Southern Oregon Good Herb, Oct - Nov 2018

OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2018

GREENER

grows with

LEDs

SEE OUR

FLOWER BUYER’S GUIDE PAGE 12

COOKING WITH CANNABIS BACKYARD VOODOO CANNABIS VS OPIATES GREEN GOES SILVER STONER STEREOTYPES

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FEATURES Volume 1, Issue 5

PUBLISHER

Steven Saslow

EDITOR

David Smigelski dsmigelski@rosebudmedia.com

PHOTOGRAPHERS

Jamie Lusch, Andy Atkinson, Denise Baratta

GRAPHIC DESIGN Brian Fitz-Gerald

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Rick Cipes, John Darling, Liz Gold, Jefferson Reeder

ADVERTISING

Athena Fliegel, Specialty Publications & Events Manager 541-776-4385

SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES

For subscription services, call 541-776-4455.

Southern Oregon Good Herb is published bi-monthly by Rosebud Media, P.O. Box 1108, Medford, OR 97501.

Phone: 541-776-4411.

Copyright 2018 by Rosebud Media.

All rights reserved. Reprinting in whole or in part is expressly forbidden without written permission from the publisher.

Rosebud Media LLC assumes no responsibility for any claims or representations in this magazine or in any advertisement. All materials contained within are for educational purposes only and intended for legal marijuana operations where allowed by state law.

Rosebud Media does not encourage the illegal use of any of the products contained within.

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STRAIGHT DOPE Should I invest in marijuana?

COOKING WITH CANNABIS Hemp seed baking

CANNABIS TECHNOLOGY Green rush getting greener

FLOWER BUYER’S GUIDE Balancing the buzz with the medicine

DISPENSARY MAP Stores in Jackson and Josephine counties

WEED DEMOGRAPHICS Green goes silver

CANNABIS AGRICULTURE Growing pains

CANNABIS TRENDS Stoner stereotypes going up in smoke

CANNABIS VS. OPIATES Gateway to a solution

RETAIL MARIJUANA House of Leaves scores with customers

GROWER PROFILE Backyard Voodoo OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2018

GREENER

grows with

LEDs

SEE OUR

FLOWER BUYER’S GUIDE PAGE 12

ON THE COVER: Photo illustration

by Brian Fitz-Gerald

OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2018 | SOUTHERN OREGON GOOD HERB

COOKING WITH CANNABIS CANNABIS TECHNOL0OGY CANNABIS VS OPIATES GREEN GOES SILVER CANNABIS TRENDS

3

Straight Dope

Should I invest in

marijuana?

BY RICK CIPES

“Should I

invest in marijuana?” is a question I get a lot lately. It typically comes right after: “I’m trying to strike it rich and …”

People have been trying to strike it rich since the beginning of time. Time, on the other hand, sits by and scoffs at all the “get rich” schemes it’s seen in its days.

Answer: You should first ask yourself, “Do you have the stomach to invest at all?” If you’re ready to roll with the investing tide — record highs recently, with who knows WTF is looming on the horizon — then read on.

BTW: The S&P 500 has returned an average of 10 percent a year since 1928. What is that telling you? Read on anyway, it’ll be fun.

Investing in marijuana is still a large gamble, especially in our country. No need to go into details (Jeff Sessions), but north of the border, in Trump’s (not quite) favorite country Canada (eh?), marijuana is ramping up fast, and investment dollars are pouring in, including from major alcohol companies.

Yes, as an American, you can get in on that. Many companies are listed on U.S. stock exchanges. I just invested in the company receiving the most heat: Canopy Growth Corp., available on the NYSE under CGC. Am I planning to get rich? Doubtfully. But I have another strategy: the long game. See above, the part about how the S&P has returned 10 percent average per year. What is that telling you? Keep reading, for chrissakes, you made it this far.

I already had my get-rich moment. I invested in Facebook when it was $20 a share,

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when everyone told me I was a fool. This fool’s FB is now up well over 500 percent.

Thusly, I kind of feel like I have hit my homerun, and now I typically try to hit singles and doubles. That means diversifying and holding on through good times/bad times (you know I’ve had my share).

Speaking of shares, I also recently bought Bitcoin. If I was to guess which industry would do better in the long run, Bitcoin or weed, my pick would be some kind of cryptocurrency associated with weed. I do think both are here to stay, but I have no clue who wins, so I balanced my investments in both.

Note: Both investments make up a very small portion of my portfolio. For those wondering, I bought my Bitcoin on the Coinbase app I downloaded on my phone. Coinbase is known as being the safest, and most user-friendly, way to invest in crypto.

To summarize: Invest in the marijuana industry if it is not part of your Get Rich Scheme. And if you are diversified in other solid investments. Please consider not putting all your eggs in one basket. So many people have already done this with weed, and lost it all (SAD!).

I don’t want you to lose it all. I want you to realize, and accept, that most good things in life take time and cannot be achieved in the blink of an “I Dream of Jeannie” eye. And that especially includes making money.

Rick Cipes has written for over 40 publications including L.A. Times, Playboy and ESPN Magazine. e’d like to suggest visiting his 420 T-Shirt Collection at 420tsc.com. 

SOUTHERN OREGON GOOD HERB | OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2018

Cooking with Cannabis

BAKING HEMP HEARTS

WITH

BY DAVID SMIGELSKI / PHOTO BY ANDY ATKINSON

THE CRUST IN THIS LUSCIOUS BLACKBERRY PIE DELIVERS HEMP FLAVOR, PROTEIN AND EFAS 6

SOUTHERN OREGON GOOD HERB | OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2018

Walk into

the baking or cereal section of just about any grocery store in Southern Oregon, including Food 4 Less, Albertsons, Costco or the Ashland Food Co-op, and you’ll find neat little packages of hemp hearts, the tasty inner portions of hemp seeds.

Sold largely as a breakfast cereal or smoothie ingredient, hemp hearts make a tasty addition to many baked goods, including muffins, cookies and pie crusts.

The first thing to know is that hemp hearts won’t get you high, because they don’t contain THC. But what they do contain is nutrition.

According to the Agricultural Research Service of the United States Department of Agriculture, shelled hemp hearts are nearly one-third protein, which is an extremely high ratio for any food, not just plants. They contain all of the essential amino acids, which are the ones you need to get from your diet because the human body doesn’t produce them. And they are rich in essential fatty acids, the types of oils needed for optimal health.

In addition, hemp seeds deliver significant amounts of calcium, iron, magnesium, phospho-

rous, zinc and manganese, with traces of several B vitamins.

Hemp hearts look and feel a bit like wheat germ or oat bran, with a similar consistency. Added to baked goods, hemp hearts make their presence known with a nutty flavor some people describe as a cross between sunflower seeds and pine nuts. If you decide to experiment with them, start by adding about a quarter cup to a cup or two of flour.

