caused by the passage of the 2018 Hemp Farm Bill, which prompted over 200 cultivators to apply. Most of those cultivators prioritized CBD hemp oil production, but due to a more recent decrease in production (for health-related use, or as a food product) only 41 cultivators are now licensed.

According to Sarah Stephens, CEO of Kansas-based Midwest Hemp Technology, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It’s just a sign of the industrial hemp industry shifting focus to cultivating hemp for fiber or animal feed. “There’s been a reduction in the number of growers and the number of acres on the CBD side,” Stephens told KAKE.com. “But there’s been an increase in the number of growers and number of acres on the fiber and grain side.”

Kansas Department of Agriculture Deputy Secretary Kelsey Olson also shared insight about the shift, explaining that hemp production has declined due to other neighboring states legalizing recreational cannabis. “The landscape has changed over the last few years across the country,” said Olson. “I think that may have shifted some of the use.”

Another Kansas cannabis business owner, Melissa Nelson of South Bend Industrial Hemp, said that she has always focused on growing hemp as a source of fiber. Now, she sees the current trend of using hemp stalks to make animal bedding material, which is stronger than standard straw.

According to Stephens, the hemp industry in Kansas has a lot of paths for expansion, including hemp grain food products. Since most cultivators do not grow hemp for the grain, a lot of hemp grain is imported from Canada. “We have the right landmasses, the right farmer know-how, the right seasons and temperatures to lead in this industry,” Stephens said.

Earlier this year in May, Kansas State University (KSU) architecture students created a hemp structure (which they called the “K-state Hemp Casita”) that was showcased around the state. According to KSU assistant professor Michael Gibson, the house was built over a 16-week period and measured at 10 feet by 7 feet. “We started off the semester passing around a bag of hemp hearts so that the students understood the full range of possibilities with hemp, in other words that it isn’t just like wood or other natural fiber materials,” Gibson added. “[Hemp’s] value as human and animal nutrition, in the CBD industry, and making industrial fibers was an important starting point to understanding why we should be using it more in buildings.”

Kansas Gov. Laura Kelley recently said in June that she had no intention of using her executive power to legalize medical cannabis. “I don’t think I can do that,” Kelley said in June. “I just don’t think that is within my purview. … We’re just going to keep pushing through the legislative process.”

This is a considerable difference in comparison to states like Kentucky for instance, which also doesn’t have legal medical cannabis. However, last year Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear signed an executive order in November 2022 to allow patients with chronic or terminal conditions to use medical cannabis. “With 37 states already legalizing medical cannabis and 90% of Kentucky adults supporting it, I am doing what I can to provide access and relief to those who meet certain conditions and need it to better enjoy their life, without pain,” Beshear said in a statement last year. Although his executive order does not legalize medical cannabis statewide, it does permit patients to purchase medical cannabis in a different state that offers legal medical cannabis.

However, it’s important to note that Gov. Laura Kelly does support medical cannabis overall. “Three out of the four states surrounding Kansas have legalized medical marijuana,” Kelly said on social media. “Legalizing medical marijuana would boost our economy and provide relief to Kansans suffering with severe illnesses.”

Cannabis-related bills have not gained much traction in the legislature. Earlier this year, House Bill 2363 was introduced to decriminalize cannabis throughout Kansas, but it didn’t move forward.

A different bill was tabled by a Kansas Senate Committee in March, which would have allowed doctors to approve medical cannabis products for patients with 21 different medical conditions (including cancer, epilepsy, spinal cord injuries, and chronic pain). “I am disappointed that some legislators are saying they don’t want to move forward with legalizing medical marijuana this year—effectively turning their backs on our veterans and those with chronic pain and seizure disorders,” said Kelley. “If they get their way, for yet another year thousands of Kansans will be forced to choose between breaking the law and living without pain. I encourage Kansans to call their state legislators and tell them to legalize medical marijuana this session.”

The post Number of Licensed Hemp Farms in Kansas Decreases From 200 to 41 appeared first on High Times.

South African Police Won’t Arrest You for Growing Weed in Your House (Or Your Car)

September 7, 2023 Published by

The South African Police Service has confirmed that they will no longer be bothering to arrest anybody for personal-use cultivation or possession of cannabis.

