While CBD is generally known for its calming effects, it can also be an effective natural stimulant. But, getting a CBD regimen together can feel like a chore unto itself, requiring hours of research and some trial-and-error to find the right product and get the dosing just right. Enter an easier, more potent CBD solution: transdermal patches.  

For the cultivator looking to achieve the highest efficiency, most consistent yields, and most predictable revenue results, this year has been a real challenge to say the least.

“It’s a new landscape with COVID-19,” says Derek Oxford, CEO and Founder of Total Grow Control, an engineering and manufacturing company that builds reliable nutrient delivery systems and water filtration solutions. Like many companies serving the cannabis industry, Total Grow Control thrives on in-person relationships and traditional sales processes. Hence, social distancing dealt a heavy blow.

Yet, Total Grow Control (TGC) adapted. They changed how they managed vendors and how they set up the manufacturing facility. What’s more, all TGC’s latest systems have built-in cameras.

It’s no secret the cannabis industry has enjoyed unprecedented growth these past few years — from a market perspective and a political one.

Consider the political and policy changes we’ve seen in recent months. The House of Representatives recently passed historic legalization legislation (the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment and Expungement Act).

As the 2018 Farm Bill made it legal for hemp production, the use of hemp in medicine, food, and other sectors will only continue to grow.

Did you know that hemp is considered one of the most nutritionally balanced superfoods in the world? To a skeptic mind, it might sound like a marketing gimmick for hemp products, but this doesn’t change the fact. Hemp seed has rich nutritional content with iron, amino acids, the right balance of omega 3 and 6 fatty acids, and vitamins that provide holistic health benefits.

Although we started off our journey at CBD Testers with a strong emphasis on minor cannabinoids, lately, we’ve been taking a closer look at the most abundant one – THC – and all of its many applications and benefits. Another interesting, and sometimes confusing, point about this compound is how many variations of it exist.

Most people know that THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) is the dominant compound found in marijuana, and also the one that holds the plant’s psychoactive properties. It’s the most popular cannabis compound, for obvious reasons, and it also has numerous medical benefits that we as a society are only beginning to fully understand.

“We need long-term studies! There is a ‘painful’ parallel between medical marijuana and the past and present situation with opioids, where the short-term demonstration of efficacy on chronic pain led to the promotion and broad scale prescription of opioids in the absence of high quality evidence.” – Dr. Thorsten Rudroff

Recently, The Fresh Toast shared an article about Dr. Thorsten Rudroff’s study in partnership with the National Institute of Health and the University of Iowa that focuses on understanding how aging and mobility is linked to medical marijuana.

It’s not just the turtles and the fish we need to worry about, humans are now breathing in microplastics from all types of packaging. According to the lead researcher of a Utah State University study, microplastics are turning into dust and are contaminated with toxic chemicals, plastic fragments, and metals. These contaminants are in 4 percent of the air we breathe.

A new study suggests that vaping THC might be worse than smoking and vaping nicotine.

Conducted by the University of Michigan and published in the Journal of Adolescent Health, the study examined the association between respiratory symptoms in adolescents who were current users of cigarettes, e-cigarettes and/or cannabis and who used vapes with THC and/or nicotine oil.

Employing survey results, researchers found that when vaping cannabis, adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17 had a greater chance of sustaining lung injury through dry coughs, wheezing and other symptoms that had an effect in their speech, sleep and exercise. The extent and duration of these symptoms are unknown.

Working in cannabis processing is stepping foot into a young, blossoming industry. No matter how much flower your company goes through in processing, automated batching will ultimately improve net value. Before choosing automation, a company can struggle with time management and precision when doing every step by hand.

Automated batching cuts time, makes measurements precise every time, reduces product loss, and increases quality. All these things combined will pay for the automated instrument.

When the team at East Coast Cultivation set out to build its new indoor grow operation in Rhode Island, it knew it had to nail one thing: environmental controls.

“The key factor in having a successful grow is controlling your environment,” said East Coast Cultivation CEO and co-founder Joe Welch. “Once you lose control of your environment, the serious crop-crushing issues begin to take hold.”