She has a Ph.D. in pharmaceutical sciences, teaches at multiple universities, hosts a sciencey podcast, has 496,500 followers on TikTok and authored the new book, Reefer Wellness, published by Penguin Random House earlier this summer. And now, Dr. Riley Kirk is performing the role of cannabis industry fact-checker for Marijuana Venture in this interview conducted by editor Garrett Rudolph. Ten cannabis-related topics. Are they facts to be confirmed or myths that aren’t backed up by modern science and research?
Fact or Fiction: Cannabis from 30+ years ago had a THC content of about 5%.
FACT. And 5% might even be a little bit high for what it used to be around that time frame. We have some data showing it was maybe around 2-3%. Much, much lower than today, and part of this is a lot of cannabis was smuggled, and was wild-grown cannabis. It wasn’t grown under LED or HPS lights that made them produce super high amounts of THC.
We didn’t really have the modern genetics that have been bred to produce high amounts of THC. And the dry and cure, what we currently use, amps up the amount of THC by weight that we’re actually observing in the plant. It also means that because we have more THC, the plant’s probably producing less of the other compounds like CBD and other cannabinoids and terpenes.
So now it’s more of a heavy-hitting experience than a mellow, expansive experience.
That’s not to say that you can’t still find that kind of cannabis. But now it’s considered hemp and not Type 1 THC-dominant cannabis.
Fact or Fiction: Cannabis plants need to be “flushed” before harvest to ensure smooth-smoking buds.
MOSTLY FICTION. This is interesting because this is something we’re currently researching because this has been highly debated over time. There was a publication around 2020 where they researched the flushing process to see if there were differences in cannabinoids and terpenes and the harshness of the smoking experience, and they did not find any statistical difference at all the time points they were testing.
With that being said, I don’t think they really deep dived into the toxicants that are formed. So if we put a ton of nutrients into the plant, even if flushing can reduce the amount of those nutrients that we’re smoking by, like, 1%, I think it’s worth it. But in general, it’d be good practice to just not use excessive nutrients so we don’t need to flush to that capacity to get a nice smooth smoking experience.
Fact or Fiction: Higher THC numbers in flower are equivalent to higher proof numbers in liquor.
MOSTLY FACT.
I think it is equivalent fact in a way. It is equivalent that in both cases, with liquor and cannabis, if we have higher proof numbers or higher THC numbers, we have more active ingredient, whether that’s ethanol or THC, but it also means that it’s a less robust experience, especially with flavor and the actual feeling you’re going to get with a liquor that is lower proof. Same thing with cannabis. If we have lower THC, we probably have more of these other compounds presents that are going to produce a more flavorful, expansive experience, whereas if we have more THC or more ethanal, it feel like a concentrated, hollow experience in both cases.
So I would say that’s true, but the only difference is liquor is pretty highly regulated. So when you see that number on the bottle, you can almost guarantee that’s the amount of ethanol in that product, whereas with cannabis, it can be quite variable with testing labs, with the dryness of your product and what that really means for the quality of the product.
Fact or Fiction: The modern indica/sativa/hybrid classification is worthless in predicting how it will affect consumers.
FACT. But I would add more to the conversation. For predicting effects, it really doesn’t mean much. We’ve had many studies that tried to link the chemistry of indica, sativa and hybrid to some sort of effect, and we see no correlation at all. However, I think these words can be a good starting point for consumers. It might be a good place to start and then to look at the terpene profile and the cannabinoid content. And it can be a good indicator of genetics in general, if you’re someone who cares about genetics, and you want some sort of, like, Durban strain, that’s a big more uplifting, that might be a sativa you’re looking for. But as far as basing your entire decision on these three words: unfortunately, almost everything’s a hybrid now, so good luck. It’s really not going to get you too far.
Fact or Fiction: Strain-specific concentrates and edibles are just a marketing ploy.
FICTION: A lot of concentrates and edibles are not strain-specific, but I don’t think we can say that for all the products out there. We lose a lot of terpenes when we are either distilling or making edibles, but the entourage effect is more than just terpenes. It’s cannabinoids too. And those maintain their profile through the extraction process typically. So you might still get some level of strain-specific effects with a concentrate or with an edible, especially if it’s a high-quality product like edibles made with hash.
Fact or Fiction: In order for cannabis to be used medicinally, it should be consumed in a pill or an edible, not smoked or vaped.
FICTION. For a lot of medical consumers of cannabis, inhalation is necessary. It has the quickest effects. And if you’re someone who suffers from, let’s say, severe nausea and vomiting, you often cannot keep down a pill or an edible, and you need to inhale that product. There are safer ways, of course. I always recommend dry-herb vaping or if you’re dabbing, dab at lower temperatures so you’re not causing damage to those sensitive throat tissues. But it can be incredibly medicinal for people and oftentimes the actual inhalation is the reason people are consuming this medicine. Even smoking, it’s the consumption method that’s been used for the longest amount of time, and smoking produces really unique chemistry. Oftentimes, this is put into a bad light where people say different chemistry means toxicants and carcinogens, and that can be the case, but it’s also producing unique cannabinoids and unique effects.