The pie recipe below, for instance, originally called for 1-1/2 cups of flour in the crust, which I altered by adding 1/4 cup of hemp hearts and reducing the flour amount to 1-1/4 cups.

Because it’s a press-in crust, you don’t have to roll anything out. Just put all of the ingredients into your pie plate, mix them well and use your fingers to press it into place.

The berry portion of the pie utilizes fresh or frozen berries held in place by a blackberry glaze, so the pie delivers a fresh taste that transports your taste buds straight to the sunny morning your berries were picked.

Reach Southern Oregon Good Herb editor David Smigelski at 541-776-8784 or dsmigelski@rosebudmedia.com. 

Sally’s Blackberry Pie with Hemp Heart Crust FOR THE CRUST Ingredients: 1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour 1/4 cup of hemp hearts (I used Bob’s Red Mill purchased at Food 4 Less) 1-1/2 teaspoons sugar 3/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup of oil (I used 1/4 cup of melted butter and 1/4 cup of sesame oil) 2 tablespoons of soymilk (any kind of milk will work) Directions: In a pie pan, mix the flour, hemp hearts, 1-1/2 teaspoons of sugar and the salt.

In a separate bowl mix the oil and soymilk. Pour the wet mixture over the dry, and mix it together with a fork. Then use your fingers to press the crust evenly into the pan and up the sides until it is even with the edge of the pie plate. Bake the crust at 400 degrees for 10 minutes or until it just starts to brown. Set aside to cool.

FOR THE FILLING Ingredients: 6 cups of blackberries

(Berries can be fresh or frozen. Blueberries and strawberries also work well with this recipe. If you use strawberries, cut them up.)

1 cup sugar 1/4 cup of cornstarch (I often use kuzu root powder because it is better for you than corn starch. See note below.)

Directions: In a medium saucepan, add 2 cups of the blackberries, 1 cup of sugar and the cornstarch (Note: If you use kuzu instead of corn starch, dissolve 3 heaping tablespoons of it in 6 tablespoons of cold water, then pour it over the berries in the saucepan.)

Cook the berry mixture over medium heat, stirring constantly.

When the mixture begins to boil, continue cooking for about a minute. The mixture should look thick, shiny and almost translucent.

Pour 3 to 4 cups of the fresh or frozen blackberries into the cooled pie crust, then pour the hot glaze from the saucepan over the berries. Put the pie in the refrigerator long enough to let the glaze stand up, about an hour.

The combination of the raw berries and the hot glaze makes this an extremely flavorful and fresh-tasting pie.

OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2018 | SOUTHERN OREGON GOOD HERB

7

Cannabis Technology

GREEN RUSH getting greener

BY JEFFERSON REEDER

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SOUTHERN OREGON GOOD HERB | OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2018

LEDS HELP GROWERS MEET ECOLOGICAL, FINANCIAL & CROP YIELDS

The new grow tent at Rogue Coast Growers, built this summer, includes four sets of heavy-duty pallet racks, 50 amps of 220 volt and another 20 amps of 120 volt, 2,000 CFM of ventilation, the big blue dehumidifier, and most importantly, 72 Illumitex Eclipse light bars. Three levels of precisely controlled cultivation. COURTESY PHOTO

Look around

and it’s impossible not to notice that we are in the middle of the Green Rush. And with it has come a surge in LED growlight technology.

Light emitting diodes are everywhere now — from homes to cars — and the technology has been embraced by many in the agriculture industry. If you’re thinking about growing your own, you may consider using LED grow lights to enhance your products and yield.

How do LED grow lights help the environment?

The biggest environmental benefit is that they use less power, thus reducing the load on electric power plants, which in turn reduces the amount of fuel being burned to generate electricity.

Another benefit is that LED lights are “cooler” than regular lights and require significantly less expense to ventilate and cool, which reduces the risk of fire.

Another advantage is the lessening of light pollution. LED lights are tightly focused so the light doesn’t diffuse into the environment. Dimmers enhance this benefit, as well.

LED lights also last longer than traditional lights, which saves the need to replace them as often, which saves energy and gives our landfills a break.

And unlike compact fluorescent lights, which contain 4 to 5 milligrams of mercury, LEDs are

free of chemicals that can be hazardous for the environment.

Those are some of the green benefits, but what about the benefits to growers?

Jeremy Vogt is head grower and partner at Rogue Coast Growers, an indoor cannabis producer and clone nursery based in Gold Beach. It supplies product to many local dispensaries, including Breeze Botanicals.

The company is built on an ecological model and uses only natural nutrients, custom-blended soils, local spring water, and old-school, handson growing methods from seedling to cured and trimmed final product.

Vogt says the company decided eight months ago to run its greenhouse on LED. “We use 28 lamps for our 1,000-foot greenhouse nursery,” says Vogt. “LED works great in a nursery setting.”

While it is too early to calculate cost savings, Vogt says he can tell the difference in both the health of his plants and the yield.

“The plants have a nice healthy look, and I can tell they are under less stress,” says Vogt.

It’s worked so well that Vogt had already ordered another set of lamps for a greenhouse that’s waiting to be built.

“They’re here in crates right now,” he says.

The major downside to converting to LEDs is

OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2018 | SOUTHERN OREGON GOOD HERB

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LEDs provide supplemental lighting in “mother’s hoop-house” at Rogue Coast Growers. In addition to giving the plants an extra bit of lumens during the day, they leave them on at night to keep the plants from flowering. The mothers supply vegetative material for cloning new starts. COURTESY PHOTO

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that they cost more up front than traditional lights.

One piece of good news is that the Energy Trust of Oregon offers rebates and incentives to companies that invest in energy-efficient technology.

Energy Trust, an independent nonprofit, works with residential, commercial and industrial customers served by its partner utilities — Portland General Electric, Pacific Power, NW Natural, Cascade Natural Gas and Avista.

Cultivation of medical and adult-use cannabis can be energy intensive, and Energy Trust offers licensed growers technical services and cash incentives for the installation of energy-efficient equipment at new and existing grow facilities.

Energy Trust can also work with cannabis producers to identify and implement custom improvements that can reduce energy costs over conventional equipment. Energy Trust offers free technical services and advice to boot.

Its lighting specialists can work with you or your lighting vendor to specify qualified equipment, and will provide technical studies to identify energy-efficiency opportunities for HVAC, insulation and other improvements, for qualified projects. Energy Trust pays 100 percent of the study cost.

All of this can offset the upfront costs of LEDs, and with technical advice, you’ll be getting maximum yield for minimum energy. And with the green rush and increased competition in the marketplace, any savings on your margins are worth going after.