“In short, possession, use and cultivation of cannabis by an adult, for personal consumption, in private, is permitted. In contrast, dealing in cannabis is not permitted, therefore commercialization of cannabis is still not legal in South Africa,” Brigadier Athlende Mathe told IOL on Wednesday (a brigadier is an officer in the British army above colonel and below major general).

According to the IOL report, cannabis has been decriminalized in South Africa for several years but a new SAPS police directive has cleared up a bit of confusion that began in 2018 when the South African Constitutional Court declared a law banning cannabis use in private as unconstitutional. 

“I am of the view that the prohibition of the performance of any activity in connection with the cultivation of cannabis by an adult in private for his or her personal consumption in private is inconsistent with the right to privacy entrenched in the Constitution and is constitutionally invalid,” said Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo in his 2018 ruling.

This ruling essentially made private use of cannabis legal in the country but police still technically had the power to arrest people for it because the regulations didn’t contain enough detail surrounding what specifically constituted legal vs illegal activity.

The new police directive would allow South African cannabis consumers to grow and consume their own cannabis provided they do it in a private space. What constitutes a private space is, as with all laws, somewhat up to interpretation.

“No arrests are to be made for personal and private cultivation and/or possession of cannabis, which activities are not criminal,” Brigadier Mathe said. “Furthermore, no arrests of alleged cannabis offenders should be effected merely for the reason to achieve predetermined targets and without assurance that there is indeed a crime that will be enrolled and prosecuted by the National Prosecuting Authority,” Mathe said, referring to police quotas maintaining officers make a certain amount of arrests each month for certain types of crimes.

According to the IOL report, a private space basically just means four walls and a roof, or anything that prevents others from accessing it. This could be a house, a shed, a car, a 4×4 Vivosun grow tent placed haphazardly outside with the roof cut off. It’s a little bit arbitrary and the cultivator does not need to technically own the space to be permitted to cultivate there. As long as you’re not selling the cannabis itself to anybody, SAPS said they will not arrest you.

These changes can be credited to updates in Section 1 of the Drugs and Trafficking Act, No. 140 of 1992, which expanded the definition of the phrase “deal in” to include a more rigid definition which IOL listed as follows:

“Under the newly defined Act, the phrase “deal in” involves any act in connection with the trans-shipment, importation, cultivation other than the cultivation of cannabis by an adult in a private place for his or her personal consumption in private, collection, manufacture, supply, prescription, administration, sale, transmission or exportation of the drug.”

As many Americans living in legal states can attest to, South Africa cannabis consumers still have a long confusing path to walk before they can truly breathe easy but this still marks a sizable step forward for cannabis legalization. South Africa is one of only six countries on the African continent where cannabis isn’t fully illegal. They are also the only African country to have decriminalized cannabis for recreational use. According to the IOL report, cannabis distributed by religions, tradition or cultural healers in small quantities is also regarded as private and personal, topping off a long list of gaping legal loopholes that will make for some very interesting years to come in South Africa. 

Maybe I’ll take a trip one of these days on the off chance I find somebody growing some serious heat in a minivan somewhere, but my buddy once told me they have lions just casually walking around over there so maybe not.

The post South African Police Won’t Arrest You for Growing Weed in Your House (Or Your Car) appeared first on High Times.

Ballot Initiative Could Crush Cannabis Cultivation in Humboldt

September 5, 2023 Published by

Small farmers in California’s famed Emerald Triangle are uniting to defeat a ballot initiative that could devastate what remains of the cannabis industry in Humboldt County. The proposal known as the Humboldt Cannabis Reform Initiative (HCRI) is a 38-page document that, if passed, would establish an effective ban on any changes to existing farms of all sizes within the county’s incorporated areas.

“HCRI has been written to effectively discourage existing permit holders from modifying their permits in any way,” the Humboldt County Planning Department explains in a report analyzing the initiative. “This includes adding infrastructure intended for environmental protections or modification of activities or site configuration to adapt to the evolving industry. These restrictions affect the smallest of farms permitted in Humboldt County to the largest cultivation sites.” 

As written in the initiative—set to appear on the ballot as Measure A—“expansion” is defined as “an increase in the number and size of any structures used in connection with cultivation.” 

Cannabis advocacy groups in Humboldt argue the language around “expansion” would “remove incentives for environmental stewardship.” Waying in on the varying impacts if the initiative were to pass, the county’s planning department states it “will have dire consequences to the cannabis industry in Humboldt County.”

