Ron Strider
Well-Known Member
Cannabis is slowly becoming a mainstream product as state laws continue to change and brands launch innovative lifestyle offerings around the psychotropic plant. (Think: laced lip balms, snakeskin joint holders, and vegan dark chocolate caramels sprinkled with matcha salt.) But on Saturday, when four hikers summited Scafell Pike in England, the country's tallest mountain, and got too high to climb down, all the old stoner stereotypes came streaming across the Twittersphere. The group had to be rescued after consuming too much cannabis and becoming "incapacitated," Cumbria police said in a statement. The British authorities deployed mountain rescue to bring the hikers back safely down to earth. The incident sparked public outrage.
This news, while perhaps a small setback for an industry looking to distance itself from the drug's less illustrious connotations and position itself at the forefront of the booming wellness movement with cannabis-infused recipe books and yoga retreats, is not the only time in recent years that consumption of a marijuana product has earned notoriety in the media. In 2009, Michael Phelps was suspended from swimming for three months after a British tabloid ran a full-page picture of the Olympian smoking pot out of a bong. He was 23. Leading ultra-marathoner Jenn Shelton sparked ethical debate when she told the Wall Street Journal that she uses cannabis in her training. And the renowned New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd made waves when she wrote about her experience with edibles: After consuming about eight times the recommended dosage while in Colorado, she said, she thought she was dying. (According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, you cannot die from consuming too much marijuana–cannabis is not lethal on its own–but users can experience panic attacks, paranoia, impaired judgement and motor skills, and other unpleasant effects.)
So, cannabis: a wellness product or an intoxicating drug?
According to a growing number of experts, it can be either, depending on who you are and your mental history (cannabis is not recommended for people with serious mental conditions, including schizophrenia), and how cannabis affects your mind and body. What you're consuming (a few puffs from a vape pen or a bite of a low-dose edible will affect you differently than pulls from a joint or bong), where you are, and how much you consume also matters greatly. And thanks to its entrance into the realm of legally controlled substances, with about 29 states and Washington, D.C., having some kind of state-regulated medical marijuana program and eight states with recreational marijuana laws, there is an increasing body of evidence that, paired with a few simple rules, can help make the gray area less hazy.
Dr. Perry Solomon, a board-certified anesthesiologist who is also the chief medical officer of HelloMD, one of the industry's largest online communities that connects patients who suffer from chronic pain and a range of other illnesses with doctors who can offer tailored medical marijuana recommendations, agrees. "For some people, cannabis can help them attain a psychological space that blocks out extraneous things and focus on their mind, body, and one repetitive motion," answers Solomon when asked whether or not cannabis and wellness can go hand in hand.
Such potential benefits may make it well-suited to mind-body practices like meditation; and a new wave of exercise retreats, yoga studios, and sporting events and gyms (see The 420 Games and Power Plant Fitness) are exploring its role in mild forms of exercise. However you plan to incorporate it into an active lifestyle, experts stress that the key to reaping its self-care benefits may lie in treating the drug with the same respect for dosage and potency as one might any other controlled substance, from alcohol to pharmaceuticals.
"No one recommends climbing 3,000 feet and getting stoned," says Solomon. "You also need to realize that cannabis can affect you differently depending on what you're doing, what you ate, and, yes, what altitude you're used to. You can use the same [marijuana] product one day and feel a different affect another day."
For those living where it's legal, here are a few expert-approved ground rules on how to find wellness in cannabis.
Start Low, Go Slow
The mantra is pasted on billboards and signs across states like Colorado for a reason. While those dipping into the drug for the first time should consult a medical professional, since there are no official guidelines as to what constitutes a proper dose universally, people without a tolerance to THC should generally stick between 2 and 2.5 milligrams for their first couple of times until they're used to the effects, according to Solomon. Satori, which makes medical-grade cannabis-infused edibles out of coffee beans, blueberries, and California raisins, touts a microdosing-friendly bite ranging from 1 milligram per piece up to 10 mg.
Know Your Dose
Dosing matters. Hmbdlt, a vape pen company with the tagline "delivering health and happiness" in Santa Monica, California, makes hospital-white, precise low-dose pens that vibrate after a modest 2.25 mg of THC oil is dispensed. The system is offered via a range of six formulas, including Sleep, which is developed out of a sleep-promoting terpene blend that helps calm the body and mind, and Arouse, which claims to elevate moods thanks to its ultra-relaxing THC blend of linalool and farnesene terpenes, delivered along with a floral and green apple-like aroma. "Different people require different doses of medicine and it's the same with cannabis," says Gunner Winston, the company's CEO. "That's our focus: dosing technology."
Try CBD-Only Alternatives Instead
If you aren't ready to feel the plant's psychotropic effects, topicals (lotions, balms, and oils) and treats infused with CBD–the non-psychoactive cannabinoid with medicinal qualities such as anti-inflammation–are a way to tread lightly into the lifestyle because neither will get you high. Cindy Capobianco, cofounder of Lord Jones, the luxe cannabis-infused as well as hemp-derived CBD-infused line of edibles and topicals out of California that has been collaborating on wellness events with Equinox, says she and her husband, Rob, took their time before putting their low-dose, CBD-rich gum drops and cooling body lotions on shelves. "We developed and designed our products for people who were cannabis curious, but also fearful of having a bad experience," says Capobianco. Other brands offering high-end topicals in an effort to ease in the inexperienced include Marley Natural, which also has a line of branded marijuana; Apothecanna, one of the industry's first all-natural beauty lines derived by cannabis and therapeutic-grade essential oils; and Kiva, a cannabis-infused chocolatier that recently launched its own line of CBD-only confections. Their tagline? "A higher chocolate experience."