Yerba Buena, a certified cannabis grower in Hillsboro, is an Energy Trust success story. Yerba Buena became one of the first recreational cannabis growers to take advantage of Energy Trust’s technical assistance and cash incentives when the company replaced T5 fluorescent lighting in its vegetative room with tubular LEDs. “The project was a solid step forward,” Rick McClish, co-owner of Yerba Buena, says in an Energy Trust case study. “With LED lights, our vegetative output is equivalent, and we reduced our energy costs by $22,000 a year. We’re also saving on maintenance costs, because LEDs have a longer life. And LED tubes generate considerably less heat, which in turn reduces our dependency on mechanical cooling.”

“In 2016, Energy Trust provided incentives for lighting systems to 15 cannabis indoor grow facilities, resulting in close to 1 million kilowatt hours total annual savings,” says Emily Findley, communications and outreach coordinator at the Energy Trust. “In 2017, we completed more than 70 cannabis projects across the state. Growers are increasingly interested in learning how to make their businesses more profitable, and we are on track to deliver more savings in 2018 than we did in 2017.”

Jefferson Reeder is a freelance writer living in Medford. Reach him at jeffersonreeder@hotmail.com. 

SOUTHERN OREGON GOOD HERB | OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2018

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OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2018 | SOUTHERN OREGON GOOD HERB

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Flower Buyer’s Guide

BALANCING

BUZZ with medicine A look at local strains with THC-CBD mix

BY JEFFERSON REEDER / PHOTOS BY DENISE BARATTA

When it

comes to the therapeutic benefits of cannabis, much attention is being focused on cannabidiol, commonly shortened to CBD. CBD, which does not get people high, is credited with helping people suffering from certain seizure disorders, and it also appears to help reduce pain and inflammation.

But according to some researchers, some of the therapeutic effects from CBD are enhanced when it’s combined with THC. In an effort to help readers wade through the hundreds of bud strains at local cannabis dispensaries, we have put together a buyer’s guide to locally available flowers that contain a healthy mix of THC and CBD, with ratios in the neighborhood of 1:1 or 2:1 CBD to THC. Please keep in mind that supplies come and go, and sometimes a dispensary may be out of a particular strain. So don’t hesitate to ask for direction from your favorite local budtender, who may be able to steer you to CBD/THC blends that weren’t available when we went looking.

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SOUTHERN OREGON GOOD HERB | OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2018

GOJI DC

Named after the healthy and hip Goji berry, and has an aroma reminiscent of red berry, black cherry, strawberry.

Some users even compare it to Hawaiian Punch, but unlike those classic commercials from the ‘70s, it won’t knock you out. Goji DC features a 1:1 ratio of THC:CBD, which means it has close to the same quantity of both compounds. One local grower, Ebb & Flow Farm in Talent, won a 1st Place award at the 2018 Cultivation Classic in Portland for its Gogi DC. It’s available at Market Street Wellness, Kush Gardens, Fireside, Ground Up, Emerald Triangle, Oregon Grown Cannabis, C&C Farms Rec Shop, and Rogue Valley Cannabis.

TANGIE CURE

What its name implies — a very therapeutic herb. It’s one of the strains grown by Grown Rogue in Medford. Tangie Cure sports a 2:1 ratio of CBD to THC, with a CBD count in the neighborhood of 15 percent and a THC percentage around 6.5. The hybrid — 50 percent indica and 50 percent sativa — has a nice citrus flavor that delivers both medical and psychotropic benefits with a smooth, mellow hit. Available at Market Street Wellness, Cloud 9 Wellness and Oregon Farmacy.

CRITICAL MASS

Do you like cherry and citrus? Critical Mass (with a ratio of 1.5:1 THC:CBD) is described as very mellow. The version at Fireside Dispensary is supplied by East Winds Cannabis out of the Columbia River Gorge, which won a 2016 DOPE cup award. Available at Fireside Dispensary, Hijinx Cannabis and Kaleafa Cannabis Co.

OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2018 | SOUTHERN OREGON GOOD HERB

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Lemon G

With a 1:1 ratio of CBD to THC, Lemon G is a daughter of Original G13. A sativa/indica hybrid, Lemon G is a sociable strain and, as the name suggests, has a strong lemon fragrance.

Lemon G sports a THC percentage of 15.9, with a CBD count of around 11.39 percent. It is available at Emerald Triangle Dispensary and Kaleafa Cannabis Co.

OT2

This mellow strain, aka Orange Tangie 2, will allow beginning consumers to explore the benefits of THC and CBD without being overwhelmed. It’s available at Cannabiz Experience, House of Leaves, Market Street Wellness, Breeze Botanicals and Mother Earth Medicines.

Vienna Skunk

There has been some confusion about this strain because “skunk” has become a generic term for powerful weed, but this greenhouse-grown, indica cross is a nice, tranquil strain that registers 12 percent CBD to 15 percent CBD. It’s available at Talent Health Club.

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SOUTHERN OREGON GOOD HERB | OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2018

CBD RasPberry Diesel This strain has such a great flavor that it’s a favorite for jellies, edibles and other home-cooking recipes. But it’s also available in flower form.

It tests out at 9.1 percent THC to 6.7 percent CBD. You can find it at Breeze Botanicals.

Pennywise

A 1:1 indica cross between Harlequin and Jack the Ripper, a combination that lends this strain its crazy clown name, according to Leafly. But don’t be scared, Stephen King won’t show up on your doorstep. It’s available at Cannabiz Experience, La Mota and Rogue Valley Cannabis.

Astral Works

Leafly describes this 2:1 bud as “possessed of a more buoyant head than typically found in body focused-CBD strains. Astral Works brings gentle focus and calming clarity to the daily flow of duty and distraction. Its THC count comes in around 5.6-6.5 percent, while its CBD ranges from 9.4-10.8 percent.

Find it at Top Shelf Wellness Center.

AUGUST - SEPTEMBER 2018 | SOUTHERN OREGON GOOD HERB

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CBD Diesel

Registers at 6.19 percent THC and 12.54 percent CBD, a classic 1:2 mix.

Tasting strongly of wood and pine, it’s a great complement to enjoying the Oregon outdoors (weather permitting!). It’s available at Market Street Wellness, Wicked Flower Shoppe and Kaleafa Cannabis Co.

CBD OG Kush

This mellow sungrown indica registers 4.85 percent THC and 10 percent CBD, with hints of lavender and pine. Available at Breeze Botanicals.

Frank’s Gift

Leafly describes Frank’s Gift as “a phenomenal phenotype of Skunk Haze that has been known to generate upwards of 20 percent CBD. This strain delivers a nearly mythological ratio of CBD/THC that lends itself to a variety of medical uses associated with physical discomfort, inflammation, and anxiety. Though Frank’s Gift has predominantly appeared in Oregon, it’s slowly being disseminated throughout the West Coast.” It’s available at Madrone Cannabis Club and Emerald Triangle.

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SOUTHERN OREGON GOOD HERB | OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2018

Massive Tsunami

Noted for its tranquil effects. It boasts a THC count around 6.34 percent and CBD content at about 11.85 percent.