“The existing Humboldt County cannabis regulations are intended to encourage a well-regulated cannabis industry in Humboldt County, but the HCRI could have the opposite effect by making compliance so difficult that the legal market is rendered not viable in Humboldt County,” the county’s analysis states.

The planning department report on the potential impacts of the initiative outlines that the largest farms in Humboldt County range between 7 and 8 acres and states that there are currently four farms at this size. 

“For comparison, in Lake County there are farms in excess of 60 acres and in Santa Barbara and San Bernardino Counties there are farms in excess of 100 acres,” the county report states. “In a statewide market context, Humboldt County does not have large-scale farms.”

Another element of the initiative seeks to cap the allowed cultivation area for cannabis farmers at 10,000 square feet.

“Capping cultivation area at 10,000 square feet will result in all existing permits over that cultivation area becoming legal non-conforming, which means the site cannot be modified,” the county’s analysis explains. “Labeling anything over 10,000 square feet as a large-scale cannabis cultivation when other parts of the state are being approved for cultivation sizes over 100 acres is arbitrary.” 

The initiative is set to be on the March 2024 ballot and small farmers in Humboldt County are working to get the word out that if it passes it will amend the general plan, meaning that the cannabis provisions could only be changed by a vote of the people.

“Our family farm has multiple environmental certifications, but the HCRI would amend the general plan to define my farm as ‘environmentally destructive’ because my farm is larger than a quarter acre,” Dylan Mattole of Mattole Valley Sungrown said in informational materials assembled by the “No on HCRI” campaign spearheaded by the Humboldt County Growers Alliance. 

At a recent meeting of small farmers against the campaign held in Garberville, Mattole noted that, if passed, the initiative “will be the nail in the coffin” of the cannabis industry in Humboldt County.

“This is not light, it’s offensive, we’re on the defense,” Mattole said at the meeting held in a shuttered restaurant along the small town’s main street. “Our problem has a massive effect on the economy for the whole county.”

The initiative was written by Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger, a law firm which also represented Calaveras Residents Against Commercial Marijuana (an anti-cannabis group that tried multiple times to get a complete ban on cannabis cultivation in Calaveras County) as well as Save Our Sonoma Neighborhoods (an anti-cannabis organization that has sought to ban cannabis in Sonoma County). 

Small farmers against the Humboldt County initiative argue that the wording of the HCRI is designed to appear like it is protecting small farms when, in fact, it would do the exact opposite.

“It is likely that the public does not understand what this initiative would do and signed the petition thinking that ‘large scale’ cannabis farms should not be in Humboldt County without recognizing that most of the so-called ‘large-scale farms’ that would be outlawed if the HCRI passed are the very farms that have existed in Humboldt County for decades,” the county’s analysis of the initiative states. 

The post Ballot Initiative Could Crush Cannabis Cultivation in Humboldt appeared first on High Times.

Missouri Foster Parents Can Now Legally Possess, Grow Cannabis in Their Homes

August 29, 2023 Published by

Foster parents in Missouri can now legally possess and grow cannabis in their homes. This news results from an emergency rule the state Department of Social Services filed last week.

However, of course, there are guidelines. Foster parents must store their cannabis in a manner “so as to be inaccessible to the children,” the rule says. And don’t think of lighting up around kids; consuming cannabis in a method that releases smoke or vapor is still prohibited inside the house, so duck outside to light your joint. 

These caveats aren’t unheard of. Rather, they follow similar guidelines for how one must store prescribed medication, alcohol, and matches. If a foster parent chooses to grow, the law states they must do so “in an enclosed, locked facility” as defined by law.

Thanks to the passage of this new law, foster parents can now legally participate in cannabis, just like everyone else. Back in November of 2022, Missouri voters passed a ballot initiative, Amendment 3, to legalize and regulate marijuana for adults 21 and older. Amendment 3 allows purchasing and possessing up to three ounces of cannabis. After registering, one can legally grow up to six mature plants for personal use. However, the newly passed legislation barred foster parents of about 14,000 children from participating.  

Missouri adopted the changes to the law, which addresses “physical and environmental standards” for foster care on an emergency basis as the current guidelines clash with the approved constitutional amendment, according to a statement attached to the rule’s text. 

“Rule 13 CSR 35-60.040 presently provides that foster parents shall not use or possess marijuana or marijuana-infused products,” it reads. “A regulation that conflicts with the Missouri Constitution is invalid.”

