Page 1 - Cannabis News March 2020

SPOTLIGHT: FLORIDA HEMP
COUNCIL:
Darnell Isolate or Distillate -
Williams: Do You Know Your
Trulieve CBD?

page 56 page 51

March 2020

2019 Cannabis Business Award’s Publication of the Year

A View from the Other Side of the

Table: Shared Pledge to Good

Science Cements Client Relationship

BY BARBARA R. FALLON

Many may relate to tapping a brother-in-
law or cousin to provide a professional
Dr. Mitchell Davis service simply because they are related -
not necessarily based on competency or Dr. Fernando Fandino Sende
quality. That’s definitely not the case for
'Smoking a Joint clients of Americanna Laboratories, a
pharmaceutical grade laboratory perform- Colon Cancer
Is Not Medical ing advanced analytical testing on all and Cannabis
hemp and CBD products.
One client, Sawgrass Nutra Labs in
Marijuana' Jacksonville, a contract supplements man- Steven and David Perez
ufacturer of custom blend supplements, vitamins, nutraceuticals, and the latest hemp- BY FERNANDO FANDINO
derived CBD supplement formulations utilizes Americanna for 3rd party testing. SENDE, MD
BY LOIS THOMSON
According to Sawgrass Founder Scott Teagle, an unbiased ‘outside’ audit ensures that
"Medical marijuana is a specialty and what is on the label is actually inside the product for their clients and end users. Cannabis is still illegal at a Federal
doctors owe it to their patients to refer “We initially connected as a client of Americanna for their reputation and proximity, level and is considered a Schedule I drug
them to a knowledgeable specialist," but the ensuing business relationship grew out of their knowledgeable proactive and which implies it lacks any beneficial
according to Dr. Mitchell Davis, the responsive approach to our needs,” Teagle said. medical effects and is addictive. We know
Chief Medical Officer of ComCan As with any industry, (particularly a newly evolving one such as the cannabis indus- that is not true. Many anecdotal reports
Healthcare. Continued on page 47 and animal experiments have shown the
Dr. Davis has been named one of efficacy of cannabis in the treatment of
Florida's "Top Doctors" by his peers, cancer.
having served as a gastroenterologist in Hospital Prohibition of Cannabis In the cannabis community the term
Palm Beach County since 1991, and RSO: Rick Simpson Oil is common. Mr.
being Board certified in Internal BY MICHAEL LISS, ESQ. Simpson is a Canadian citizen who cured
Medicine and Gastroenterology. his skin cancer by applying an Indica
However, his back and wrist issues Thirty-three of the 50 United States have medical naphtha extracted THC which is now
became so problematic that he was cannabis programs. Yet, cannabis remains a Schedule 1 present in the majority of dispensaries.
forced to step away from his practice. drug, a category shared with heroin, LSD, ecstasy, peyote His recommendation includes the con-
Because of his chronic pain issues, he and Quaaludes (no longer manufactured). These drugs, by sumption of 60 gm over 90 days. The
became interested in researching federal law, are defined as having no currently accepted starting dose is small and gradually
cannabis medicine, and the wide range medical use and having a high potential for abuse. Cocaine, increased over 90 days to tolerate the
of conditions for which it can be used. strong opiates, benzos and all speeds are scheduled less psychoactive THC.
He personally used CBD and other restrictively. This is the current federal legal status of any THC is converted by first-pass metabo-
cannabis products to get relief from pain. and all marijuana. As ridiculous as this seems, how patients lism to 11 HO THC by the liver. This
Steve Bate is a survivor of two Stage 4 and their cannabis are treated in a hospital setting are, large- route is avoided when THC is absorbed
cancers. He spoke with Dr. Davis about ly, consistent with federal law. Michael Liss, Esq. through the rectal mucosa and that is
some concerning symptoms, and after No Florida hospitals currently allow patients to possess and consume cannabis prod- why the suppository form is tolerated
doing an examination, Dr. Davis referred ucts during a hospitalization. The fear of a hospital losing accreditation and funding sim- even at a high dose by patients.
him to an oncologist who then diag- ply places the conversation off of the table for now. However, looking at two items allows We know that THC causes apoptosis
nosed his cancers. Through multiple for us to see what may be on the horizon regarding hospital patients and cannabis: (death of cancer cell without damaging
rounds of chemotherapy, he used Firstly, “Right To Try” legislation has been passed on both the federal and state levels. the healthy cell) as well as decreasing the
cannabinoid oils to better tolerate the Florida’s bill was signed in 2015. The notion behind these laws is to allow terminally ill size and number of metastasis, in part
treatment with minimal side effects. Bate patients access to experimental drugs and/or therapies which have not been approved for due to its anti-angiogenesis properties
is now cancer-free and believes he would general use by either the FDA or DEA, but have completed “Phase 1” trials (early and (impaired formation of new blood vessels
not have survived if not for the cannabi- limited human). Under various state programs, cannabis will soon undergo true medical that are the highway to dissemination).
noid therapy. trials. The Right To Try laws will be used by doctors in “Phase 1” testing. Research conducted at M.D. Anderson
These two friends joined with retired Florida’s “Right To Try” law is actually written so liberally that one can envision the described loss of CB1 receptor and its
financial services executive Al Schulman right patient, right now, being allowed by the right facility to consume some sort of effect on colon cancer. The team found
to form ComCan Healthcare, a practice that CB1 was absent in 18 0f 19 human
cannabis product in the hospital setting. The law (§499.0295, Florida Statutes
tumor specimens and in 9 of 10 colorec-
Continued on page 54 Continued on page 57 Continued on page 53