Available at Pharm to Table and Rogue Valley Cannabis.

CBD Medihaze

Developed specifically for a calming effect.

With a taste of mint and lemon, it’s as good as a cup of hot tea … in fact, take both at once and you’ll find your zone. It typically comes as a 1:1, but Leafly says 2:1 CBD:THC variants are quite common, which we’ve seen locally. It’s available at Breeze Botanicals and Fireside Botanicals.

Cannatonic

Not nearly as heavy as its name implies. With a CBD:THC ratio of anywhere from 1:1 to 2:1, Cannatonic is recommended for pain, stress, depression and other maladies. Its flavor profile contains notes of citrus, earth and pine. It’s available at House of Leaves, Pharm to Table, Top Shelf Wellness and Ground Up.

Jefferson Reeder is a freelance writer living in Medford.

Reach him at jeffersonreeder@hotmail.com. 

OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2018 | SOUTHERN OREGON GOOD HERB

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SO U

ERN H T

O

O

N

IS B A S N N OR E CAST R EG

Illustration: Paul Bunch Source: Oregon Liquor Control Commission Locations: 47 as of 9/21/18

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SOUTHERN OREGON GOOD HERB | OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2018

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OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2018 | SOUTHERN OREGON GOOD HERB

19

Weed Demographics

Green goes

silver

BY JEFFERSON REEDER / PHOTOS BY ANDY ATKINSON

Increasing numbers of seniors are turning to cannabis

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SOUTHERN OREGON GOOD HERB | OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2018

Crystal Plotner, co-owner of Pharm to Table dispensary in Medford, says many of her senior customers are attracted to edibles, such as gummies.

Seniors are

discovering — or rediscovering in many cases — the benefits of cannabis usage.

Crystal Plotner, general manager and co-owner of local dispensary Pharm to Table, is experiencing the senior boom firsthand.

She has crunched the numbers at Pharm to Table and says use among seniors has more than doubled at her dispensary, going from 4.5 percent of customers in January 2017 to almost 11 percent in May 2018.

“Lots of times seniors may come in for ointments, then move to CBD, and then to edibles.” To meet this demand and take advantage of the trend, her dispensary now offers a senior discount.

She says it’s heartening to see three generations of families shopping together, all picking out something different … making it a pro-health, pro-family experience.

Plotner says her own grandmother, who has had nothing to do with marijuana, now uses topicals for

her arthritis.

What Plotner is seeing locally is backed up by statewide statistics.

The Oregon Medical Marijuana Program published a statistical snapshot in April 2017 that showed most medical marijuana cardholders ranged from 55 to 69 years old, with the biggest group in the 60- to 64-year-old age group.

As co-chair of the Senior Living and Long-Term Care Team at the law firm Lane Powell in Portland, Gabriella Sanchez has devoted her career to understanding the challenges faced by long-term care, senior housing, and home health and hospice providers. Lane Powell has a cannabis practice, and Sanchez has expertise with seniors and cannabis usage.

“I do believe that marijuana use in the senior population is certainly on the rise, and we will only see the numbers go up as the boomers start to age and enter the senior housing/care market.”

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OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2018 | SOUTHERN OREGON GOOD HERB

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“

I do believe that marijuana use in the senior population is certainly on the rise, and we will only see the numbers go up as the boomers start to age and enter the senior housing/care market.

There are many reasons for the increase in usage among older people.

Some seniors are baby boomers who haven’t smoked in 40 years but want to try again.

Others hear about the health benefits through word of mouth and want to try to ease pain and save money on prescription medications.

Others try cannabis at the urging of their grandkids.

There’s no question that making cannabis legal has eased the stigma of usage.

“Seniors are so much more accepting of using than they used to be,” says Robert Platshorn, founder of Silver Tour in Florida, whose mission is to educate seniors about medical cannabis.

Platshorn has put together a video on his own activism and the benefits to seniors, titled “Should Grandma Smoke Pot?” It has almost 100,000 views on YouTube.

“The stigma is certainly lessened,” Sanchez agrees. “Marijuana use is becoming more mainstream, especially as boomers start making their way into the long-term care system.”

Seniors are embracing cannabis for quality of life, pain relief and health benefits.

A recent study compiled by the National Center for Biotechnology Information showed that the most common indications for cannabis treatment were pain (66.6 percent) and cancer (60.8 percent). After six months of treatment, 93.7 percent of the respondents reported improvement in their condition, and the reported pain level was reduced from a median of 8 on a scale of 0-10 to a median of 4. The study concluded “the therapeutic use of cannabis is safe and efficacious in the elderly population. “ Another benefit the study found: “Cannabis use may decrease the use of other prescription medicines, including opioids.”

Cannabis also helps with the nausea that can

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come with cancer treatment, and can enhance the appetites of seniors who have lost the desire to eat, the study said.

Other studies have shown that marijuana also helps with glaucoma by reducing high eye pressure, and in terms of quality of life, cannabis can ease depression and anxiety.

Sanchez recommends that seniors check with their doctors to make sure marijuana will not interact with medications they are taking or aggravate existing conditions.

For seniors in assisted living, she says, “I also recommend seniors follow community rules regarding marijuana use, because if the senior is in a nursing facility it is unlikely they will be permitted to use marijuana, and could be subject to involuntary transfer.

“In communities that do permit marijuana, the senior should notify staff before using marijuana so that the community can assess the senior and place necessary interventions to protect the person.”

Seniors should be sure to choose the marijuana that’s right for them. Some seniors may want CBD with no psychoactive properties; some may be more concerned with getting a good night’s sleep; some may want a little buzz and pain relief but with a goal of staying active.

Budtenders at local dispensaries can sometimes help seniors navigate strains to ensure their needs are met.

The delivery method is also important to consider. It’s a whole new world to navigate, from oils to prerolls to vapes to edibles. All of these can affect the user experience. Boomers revisiting cannabis after many years of abstinence may get a shock. The strains are much more powerful than back in the day, so they may want to go slow.

Jefferson Reeder is a freelance writer living in Medford. Reach him at jeffersonreeder@hotmail.com. 

SOUTHERN OREGON GOOD HERB | OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2018

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OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2018 | SOUTHERN OREGON GOOD HERB

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MF-00097341

Cannabis Agriculture

Growing

{PAINS}

BY LIZ GOLD

Local cannabis farmers are looking for ways to keep their industry from being overrun 26

SOUTHERN OREGON GOOD HERB | OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2018

A load of freshly harvested cannabis is wheeled toward the drying rooms at East Fork Cultivars a CBD-focused farm in Takilma that harvested 3,300 pounds of cannabis by bicycle and garden cart in 2017. PHOTO BY KIM NGUYEN

To say that

cannabis farming is growing in Southern Oregon would be a gross understatement.