Following emergency rule guidelines, the change expires on February 23, 2024. 

Based on what Caitlin Whaley, Social Services spokesperson, shared with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the changes are meant to protect the foster children.

“This is to protect the foster child from the hazards of second-hand smoke,” Whaley said. “Foster parents may smoke marijuana and tobacco outside the premises but not in a vehicle while transporting a foster child and not in the presence of a foster child.”

Last year, researchers at the University of Mississippi published a study that suggests cannabis legalization leads to at least a 10% drop in foster care admissions. “Our most conservative estimates imply that legalization causes at least a 10 percent decrease in total admissions to foster care, with larger effects in years further after legalization and for admissions into foster care due to specific child-welfare concerns,” the authors of the research concluded.

But if cannabis were legal federally; as a result, there would be hundreds of millions of dollars in estimated cost savings for foster care systems yearly. 

The authors analyzed data from the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis Reporting System from 2000-2017 and other sources. Their findings showed that while there were unremarkable differences between states pre-cannabis legalization, foster care placements gradually decreased in states that enacted the reform. “Legalization may impact foster-care admissions directly by changing the welfare of children or indirectly by changing policies and attitudes towards marijuana use in the home,” they wrote. “Direct effects may arise because marijuana use itself causes behaviors that affect child welfare, or because it changes the likelihood of using other drugs,” Marijuana Moment reports. 

The study, published in the journal Economic Inquiry, additionally examined what those declines would mean regarding economic impact. Additional previous research suggests that a single foster care placement costs an average of $25,000. The latest study found that legalizing cannabis on a national level would “reduce the financial burden of the foster-care system by about $675 million, annually.”

“We also find that placements due to physical abuse, parental neglect, and parental incarceration decrease after legalization, providing evidence that legalization reduces substantive threats to child welfare, although the precise mechanism behind these effects is unclear,” the authors conclude.

State Auditor Republican Scott Fitzpatrick began an investigation into Missouri’s cannabis program to probe into whether regulators are operating “in a manner that is efficient, accountable and transparent,” whining that cannabis provisions “now make up more than one-fifth of the language in our state constitution,” the Missouri Independent reports. This is the latest foray into the inside of a heavily criticized program, which draws scrutiny from both state lawmakers and federal law enforcement, in addition to simply trying to stay on top of the level, speed, and growth of the changing laws. 

Fitzpatrick told the Missouri Independent that the audit is because cannabis is set to be a $1 billion industry in Missouri. He adds that the amendments that legalized it “represent some of the most substantial changes we’ve seen to our state constitution in recent memory.” 

The post Missouri Foster Parents Can Now Legally Possess, Grow Cannabis in Their Homes appeared first on High Times.

Oklahoma Sheriff Auctions Off Seized Pot Farm

August 23, 2023 Published by

An illegal pot farm is up for grabs on an auctioning website, and law enforcement officers from a sheriff’s office in Oklahoma are the ones selling it. After a surge in both legal and illegal cannabis operations, seized assets are left behind in the aftermath.

The Johnston County Sheriff’s Office in Tishomingo, Oklahoma posted the seized farm on Bidz4Assets.com, a Maryland-based auction website, featuring a 19.24-acre lot near Coleman. Bids will be available from Sept. 11 to Sept. 13 at an online auction. 

Other seized items are up from grabs as well. The list of seized assets include grow lights, light controllers, HVAC systems, wall fans, water pumps, refrigerators, etc.

The opening bid is $755,006, and a single $25,035.00 deposit, including a $35 nonrefundable processing fee, is required to participate. Deposits must be received here by Bid4Assets no later than the end of day on Wednesday, September 6. 

“We’re looking to find buyers who will take ownership of this property and use it responsibly, which was certainly not happening under the previous owners,” Johnston County Sheriff Gary Dodd said in a statement. “Let it be known throughout the county that if you use your farm to grow illegally, we will seize it and we will sell it.”

The bid comes with the following disclaimers: “Johnston County Sheriff’s Office retains the right to reject any and all bids for any reason. Johnston County Sheriff’s Office may withdraw this property from the auction at any time before or during the sale. Johnston County Sheriff’s Office reserves the right to cancel the sale of a property at any time prior to the issuance of the deed.”

