BY RUTH HILL R.N.
If you attend any conference, it is familiar to see multiple tracks of lectures. The 2022 Cannabis Science Conference, held at the Long Beach Convention Center had an Analytical Cannabis Track, a Cultivation Track, a Hemp Track, a Medical Track, and wait for it, drum roll please, a Psychedelics Track.
Dr. Scott Kuzdzal, from Shimadzu Scientific Instruments gave a stunning lecture titled, “Witnessing the BioRevolution: Drug Discovery Comes Full Circle.” Kuzdzal discussed the current phase of gene therapy/editing, stem cells, microbiomes, and exosomes, with wearable and connected devices taking center stage. A return to extracts of psychoplastogenic compounds has been proposed for potential use in treating depression, PTSD, anxiety disorders, substance abuse disorders as well as end of life treatments.
Just like voting NO on any cannabis law in the past, it fries my brain, right, I believed psychedelics caused you to go insane. It angers me to see how the government has lied to us for their own monetary gain. When Nixon, in 1970 placed cannabis/marijuana in Schedule I with heroin and LSD, he instituted the greatest censorship on medicinal plants in the history of the world, and I bought it hook line and sinker.
Joseph Rootman, from UBC Okanagan, discussed microdose.me, an ongoing large-scale observational study of psychedelic microdosing that recruited over 10,000 participants to date. Join the study by downloading the app on your phone. Becca Williams, an emotional therapist, discussed “The Advent of a New Paradigm: Cannabis and Psilocybin Microdosing as ‘Psychic Vitamins’ to Release Trauma and Support Emotional Healing.” Microdosing mushrooms?
My previous beliefs came tumbling down like Humpy Dumpty. I was dumbfounded. When I asked how to describe this research to my friends back home, many pointed me in the direction of the history of psychedelic research back 5,000 years that was censored by that one law Nixon passed.
Dr. Denise Vidot, a charismatic presenter out of the University of Miami, discussed her study on the Co-use of Cannabis and Psilocybin to Manage Mental health amid the COVID-19 Pandemic: Preliminary Results from the International COVID-19 Cannabis Health Study. The efficacious (medical term for effective drug results) effect on anxiety and insomnia was remarkable enough to add oh my fungi gummies to my cannabis diet.
The crowning topic was a study by Dr. Anahid Jewett from the UCLA School of Dentistry and Medicine, “Targeting Stem-Like/Poorly Differentiated Aggressive Tumors and Activation of Natural Killer Function by Cannabinoid Agonists.” A young child was brought to the stage to visualize her recovery from cancer. She was consuming cannabis since she was a baby with a brain tumor. NKore BioTherapeutics teamed up with Dr. Jewett, the director of tumor immunology laboratory at UCLA.
Jewett’s research demonstrated a lack of natural killer cells in the brain which contributes to cancer in children. Jewett devised a stem-cell transfusion from the father’s natural killer cells. Jewett also has her own protocol for probiotics. The results were evident by the child getting out of her wheelchair and climbing the dais to the stage and thanking Dr. Jewett for her recovery. Jewett proposes a three-pronged treatment of her patented probiotics, cannabis, stem-cell natural killer cells, and chemotherapy.
Now I must analyze for my friends the California bill in the current legislature, SB-519 Controlled substances: decriminalization of certain hallucinogenic substances. How do I change their views on this when just a week ago my view was in sync with theirs?
“This bill would make lawful the possession, obtaining, giving away, or transportation of, specified quantities of psilocybin, psilocyn, dimethyltryptamine (DMT), ibogaine, mescaline, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, (MDMA) for personal use or facilitated or supported use, as defined, by and with persons 21 years of age or older. The bill further defines the allowable amount of these substances, who will facilitate this healing, a working study group that will educate the public on the safety and use of psychedelics, and the qualifications of the facilitator.
This psychedelic track was mind blowing. Now how do I convince by conservative friends to decriminalize psychedelics?
Send comments and suggestions to cannaangel16@gmail.com