As of Aug. 29, 666 marijuana license applications had been submitted in Jackson County — second only to Multnomah County’s 682 — with 477 in Josephine County. When it comes to growers, Southern Oregon was running away from the pack — 474 growing applications were filed in Jackson County and 400 in Josephine. Clackamas County was third with 334.

In fact, a large and growing number of working adults in Oregon make their living from the plant in some way, either directly or indirectly. As of Aug. 29, the Oregon Liquor Control Commission reported more than 53,000 marijuana worker permit applications had been submitted statewide since 2016.

With any new industry, especially one that’s expanding so fast, there are bound to be growing pains.

Talk to growers in the area and they’ll tell you they can’t sell their product in Southern Oregon because there is just too much flower. So their product heads north to Portland and the surrounding areas.

“A community can only absorb so much of an

influx of new people, otherwise it changes the community,” says Jamin Giersbach, a member of the Oregon Cannabis Association. “When there’s an influx of people coming for money, it changes the landscape.”

Giersbach, who holds four OLCC licenses in the area with his wife, Melissa, including for Essence Farm in Applegate Valley and Rogue Farmers, a hydroponic garden store in Talent, says there is a great deal of tension between medical and recreational growers — which is understandable.

“The medical growers feel like they are being left out, and they have legitimate reasons why they shouldn’t be,” he says. “They have been loyal and feel like they are being pushed out of this emerging industry. It’s a tough place right now. There are so many farms in Oregon, and people are having a hard time making a living.”

When prices fell hard last fall, it made people hesitate, Giersbach says. Owning a grow store allows him to witness how farmers have been navigating the competition and uncertainty.

“You can see patterns,” he says. “We saw for a few months there was this hesitation, now they are going full steam ahead. They are realizing there is still

OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2018 | SOUTHERN OREGON GOOD HERB

27

Jamin Giersbach, right, helps a customer inside Rogue Farmers hydroponic store in Talent. ANDY ATKINSON / MAIL TRIBUNE

a lot of room to do stuff in this industry.”

Many medical farmers are changing with the times, because they have to in order to make a living.

“We’re anticipating 30 to 50 percent of our members will be OLCC participants by the end of 2018,” says “Pioneer” Pete Gendron, president of the Oregon Sungrowers Guild, with core membership in Oregon’s “green belt” of Jackson and Josephine counties and roots in helping to strengthen the relationships between medical patients and growers, while advocating for the medical program at the state level.

“We’ve included a much more inclusive membership structure to respect our medicine and historical members that still need representation. This has been a much maligned and underrepresented community, and we seek to refine that injustice,” says Gendron, who says he plans to run for Josephine county commissioner.

For Adam Smith, founder and executive director of the Craft Cannabis Alliance, the issue is about keeping the money generated by Oregon’s cannabis industry here in Oregon.

“When rec passed, everyone talked about

how this is the next craft industry. Yes, but there are companies coming from out of state with deep pockets, buying up brands,” says Smith, a political organizer with a background in drug policy reform. “They are pushing locals off the shelves.”

Still, that’s not the biggest problem, according to Smith. He says the inability to sell outside the state leaves growers stuck with a tiny market.

“Growers in Oregon, many of them worldclass, are facing an existential threat in the oversupply crisis,” Smith says, adding that if it continues, the state is likely to lose the majority of its locally owned industry.

“There is an easy fix for this — by allowing licensed transfer between legal states sooner than later. Otherwise, the only survivors will be deep-pocketed, out-of-state and foreign companies. Then, once the walls do come down, Oregon will be home to a multi-billion-dollar industry that it won’t significantly own. That will be an economic disaster for the state, as well as for the quality and biodiversity of Oregon cannabis.”

Smith is optimistic that this is a time when

continued on page 30

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Foreground to background: Courtney Moran, of Earth Law LLC, Pete Gendron, Oregon Sungrown president, along with Oregon Sungrown members Lorinda Olsen, Lorianne Carey and Jared Watters meet April 25 to talk about Oregon’s cannabis industry. PHOTO BY KARA ESTABROOK

continued from page 28 those who have stakes in the industry can come together and determine how they want to move forward. His organization, for example, is launching a PR campaign aimed at helping consumers easily identify locally grown craft cannabis. Growers have an opportunity to participate by becoming members of the organization.

“People in Oregon care,” Smith says. “We care about local and sustainable and ethical.

We don’t have to get everybody. But if you are going to pay for mid-priced to top shelf, you certainly have a choice to buy from those engaged in their communities. The majority of retailers are Oregon-owned and are not vertically integrated and are looking for ways to differentiate themselves. This is a good opportunity for them.”

Kristine Miller, co-owner and grower at Moon Shine Gardens, a recreational cannabis garden on the outskirts of Grants Pass, says she sees the local growing community coming together. Her farm, which

30

was focused on legal adult use from its start in 2016, grew 3,100 pounds in its first year. Last year, it harvested close to 4,000 pounds. She recognizes the importance of hiring her team locally and paying them a living wage as well as choosing to build community with other farmers, rather than being competitive.

“I’ve grown up and worked with really great farmers who have helped each other out, but cannabis farmers have been really secretive about growing practices and what nutrients are being used in their spring schedule,” Miller says.

“I do feel like the community of local farms is coming together, because there are people with more resources coming in. People are desperate, the market is scary, and it’s really expensive to start a farm. There are a lot of outside investors that are buying into or buying their companies, and in Southern Oregon we are going to be in the minority when it comes to locally owned

SOUTHERN OREGON GOOD HERB | OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2018

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I do feel like the community of local farms is coming together, because there are people with more resources coming in. People are desperate, the market is scary, and it’s really expensive to start a farm.

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Jessica McClain, the farm’s office manager, agrees. “You can choose to be secretive and competitive or you can choose to band together and set the market standard, like pricing and quality,” she says.

Mason Walker, a Craft Cannabis Alliance board member and CEO of East Fork Cultivars, a CBD-focused farm in Takilma, says he sees a great future for cannabis in Southern Oregon. “We have the opportunity to be the Napa Valley of cannabis,” he says. “We have the water, the temperature is amazing, a lot of environmental factors are perfect, the talent is here, the cultivation experts are here. With good policy and concentrated effort, I believe it can be a tourist destination.”

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Cannabis Trends

‘STONER’ STEREOTYPES GOING

UP IN SMOKE

BY JOHN ROGERS & KRYSTA FAURIA OF THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Judd Weiss takes a puff of a pre-rolled marijuana cigarette at his house in the Bel Air section of Los Angeles.

Weiss, CEO and founder of cannabis company Lit.Club, believes the industry needs to do still more.

AP PHOTO/RICHARD VOGEL

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SOUTHERN OREGON GOOD HERB | OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2018

Cindy Paul, 55, and her daughter, Doc Paul, 31, both of Billings, Mont., shop for marijuana edibles at a marijuana retail store in downtown Portland. Cindy Paul has not used marijuana in 25 years but is trying it again now that it’s legal. AP PHOTO/GILLIAN FLACCUS

Michelle Janikian,

who writes about marijuana for publications such as Herb, Playboy and Rolling Stone, says after she tells someone what she does for a living, she usually spends the rest of the conversation “trying to act so friendly and mainstream” so they don’t think she’s stoned.