Local and state law enforcement agents periodically raid illegal grow operations, seizing millions of dollars’ worth of illegal cannabis. At one farm near Coleman, authorities reportedly seized about 20,000 illegally grown cannabis plants valued at over $30 million. 

The Oklahoman reports that in a news release, Bid4Assets said it “collaborated” with sheriffs and attorneys to pass legislation allowing foreclosure auctions to be conducted online.

On May 25, 2022, Gov. Kevin Stitt signed Senate Bill 976, spearheaded by Sen. Casey Murdock, R-Felt.

Oklahoma’s black market for cannabis has been a major issue.

In 2021, a senior senator from Oklahoma sought millions of dollars in federal funds to battle illegal cannabis growing operations in the state.

Sen. James Inhofe, a Republican, asked for $4 million in federal funds to help Oklahoma drug law enforcement agents fight illegal operations, according to local television station KFOR.

The illicit operations have frustrated the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics. KFOR reports that the bureau’s director, Donnie Anderson, has expressed worry if international drug organizations and cartels could move into Oklahoma to take advantage of medical cannabis.

As Anderson and other state officials see it, those organizations and cartels are procuring a legitimate medical cannabis license that they use to cultivate, and then are selling the product to surrounding states where pot prohibition is still in place.

Oklahoma’s Oversupply of Cannabis

Oklahoma voters legalized the use and sale of medical cannabis when they approved State Question 788 in 2018, a ballot measure that created the most loosely regulated legal cannabis market in the nation. 

Fox 23 reported that Oklahoma produces 32 times the amount of cannabis it actually needs. The Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority (OMMA) published a study demonstrating that Oklahoma produces a lot more cannabis than consumers can handle. 

“The study found the supply-and-demand ratio in Oklahoma is 64 grams of regulated medical cannabis supplied for every 1 gram of demand for a licensed patient,” the study reads. “The study states a ratio of 2 grams of supply for every 1 gram of demand is a healthy market, putting Oklahoma’s functional supply-and-demand ratio at 32:1.”

In May 2022, Oklahoma lawmakers passed House Bill 3208, which put a two-year pause on issuing new licenses for medical cannabis businesses. At the time, Mark Woodward, public information officer for the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics (OBN), said the state approved over 2,200 medical cannabis dispensaries, making oversight of the businesses by state regulators a big logistical challenge.

“That’s a tremendous amount of dispensaries,” Woodward told KTUL in Tulsa. “It’s more than California, Oregon, Alaska, Washington, Nevada and New Mexico combined.”

A few things are being done to help control the market.

Oklahoma lawmakers passed a dozen bills last year that are designed to tighten regulations on the state’s medical cannabis industry, including a requirement that new dispensaries and cultivation operations be located at least 1,000 ft. from schools.

Last March, Oklahoma voters rejected a state question that would have allowed for adult-use cannabis, following a rash of opposition from faith leaders, law enforcement, and prosecutors.

The post Oklahoma Sheriff Auctions Off Seized Pot Farm appeared first on High Times.

Indonesia Uses Drone To Find and Destroy Cannabis Fields

August 20, 2023 Published by

Technology is super awesome, until its bites us in the butt. Such is the case in Indonesia, where cannabis fields were recently identified using a drone, and subsequently destroyed. Where does Indonesia stand on cannabis, and is this action actually indicative of a growing industry in the country? Read on for details.

Indonesia and cannabis

Indonesia is a 100% cannabis illegal country. All parts of the plant are considered a narcotic, including seeds. Those who break the law, even for small offenses, incur a maximum sentence of four years in prison, and fines. All cannabis derivatives are also predictably illegal in Indonesia. Cannabis is one of the most restricted drugs by the Indonesian government, sharing the spot with drugs like heroin and meth.

Marijuana is the most commonly used illegal drug in the country. In 2014 it was reported by the Transnational Institute that there were approximately two million cannabis users (possibly a very low estimate). Its use in the country goes back to at least the 10th century; although the drug was banned in 1927 by Dutch colonists. It remained this way after Indonesia gained its independence in 1945. In 1976 the country passed an anti-narcotics law, that did mention cannabis use for medical and research purposes.

It doesn’t seem that Indonesia ever had a medical market, though; and the regulation was changed in 1997, to restrict use to just scientific purposes. This was done through narcotics law #22. A subsequent narcotics law that passed in 2009, law #35, reasserted this limitation.