So smoking weed is, I think, a very valid way of consuming the medicine. Of course, if you are smoking a product that is moldy or has pesticides or is really lacking cannabinoids and terpenes or active compounds, then you’re kind of just smoking plant material and that could be not great for your body. But if you if you’re using a high-quality product and it’s clean, then I think smoking is absolutely a valid way to consume. Also, 20% of people can’t feel the effects of edibles, so some medicinal consumers can’t get the effects from the product.
Fact or Fiction: Delta 8 THC derived from hemp is essentially the same as Delta 9 THC in marijuana.
FICTION. These are very different compounds. This is a very difficult question to answer because we are synthesizing Delta-9 THC as well. Delta-8 THC is naturally occurring in the plant at really, really, really, really, really small amounts. So any Delta-8 products you see on the market are always synthesized in the laboratory. If you buy Delta-8 gummies, even if it says “natural,” it’s not.
The actual molecule is not harmful. It’s been shown to be safe. We have tons of research on using this molecule in lab studies, but the issue is there’s not a lot of regulation for Delta-8 THC. So oftentimes, when you get products that say they’re Delta-8 THC, you have other things in those products that aren’t being tested for. If we have other things in our products that are from the plant, at least we know they’re from the plant and people have been consuming them forever.
But we have other things present in Delta-8 products. Those are byproducts of synthesis in a laboratory where they took CBD isolate and they exposed it to really strong acids and heat, and they’re converting it and producing all of these other molecules. We have no idea what those other molecules are or what they do. And those are in your final product that you put into your body.
So when you have any adverse effects from these products, we don’t know if it’s from the Delta-8 or if it’s from any of these byproducts of synthesis. We don’t know if it’s from the additives of flavor or texture or whatever. The issue with Delta-8 is that it’s not regulated. We really aren’t able to track products for consumers to know what quality products are, if they’re safe to consume.
I’m a big believer if we had a legal cannabis industry in each state or federally, we would not have any Delta-8 products. Nobody would want to consume these synthetic products if they had access to the natural product, which is much safer and much more efficacious.
Fact or Fiction: There’s nothing that can reverse the effects of over-consumption — you just have to ride it out.
FICTION: There are a few things that have been proven. One that we discuss a lot is taking CBD or just using CBD with your THC products because, essentially, the way CBD binds the receptors in your brain will prevent some THC molecules from fully activating those receptors and making you feel overwhelmingly high. It can also help with the anxiety that you get from overconsumption of THC.
Another thing that I think is discussed a lot less is a different compound called THCV. It’s a different molecule naturally found in the plant, and it works in the opposite way of THC. THC, essentially, activates your CB1 receptor. THCV deactivates it in a way. We have some really cool data coming out that consuming THCV can help reverse some of the feeling of being too high.
People talk about chewing on black peppercorns. People in the industry say if you feel too high to chew on some black peppers. I’ve never really found that to work for me, but I’ve heard other people say it works for them. I’m not discrediting their experience, but in general, it’s helpful to know that if you are too high, you’ve gotta wait it out. Maybe put on a weighted blanket, get some fresh air, get some water.
And if you’re new to cannabis, you might want to stay away from edibles at first, because if you get too high from edibles, that’s a six-hour journey you’re about to take of feeling too high. Whereas, if you feel too high from smoking or vaping, in about an hour, you’re going to start to come down again. Your consumption method matters a lot, so understand that inhalation lasts a shorter amount of time and ingestion lasts a longer amount of time.
Fact or Fiction: The existence of the endocannabinoid system is proof that humans are supposed to be consuming cannabis.
FICTION. Almost every animal on planet Earth has this system in their body. So just because we have the system doesn’t necessarily mean that we’re meant to consume cannabis and that we should consume cannabis.
I think it does mean that we may have co-evolved in some way. It’s pretty amazing that this plant has evolved to be able to interact with this system in animals, and it has led to it being useful for pain, for sleep, for nausea, because of the way that the plant interacts with their body. So it’s amazing that humans discovered it and learned how to utilize and cultivate it, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that we need to be consuming it or that we were meant to consume it.
Fact or Fiction: Cannabinoid Hyperemesis Syndrome is caused by consuming cannabis treated with pesticides.
FICTION. We don’t know enough about CHS at this point. I’m currently doing a study with University of California Irvine, and there are other studies that are coming out about what causes CHS, but we’re still learning about it.
One theory is that pesticides are part of the story of why some people get CHS and why some people don’t. But it seems like there also is a genetic link. There’s some sort of difference in our genes that makes some people more susceptible to developing this chronic vomiting syndrome compared to people who smoke their whole lives and never develop it.
We’re also thinking another hypothesis could be that something in vapes specifically or the amount that we use vapes are associated with CHS because we’re seeing the levels rise and kind of correlate to the rise of vaping.
But I would say genetics are a huge player and then something other than the plants, whether it is pesticides, whether it’s additives, whether it’s heavy metals, I think there’s something else going on because we really didn’t see this condition when people were just smoking flower that they grew.