Adam Salcido relates that after he went to work a couple of years ago for a Southern California company that helps organize weed-infused events such as Hempfest and Cannabis Cup, he had to reassure his family he wouldn’t turn into a drug addict.

Stoner stereotypes die hard.

But with a multibillion-dollar industry beginning to flower — marijuana is now legal in some form in 30 states — cannabis advocates are pushing to dispel the idea that people who toke up still live on the couches in their parents’ basements and spend their waking hours eating Cheetos and playing video games.

MedMen, a flashy, upscale chain of dispensaries that brands itself as the Apple store of pot shops, recently rolled out a $2 million ad campaign that, for lack of a better description, might be called the

“anti-stoner offensive.”

Photos of 17 people — including a white-haired grandmother, a schoolteacher, a business executive, a former pro football player and a nurse — are being splashed across billboards, buses and the web by the company that has dispensaries in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and New York. Each photo has the word “stoner” crossed out and in its place a description of their job.

People can find their biographies on the website www.forgetstoner.com, where they can also learn why they use weed. Reasons range from treatment of medical conditions such as migraines and anxiety to simply enjoying the high.

“What we’re saying is the very definition of a stereotype is defining a person by one bad mention,” says Daniel Yi, MedMen’s senior vice president of communications and a former Los Angeles Times reporter. “They’re also a grandmother. They’re also a father, a son, a brother.”

Judd Weiss, CEO and founder of cannabis company Lit.Club, says the industry needs to do even more.

OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2018 | SOUTHERN OREGON GOOD HERB

33

Michelle Janikian works at Frontera Cafe in San Cristobal de Las Casas, Mexico.

After she tells someone what she does for a living she usually spends the rest of the conversation “trying to act so friendly and mainstream” so they don’t think she’s stoned. MARTIN CLARKE VIA AP

“

One show that presents a more modern take on marijuana is HBO’s ‘High Maintenance.’

It features a bicycleriding pot dealer who interacts with a variety of average New Yorkers, from emptynesting boomers to workaholic millennials.

He suggests marketing products in a way that makes them look more than just respectable, but as the herbal equivalent of a fine bourbon or scotch.

Thus, he says, Lit.Club’s vape pens are packaged in a way “that won’t embarrass you at the opera.” They look sleek and stylish, with inspirational phrases like “Light A Path” printed on each one. He compares the aroma and flavor of his company’s pre-rolled joints to something similar to a fine brandy.

“Very much like the Tesla, we want to be seen as luxury quality but affordable,” he said.

The website Leafly, which is sometimes called a Yelp for discerning potheads, has taken out ads in The New York Times and staged promotional events at gatherings like the South by Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas, to extol the virtues of marijuana. Better sex and better health are two claims it focuses on.

It was edibles that brought Cindy Paul of Billings, Montana, to a Portland pot shop a few weeks ago to sample marijuana for the

continued on page 36

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A billboard for MedMen, a marijuana dispensary, at an intersection in Los Angeles. MedMen recently rolled out an ad campaign that featured photos of 17 people including a white-haired grandmother, a schoolteacher, a business executive, a former pro football player and a nurse, being splashed across billboards, buses and the web. AP PHOTO/CHRIS PIZZELLO

continued from page 34 first time in 25 years. A casual if closeted smoker during her school days, Paul, 55, said she decided to indulge again while vacationing with her daughter in a state where it’s legal and where she can acquire it in a form she doesn’t have to inhale.

“I do think it has medicinal qualities,” she said, adding, “I’m not using it for that. I’m using it to have a good time. I don’t think it’s any different than having a beer.”

To bring more people like Paul into the fold, branding expert Robert Miner says the marijuana industry needs to use movies and TV shows to change negative perceptions.

Those lovable stoners Cheech and Chong were fine back in the day when it came to rebuffing the idea that anybody who smoked pot was headed for Reefer Madness. But the mainstreaming of marijuana, he said, demands a new message.

“For that larger portion of the cannabis-consuming population, that same silly bumbling stereotype that led to a wider acceptance is now an impediment to their being open about their cannabis consumption,” said Miner, whose firm, Miner & Co. Studio, works with TV networks and

36

other media in image building.

One show that presents a more modern take on marijuana is HBO’s “High Maintenance.” It features a bicycle-riding pot dealer who interacts with a variety of average New Yorkers, from empty-nesting boomers to workaholic millennials.

The only thing any have in common is they buy marijuana from him and, as they do, pull him into their daily lives.

It’s one of Janikian’s favorite shows, and she’d like to see more like it. But for now the writer who divides her time between New York and Mexico will continue to remain circumspect about her marijuana use.

She sometimes uses a topical cream to curb anxiety, and after a hard day’s work she likes to smoke a joint to unwind like any “random normal person” would have a glass of wine.

But she knows those random normal people are often skeptical.

“It’s like, ‘Oh, you just want to smoke weed,’” she says, laughing. “‘Stop lying.’”

Associated Press writer Gillian Flaccus in Portland contributed to this report. 

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37

Cannabis vs Opiates

Studies show cannabis may be a useful weapon in the war against opioid addiction

Gateway to a solution

BY JEFFERSON REEDER

Every other time

you pick up the paper, it seems, you read the grim statistics of the opioid epidemic. The latest was research that showed 1.5 percent of all American deaths in 2016 were caused by opioids, which was worse than the casualty rate of Americans in the bloodiest year of the Vietnam War, which had a rate of slightly less than 1 percent.

Numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that 64,070 people died from drug overdoses in 2016, a 21 percent increase over the year before. Approximately three-fourths of all drug overdose deaths are now caused by opioids.

If nothing else, this parallel with Vietnam underscores the fact that we are in a war against opioids.

Many users start with prescriptions for injuries

38

or chronic pain. It becomes more serious when the prescriptions or insurance run out, sending people into the black market of heroin, Oxycontin and Fentanyl. Even with insurance, and the best intentions, patients can get hooked on opiates.

“We’re in the middle of it all,” says Dr. Darryl Inaba, an addiction specialist in Medford.

But what if you could cut out that dependency before it became too severe, or if patients could use marijuana to wean themselves off harder drugs? That’s an intriguing case for using marijuana as a substitute for opiates.

A Way Out of Addiction William Hays, manager of a dispensary called Wicked Flower Shoppe, across from Hawthorne Park in Medford, says he is walking proof that

SOUTHERN OREGON GOOD HERB | OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2018

marijuana can be a key to overcoming addiction.

“The plant has been very good to me,” says Hays. “It allowed me to stop constantly focusing on the pain.”