What are the full spectrum of laws for cannabis crimes? As per law #35 from 2009, personal use garners a maximum of four years in prison. No specific minimum amount is given, as all amounts are illegal. A person caught possessing, cultivating or selling/supplying the plant, faces 4-12 years in prison, and 800-8 billion Indonesian rupiah (IRD) in fines. If this sounds extensive, it actually equals $.05 – $520,000; which still ends up heavy for a personal use crime.

Once cultivation exceeds five plants (or equivalent to 1kg), a person faces 5-15 years in prison, or a life sentence with higher fines. Production, import/export, and distribution crimes incur 5-15 years in prison, and 1-10 billion in fines (max of about $650,000). If the amount goes beyond five plants (~1kg) this can go up to death. Sales are punishable by 5-15 years, or if over 1kg, up to death. Transporting incurs 4-10 years and fines; giving it away incurs 5-15 years plus fines; and anything that leads to permanent injury or death of another, is met with 5-20 years in prison, a life sentence, or the death penalty.

Everything listed is pretty extensive for a drug that doesn’t kill people. As these punishments indicate, Indonesia is one of the countries that will still use the death penalty for cannabis crimes. As of the 2023 criminal code, mass production can also incur a death sentence, a change from the previous 5-15 years, or life in prison.

Death Penalty for Cannabis: Which Countries Will Kill You

Indonesia drone attack on cannabis fields

According to the Associated Press, a drone recently discovered illicit cannabis growing fields in the northern province of Aceh, Indonesia. The drones were specifically sent out for this purpose, in a joint venture by the National Narcotics Board, aka Badan Narkotika Nasional (BNN), and the National Research and Innovation Agency.

The drones found approximately 11 acres of land (4.5 hectares) where cannabis was being cultivated. It accounted for an estimated 21,100 plants, that were near harvest, according to Wayan Sugiri, BNN’s deputy of eradication. The drones were sent up in the first place because this area is known for growing cannabis. The operation to get rid of the plants went from August 3-13 of this year, in the village of Teupin Reuseup, in the north of Aceh.

How much effort did the Indonesian government put into eradicating plants that don’t kill anyone? According to Sugiri, the country employed more than 150 police officers, customs agents, and BNN officers. Together they uprooted about 20 tons of cannabis, which was subsequently burned on the 16th.

Sugiri said this was the fifth time in a year that such measures were taken. The AP article reports that in March, the government was responsible for eradicating another 106 acres (43 hectares), which accounted for approximately 190,000 plants. That raid was over nine times bigger than the most recent one.

Says Sagiri, these raids show “a form of the government’s firmness against illegal drugs and their circulation.” Given this, marijuana is still the most frequently used illicit drug in the country. While the number of cannabis users was approximately two million according to one investigation in 2014; the BNN Agency reported in 2022, that the country had 4.8 million drug users, total. This is actually a small number, possibly underestimated, considering the country holds a population of 270+ million people.

Will Indonesia loosen laws?

Indonesia is incredibly tough on cannabis crimes, even instituting the death penalty. However, cannabis use is not only prevalent in culture, but is a part of the country’s history up until colonization. The country even at one point had a law that technically allowed medical use. So, will Indonesia implement any cannabis reform policies in the future?

Why Are Sick Kids Still Being Denied Medical Cannabis?

It’s hard to say what will come up, and what won’t. The last effort to change things, started in 2020, when a group of citizens challenged the constitutionality of cannabis laws in court. The intention was the removal of cannabis from the list of narcotics, and the ability to use it medically. Much like cases that did spur change in countries like Argentina via the activist group Mama Cultiva; the case was started by a group of mothers with sick kids.

The Constitutional Court rejected the case in July of 2022, on the basis that according to the court, not enough research exists on the matter, and much of the research offered, is not from Indonesia. Apparently not being the home to all research, was a sticking point. The case lasted about two years, used the testimony from nine witnesses, and offered a large array of research on the topic.

The case might have taken longer for a ruling, but earlier in July 2022, mother of cerebral palsy child, Santi Warastuti, (one of the moms behind the case), made a public plea, that inadvertently went much farther than expected. On a car-free day, she went to the busy streets of Jakarta with a sign imploring the public to help her immobile 13-year-old daughter get medical cannabis. Pictures went viral because a popular singer, Andien Aisyah, happened to pass by. She took some shots, and put them on Twitter.