News Moderator: Ron Strider 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Those Stoned Climbers Have More to Teach Us About Cannabis Consumption Than You Might Think - Vogue
Author: Will Yakowicz
Contact: Contact - Vogue
Photo Credit: Patrick Demarchelier
Website: Magazine mode, beaut'e, joaillerie, d'efil'es, culture, sorties, votre magazine mode Vogue.fr | Vogue
This news, while perhaps a small setback for an industry looking to distance itself from the drug's less illustrious connotations and position itself at the forefront of the booming wellness movement with cannabis-infused recipe books and yoga retreats, is not the only time in recent years that consumption of a marijuana product has earned notoriety in the media. In 2009, Michael Phelps was suspended from swimming for three months after a British tabloid ran a full-page picture of the Olympian smoking pot out of a bong. He was 23. Leading ultra-marathoner Jenn Shelton sparked ethical debate when she told the Wall Street Journal that she uses cannabis in her training. And the renowned New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd made waves when she wrote about her experience with edibles: After consuming about eight times the recommended dosage while in Colorado, she said, she thought she was dying. (According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, you cannot die from consuming too much marijuana–cannabis is not lethal on its own–but users can experience panic attacks, paranoia, impaired judgement and motor skills, and other unpleasant effects.)
So, cannabis: a wellness product or an intoxicating drug?
According to a growing number of experts, it can be either, depending on who you are and your mental history (cannabis is not recommended for people with serious mental conditions, including schizophrenia), and how cannabis affects your mind and body. What you're consuming (a few puffs from a vape pen or a bite of a low-dose edible will affect you differently than pulls from a joint or bong), where you are, and how much you consume also matters greatly. And thanks to its entrance into the realm of legally controlled substances, with about 29 states and Washington, D.C., having some kind of state-regulated medical marijuana program and eight states with recreational marijuana laws, there is an increasing body of evidence that, paired with a few simple rules, can help make the gray area less hazy.
Dr. Perry Solomon, a board-certified anesthesiologist who is also the chief medical officer of HelloMD, one of the industry's largest online communities that connects patients who suffer from chronic pain and a range of other illnesses with doctors who can offer tailored medical marijuana recommendations, agrees. "For some people, cannabis can help them attain a psychological space that blocks out extraneous things and focus on their mind, body, and one repetitive motion," answers Solomon when asked whether or not cannabis and wellness can go hand in hand.
Such potential benefits may make it well-suited to mind-body practices like meditation; and a new wave of exercise retreats, yoga studios, and sporting events and gyms (see The 420 Games and Power Plant Fitness) are exploring its role in mild forms of exercise. However you plan to incorporate it into an active lifestyle, experts stress that the key to reaping its self-care benefits may lie in treating the drug with the same respect for dosage and potency as one might any other controlled substance, from alcohol to pharmaceuticals.
"No one recommends climbing 3,000 feet and getting stoned," says Solomon. "You also need to realize that cannabis can affect you differently depending on what you're doing, what you ate, and, yes, what altitude you're used to. You can use the same [marijuana] product one day and feel a different affect another day."
For those living where it's legal, here are a few expert-approved ground rules on how to find wellness in cannabis.
Start Low, Go Slow
The mantra is pasted on billboards and signs across states like Colorado for a reason. While those dipping into the drug for the first time should consult a medical professional, since there are no official guidelines as to what constitutes a proper dose universally, people without a tolerance to THC should generally stick between 2 and 2.5 milligrams for their first couple of times until they're used to the effects, according to Solomon. Satori, which makes medical-grade cannabis-infused edibles out of coffee beans, blueberries, and California raisins, touts a microdosing-friendly bite ranging from 1 milligram per piece up to 10 mg.
Know Your Dose
Dosing matters. Hmbdlt, a vape pen company with the tagline "delivering health and happiness" in Santa Monica, California, makes hospital-white, precise low-dose pens that vibrate after a modest 2.25 mg of THC oil is dispensed. The system is offered via a range of six formulas, including Sleep, which is developed out of a sleep-promoting terpene blend that helps calm the body and mind, and Arouse, which claims to elevate moods thanks to its ultra-relaxing THC blend of linalool and farnesene terpenes, delivered along with a floral and green apple-like aroma. "Different people require different doses of medicine and it's the same with cannabis," says Gunner Winston, the company's CEO. "That's our focus: dosing technology."
Try CBD-Only Alternatives Instead
If you aren't ready to feel the plant's psychotropic effects, topicals (lotions, balms, and oils) and treats infused with CBD–the non-psychoactive cannabinoid with medicinal qualities such as anti-inflammation–are a way to tread lightly into the lifestyle because neither will get you high. Cindy Capobianco, cofounder of Lord Jones, the luxe cannabis-infused as well as hemp-derived CBD-infused line of edibles and topicals out of California that has been collaborating on wellness events with Equinox, says she and her husband, Rob, took their time before putting their low-dose, CBD-rich gum drops and cooling body lotions on shelves. "We developed and designed our products for people who were cannabis curious, but also fearful of having a bad experience," says Capobianco. Other brands offering high-end topicals in an effort to ease in the inexperienced include Marley Natural, which also has a line of branded marijuana; Apothecanna, one of the industry's first all-natural beauty lines derived by cannabis and therapeutic-grade essential oils; and Kiva, a cannabis-infused chocolatier that recently launched its own line of CBD-only confections. Their tagline? "A higher chocolate experience."
News Moderator: Ron Strider 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Those Stoned Climbers Have More to Teach Us About Cannabis Consumption Than You Might Think - Vogue
Author: Will Yakowicz
Contact: Contact - Vogue
Photo Credit: Patrick Demarchelier
Website: Magazine mode, beaut'e, joaillerie, d'efil'es, culture, sorties, votre magazine mode Vogue.fr | Vogue