His story is a fairly common one. He never used drugs, he relates, until the age of 30 when he injured himself on a construction job and suffered from excruciating back pain. He was given prescriptions for opioids and soon found himself hooked, which led to illegal purchases and all the misery that comes with addiction.

But from there, his addiction path diverged.

Hays says he was able to quit opioids with the help of marijuana.

He started out with THC edibles … “the strongest ones available,” he says, and then was able to cut down to lesser doses.

“It helped out a ton,” says Hays. “It made my life easier and led me to my longest period of sobriety.”

He now works at the dispensary, surrounded by flowers, and it’s clear he’s enthusiastic about his role in helping others in similar situations.

“There was a woman in here last week who was clearly shaking and detoxing,” he relates. “We were able to help her out.”

This initial withdrawal includes neuropathic pain and sleeplessness, and here is also where cannabis can help.

Dr. James Shames, an addiction specialist who has been medical director/health officer for Jackson County since 2002, points to a study from the Veterans Administration that synthesized existing studies of the benefits and harms of cannabis.

Shames says the studies concluded that there is “low strength evidence” that cannabis with precise THC-to-CBD content (1:1 to 2:1 ratio) has the potential to improve pain, spasticity and sleep in a select population (such as those with neuropathic pain).

Marijuana Beats Mortality Despite the fuzziness of the studies, Hays’ experience seems to track with the statistics.

Multiple studies have shown that pro-medical marijuana states have reported fewer opiate deaths, and there are no deaths related to marijuana overdose on record.

A report in Drug and Alcohol Dependence found that hospitalization rates for opioid painkiller dependence and abuse dropped on average 23 percent in states after marijuana was permitted for medicinal purposes. Hospitalization rates for opioid overdoses dropped 13 percent on average.

THE FIRST STATE

BY RITA GIORDANO THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER About two months ago, Pennsylvania became the first state to approve medical marijuana as a treatment for opioid use disorder. Doctors with the required credentials can offer medical marijuana to patients when treatments such as abstinence therapy or medication-assisted treatment have failed, or in conjunction with those methods.

The state has tapped eight universities to conduct medical-marijuana research, and hopes opioid use disorder will be among the topics for exploration, said a state Health Department spokeswoman.

Because of marijuana’s highly restrictive federal drug classification, research into its medical value has been limited. Observational studies suggest there are fewer opioid-related deaths in states that allow medical marijuana and that fewer opioids are prescribed when medical marijuana is available for pain relief. But whether medical marijuana actually causes those effects hasn’t been proven in gold-standard medical studies.

Evidence is even weaker for cannabis to treat opioid addiction. There is anecdotal information about people using marijuana to wean themselves from opioids, ease the misery of withdrawal, or limit their opioid use. Some people report that marijuana relieves aches and anxiety, possibly contributing to opioid abstinence.

Three medications are federally approved to treat opioid use disorder. Naltrexone, which is not an opioid, blocks the effect of opioids and eases cravings. The two others are opioid-based and have been more thoroughly studied: methadone and buprenorphine, a main component of Suboxone. Without medication-assisted treatment (MAT), the relapse rate 30 days after detox is as high as 90 percent, compared with 50 percent after six months for those who take their medicine and also participate in behavioral therapy, often including 12-step support.

Kent Vrana, pharmacology chair at Pennsylvania State University’s College of Medicine, said there is no evidence of any danger in combining marijuana and an opioid-based medication. But he doubts that marijuana alone would help much during the intense, early stage of opioid withdrawal.

“There may be a therapeutic benefit in the later stages,” he said, “especially when combined with MAT.” But since even the best-chance treatment offers daunting odds, scientists such as Yasmin Hurd, director of the Addiction Institute at Mount Sinai in New York City, are looking for other possibilities.

“Unless a disease is completely cured, I think we should never stop trying to find better and more optimal treatments for people in need. I don’t care what disease it is,” said Hurd, who is also a professor of psychiatry and neuroscience at Mount Sinai’s Icahn School of Medicine. “I don’t think we’d say for cancer, ‘Oh, we have enough medications out there, so there is no need to keep finding new treatments.’”

Hurd’s research centers on CBD, a nonintoxicating compound of the marijuana plant, as a potential tool against drug relapse.

Hurd’s theory is that opioid-based treatments don’t allow the brain to recover from the impact of opioids. She is continuing research on the potential of CBD to relieve cravings and anxiety, while allowing the brain to heal from opioid exposure.

But Hurd, like other researchers, said her progress has been slowed by federal restrictions on marijuana. She applauds Pennsylvania’s plan to encourage more investigation, and would like to see the same commitment on the federal level.

“Without that, you’re still going to have people fighting unnecessarily when we have people dying,” Hurd said. 

OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2018 | SOUTHERN OREGON GOOD HERBB

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Another recent study showed marijuana has benefits on the front-end of usage, as well. The study, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, shows that medical marijuana laws and adult-use marijuana laws were associated with lower opioid prescribing rates (5.88 percent and 6.38 percent lower, respectively). Because over-prescription has been one of the drivers of the opioid crisis from the get-go, marijuana availability can make a huge difference in pain management and keeping patients safe.

Marijuana may also be a boon to seniors. Not only does marijuana help with many of the aches and pains of aging, it can also be a practical alternative to opioids. Seniors want to engage in life, and not be zonked out on drugs, and marijuana offers relief for some types of pain without the heavy effects of prescription drugs.

We’ve been told for years that marijuana is a gateway drug, but it may be a gateway to recovery instead. It is certainly worth checking out if you or your loved ones find yourselves caught up in an opioid crisis.

Jefferson Reeder is a freelance writer living in Medford. Reach him at jeffersonreeder@hotmail.com. 

William Hays inside Wicked Flower shop in Medford.

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Retail Marijuana

of Leaves House scores with customers

BY JOHN DARLING / PHOTOS BY ANDY ATKINSON

42

SOUTHERN OREGON GOOD HERB | OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2018

A customer inspects some flowers at House of Leaves in Ashland.

House of Leaves

was among the earliest cannabis shops to open in Ashland after voters ended prohibition of the long-popular plant.

It does business in a converted house on North Main Street, and it merchandises just about anything you could ask for in a very small space, with a knowledgeable and easygoing staff.

While some shops seek to overcome pot’s long illicit history with sparkling clean environments that look like pharmacies, House of Leaves just keeps being what it is, kind of like your local mom-and-pop shop but for weed.

“We sell everything — bud, smokable, vape, cartridge, edibles, gummies, tinctures, all THC or all CBD or combinations, which usually gives better effect,” says manager Ricky La Ve, as he explains an albedo inhaler (atomizer) to customers.