Sick kids are still being denied medical cannabis
Sick kids are still being denied medical cannabis

Said Santi to This Week in Asia, “This is beyond my expectation. I went to the car-free day because I demanded a decision from the Constitutional Court on our request to review the material of Narcotics Law. The court’s headquarter is in Jakarta, so I thought I had to go there, to open the hearts of the judges, to show them my daughter, to show that she needs medical [marijuana]. So that was me demanding the court to announce a decision on my [case] soon.”

While the ruling did not change the laws, it did institute an order to the government to continue with research into the plant, to uncover its possible uses. It also gained a lot of attention for the plight of sick kids in need of treatment. This decision was supported by the country’s own National Narcotics Agency; the same agency that destroyed plants on close to 50 hectares of land in just the past few months.

Conclusion

Indonesia is definitely one of the countries lagging behind when it comes to cannabis reform; and the recent drone event and destroyed cannabis fields, go to show just how far Indonesia will go, to keep cannabis off its radar. And this despite an increasing argument to, at the very least, legalize the plant for the benefit of sick kids.

Hello weed supporters! Thanks for joining in at Cannadelics.com, where we work to bring you the best and most interesting stories related to the burgeoning cannabis and hallucinogen spaces. We’ve got updates, so come by regularly. And get yourself signed up to the Cannadelics Weekly Newsletter; to ensure you’re always first to get the news.

The post Indonesia Uses Drone To Find and Destroy Cannabis Fields appeared first on Cannadelics.

Growing for Terpenes

August 19, 2023 Published by

When asked by my dear friend Ellen, the editor in chief of this publication, to resume writing for High Times I jumped at the request. As a journalist/educator and lifetime student I’ve always enjoyed diving into topics that I’ve covered for this magazine over the years and revisiting certain subjects as new science became available. Here I look into growing cannabis specifically for terpene production.

Terpenoids or terpenes are one of the most important chemical compounds produced by the cannabis plant. They are the compounds responsible for the plant’s smell and give each cultivar their unique perfume. Terpenes, like cannabinoids, are produced in the plant’s trichome. The trichomes are the little appendages that grow out of the plant, they are found on the buds as well as sometimes on the leaves of the plant. In the cannabis plant they are typically comprised of a stalk and head. Inside these heads are most of the essential oils found in the cannabis plant, including the cannabinoids, terpenes, flavonoids, and other compounds.

Currently there is a shift in the dialogue regarding THC percentage and its sole importance to selling cannabis in the many legal markets around the world. This should be understood as fantastic news to consumers, as they will finally be the beneficiaries of more knowledge surrounding the plant and the way in which its active compounds work with each other to steer effects. This has come to be known as the entourage effect. THC is like the gas of the car and the terpenes and other compounds act like the GPS, giving the high its direction.

High Times Magazine, May 2023

The first researchers to discuss the entourage effect were Dr. Raphael Mechoulam and Dr. Shimon Ben-Shabat. They proposed that the combined effect of all the compounds found in the trichome head worked in a “botanical synergy,” to maximize the pharmacological effect of cannabis. This concept was further expanded by Dr. Ethan Russo in a paper he wrote in 2011. In the British Journal of Pharmacology, Dr. Russo wrote “that phytocannabinoid-terpenoid interactions found in cannabis offer complementary pharmacological activities that may strengthen and broaden clinical applications and improve the therapeutic index of cannabis extracts.”

This discussion has mirrored improvements in the cultivation of cannabis and have shown that phytocannabinoids and terpene percentages rise to unbelievable levels. It’s not uncommon for some strains to test as high as 35-38% total cannabinoids, with some flower testing as high as 5.5-6% total terpene content. As more cannabis research emerges, cultivation techniques are becoming more and more refined. Using a science-backed approach, cultivators can test their flower and really dial in environment, nutrient usage, and genetics. When it comes to growing for terpene content, the main factors a grower can control are: nutrients, ultraviolet (UV) light, temperature control, harvesting schedule, the drying/curing process, and genetics.