He points to a plaque awarded to the shop by Leafly, the noted cannabis website, which labeled House of Leaves one of the top 10 dispensaries in Oregon. They got 4.8 out of 5 stars, with such comments as, “I love House of Leaves! The cartridge selection is the biggest in the valley and the prices are ON POINT. Lucas was a super friendly and knowledgeable budtender who was super helpful. Recommend this place to anyone wanting a good dispensary experience :)” Prices are a hot topic of conversation, as there are so many growers that supply is outpacing demand, says La Ve. “Prices are coming down, especially flower because there are so many producers now. People just cannot

believe it. A year ago, we had to pay twice what we pay now. It’s a buyer’s market. We’re selling $2 a gram for ‘daily.’ It goes up to $15 for better stuff.”

Shopper Tyler Bartlett says of the store, “It has a great location. The selection is a big one, and you can buy all the pieces and parts right here. You can learn a lot here from budtenders.”

A rewarding part of the job, says La Ve, is being able to teach people how to use product for pain, healing and sleep — and the gratitude they express.

“Working here in Ashland, so many people come in for health reasons. The town has an aging demographic. It makes me feel I’m in an industry that gives back and improves quality of life,” says La Ve. “We have regulars and build this rapport over the months as we discuss product and what they get from it. The best demand is for pre-rolls — no mess to clean up, no sticky fingers, just easy to use.”

If the job has a downside, he notes, it’s the large number of rules and the OLCC compliance officers who can drop in at any moment, fine the business or workers, even close it down, but “it’s a necessary evil.

It’s a new thing and will even out.”

House of Leaves is at 488 N. Main St., in Ashland.

You can shop on their website and order before you come in — or call 541-488-6776. They also have a shop in Medford at 259 E. Barnett Road, 541-816-4204. The owner is Mike Lisk.

John Darling is an Ashland freelance writer. Reach him at jdarling@jeffnet.org. 

OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2018 | SOUTHERN OREGON GOOD HERB

43

Grower Profile

Medford grower grafts new hybrid strain called Voodoo Kush to help a friend

BACKYARD

VOODOO STORY BY RHONDA NOWAK / COURTESY PHOTOS FROM SCOTT MEADOWS SCOTT

44

SOUTHERN OREGON GOOD HERB | OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2018

TRY PROPAGATION THROUGH GRAFTING

Scott Meadows shows off his backyard creation, Voodoo Kush.

When Scott Meadows

was growing up in Medford, he liked to watch his grandfather graft peach and pear trees for Harry and David. His grandpa showed him the age-old propagation method that involves joining a branch from one plant, called a scion, to the rootstock of another plant in the same family. The hardy rootstock allows the scion to mature into a more robust plant that produces fruit identical to the scion’s parent.

Grafting is often used for propagating fruit trees and rose bushes that don’t grow true to type from seed. In recent years, it’s become trendy to create botanical curiosities by grafting two or more scions with different characteristics to the same rootstock. An example is the “Ketchup and Fries” plant made from joining a tomato plant and a potato plant.

As a kid, Meadows was amazed when his grandpa created new peach and pear hybrids through grafting. This phenomenon occurs when cambium tissue at the juncture of the two plants not only generates new cells to knit the plants together, but also creates cells that combine genetic characteristics of both plants. It’s asexual species crossbreeding.

Last year, Meadows, now 50, decided to use what his grandpa had taught him about grafting to combine two of his favorite marijuana strains. He grafted Lemon Diesel, an indica-dominant hybrid, onto a plant of a pure indica strain called Purple Kush. The grafted plant produced new stalks of Lemon Diesel and Purple Kush; in addition, the plant produced a third stalk that was clearly different from either parent.

OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2018 | SOUTHERN OREGON GOOD HERB

It’s not hard to propagate cannabis by grafting, and maybe you’ll even create a new hybrid like Scott Meadows did.

Whip and tongue, or bench, grafting, is commonly used in the spring when joining younger plants with stems about the same size and no larger than a pencil width in diameter.

Use a sharp, clean knife or razor blade to make a smooth slant cut 3/4 to 1 inch long on the root stock several inches above the top root. Cut downward to the center of the stem (be careful not to go through too much of the stem). Then make a matching 3/4- to 1-inch cut on the bottom of a scion stem that is about 5 inches long.

Join the scion to the rootstock stem, pushing the two together to create a tight contact. Use grafting tape, pine tar, molasses or another adhesive to hold the juncture firmly together.

Use fishing line or stakes to hold the grafted plant erect and reduce pressure on the healing union. Place plants under lights indoors for 12 to 14 hours and keep the soil fertile and moist until the union heals. Harden off and set outdoors when frost risk has ended (late April in most of our region).

45

Meadows documented the process of grafting a new cannabis hybrid on video.

Last fall, Meadows looked at a flowering bud from the hybrid stalk magnified 1600X under a miniature microscope, and he was astounded to see a purple gland pulsating like a heartbeat. “I’ve been growing for more than 10 years, and I’ve never seen anything like that before,” Meadows said.

The hybrid stalk produced about 3 ounces of bud (out of 2-1/2 pounds from the entire grafted plant), and Meadows named the new strain Voodoo Kush. Testing showed the THC level at 29 percent, whereas the average THC composition of Purple Kush is 18 percent, maxing out at 27 percent. Lemon Diesel, a 70 percent indica often recommended for anxiety and stress-related conditions, has a much lower THC level with an average of 13 percent.

Meadows saved the Voodoo Kush seeds from last season.

He sowed a second generation of plants indoors in January, and then transplanted four starts into his outdoor garden the second week in March when they were 8 inches tall. He planted them in the ground in full sun and has continued to water through the summer by hose in the morning and evening to keep the soil moist. He fertilizes regularly with worm tea, bat guano and fish emulsion when the plants need extra nitrogen.

Insects haven’t been a problem for the plants, which Meadows attributes to healthy plants and “releasing a lot

of ladybugs in my backyard.”

In fact, Meadows loves the growing conditions of Southern Oregon. “I’m thankful to live here, because the Rogue River and Siskiyou National Forest area is noted as one of the most perfect places to grow in the U.S.,” he said.

The Medford grower has grown medical marijuana for the past 10 years for his friend who is battling lung cancer.

“I’m not into growing for quantity,” Meadows said. “I want to help my friend have a better quality of life.”

Meadows boasted the Voodoo Kush strain he produced last year was the best thing his friend had ever tasted.

He tried some, too, and described the effect as a “happy, high-energy high.”

In early September, his four plants were flowering at 9 feet 8 inches tall and 3 feet in diameter, and Meadows has friends replicating the grafting process he began last year “to see if we can do it all again.”

Meadows has high expectations that the second-generation crop will outperform last season’s in yield, taste and THC level.

“But we won’t know for sure ‘til the end of the cycle,” he said.

Rhonda Nowak is a Rogue Valley gardener, teacher and writer. Email her at Rnowak39@gmail.com. For more about gardening, visit her blog at http://blogs.esouthernoregon.com/ theliterarygardener/. 

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