Nutrients

Nutrients, specifically certain plant hormones like methyl jasmonate, can stimulate the systemic acquired resistance (SAR) in a plant. This forces it to increase the natural oils, in this case terpenes, flavonoids and cannabinoids, as a means of protection. Another way to access this response is something called salicylic acid. In an article found in the journal, Food Science and Nutrition, a team of botanists from Urmia University of Medical Sciences in Iran, discovered that using salicylic acid as a foliar feed can increase cannabinoid, flavonoid, and terpene production. When sprayed on the cannabis plant the acid regulates the jasmonate signaling pathway naturally found in cannabis. This makes the flavonoid and terpene synthesis more efficient, increasing their values by several percentage points. The most well-known nutrient used for terpene enhancement is the Terpinator. The product contains no methyl jasmonate or salicylic acid, instead its main ingredient is potassium (K) which increases enzyme activity making the essential oil production more efficient. Another product on the market is FlaVUH from Ventana Plant Science; it uses a proprietary polyaspartic amino acid which increases the nutrient uptake to the plant, increasing yield and natural oil production. It also contains no jasmonate or salicylic acid.

Shutterstock

UV Light

UV light has been found to also have a big impact on terpene production as well as an increase in cannabinoids. This comes from the fact that the plant naturally protects itself from UV light by increasing essential oil production. One of the more interesting advances in cultivation has been the improvement in the quality of LED lights. In recent years LED fixture companies have added UV diodes to their lighting fixtures, which causes cannabinoid and terpene values to increase. The long time question surrounding the benefits of outdoor vs. indoor cultivating has also found new evidence to support the benefits of UV light. In the journal Molecules a group of scientists from Columbia University, in partnership with several cultivators in California, tested the difference between outdoor and indoor cultivation. Using the same clones, medium, and nutrient regiments, they grew plants in outdoor farms and under artificial lights. Their discovery showed that not only were the terpene and cannabinoids higher in outdoor grows, but that there were also unique terpenes and minor cannabinoids detected in the plants grown outdoors. Additionally, the percentages of sesquiterpenes like b-caryophyllene and a-humulene were higher in the outdoor plants. One could speculate that those terpenes were more present in the outdoor plants because they needed extra protection from the UV light.

Shutterstock

Temperature Control

Temperature control is another important factor in the production of terpenes. Typically by lowering the temperatures at the end of your flower cycle you will also see an increase in terpene production. Usually a drop between 5-10 degrees Fahrenheit will do the trick. An added benefit to dropping the temperatures is that flavonoid production will also increase and the plants that naturally get purple will also increase the amount of color present in the buds.

Harvesting Schedule

A harvesting schedule is a fairly easy factor to control since the advent of cannabinoid and terpene testing labs. In the past we had to rely on loupes or magnifying glasses to study the color of the trichomes. Now you can test your flower at any point in the harvest cycle and pick the perfect moment of ripeness, depending on your needs. Usually for terpene production you want to harvest a bit on the earlier side, whereas with THC you’ll want to harvest a bit later in the cycle.

Shutterstock

Drying & Curing

Drying and curing is just as important a process as growing is. Most people forget that your nine weeks of work can easily be ruined by an improper cure or storage. Especially in cities like Denver where the altitude can easily dry out your flower. My preference for drying is a lower temperature environment between 45-50 degrees Fahrenheit and around 55-60% relative humidity. I also like to keep the fan leaves on the plant as well as keeping the plant as intact as possible. This allows the cannabis to dry at the slowest possible rate preserving the essential oils. As for storage, glass is always better than plastic, unless you can nitrogen flush and vacuum seal the bags. The key to storing flower is to have a full jar. The head space in the jar, which is the native space between the lid and the flower is what causes the terpenes to slowly evaporate, therefore pick a jar size that can be filled to the top. Some people also swear by the use of the humidity-regulating packs. I personally have found that they cause a reaction to some of the more volatile terpenes with the result being a more homogenous smell across different cultivars. I would say invest in some research and test your flower before and after using any humidity packs to see if they work for you.

Genetics

Finally, genetics can also play an important role in terpene-rich flower. The key here is to experiment with your environment and keep testing. Test which cultivars work best for you, for your environment and for the nutrient program you are using. Science is your ally here, use cannabis testing labs to your advantage. Remember that science is based on proof and not belief, so using it will help you discover more about your flower and the chemical compounds found within. This will allow you to grow the dankest, loudest, and most potent flower you can. May the terpenes be with you.

This article was originally published in the May 2023 issue of High Times Magazine.

The post Growing for Terpenes appeared first on High Times.