From Seed to Patient: Unlocking the Healing Potential of Medical Cannabis
Medical cannabis has gained widespread attention and medical recognition for helping the body recover from a myriad of health conditions. Understanding the journey of medical cannabis from seed to patient is a fundamental part of building compassion for those who benefit from it.
Written by Hannah Vysoky | Edited by Andy Andersen
Cannabis Cultivation
From seed to patient, the cultivation and distribution process is carefully and, when done right, compassionately orchestrated. It begins with selecting viable cannabis strains and ensuring optimal growing conditions, including light, temperature, and humidity. Nutrient balance, pest control, and harvesting techniques also contribute to the overall quality of the end product.
The cannabis plant is incredibly versatile, with every part having its uses. Throughout history, humans have purposefully bred cannabis for a variety of uses. Cannabis stalks, mainly from hemp varieties, are harvested for their durable fibers. The seeds of female hemp plants are harvested for their nutritious oil and protein content. Drug-type cultivars, or cultivated cannabis plants of crossbred strains, are cultivated for their flowers, rich in psychoactive and therapeutic cannabinoids.
Understanding the cannabis cultivation process promotes transparency, empowers patients, and helps dispel misconceptions around the plant’s medicinal efficacy—paving the way for a more informed and open conversation about the plant’s demonstrated therapeutic value.
Harvest, Extraction, and Production
Harvesting cannabis for therapeutic use is all about capturing the plant’s trichomes at their most delicate stage. Trichome glands cover the plant’s leaves and flowers, containing all the viable cannabinoids and terpenes. Harvesting at the right time avoids overexposure to oxygen, light, and heat, which can degrade or prematurely activate these compounds before they reach the end patient. To preserve the integrity of the trichomes, growers must use careful drying, trimming, and curing methods that minimize agitation during the harvesting process.
The oldest and still most traditional form of cannabis consumption for cannabis patients is smoking or vaporizing cannabis flower. In recent years, the speedy evolution of cannabis concentrates has led to an unprecedented proliferation of other consumption methods, including cannabis edibles, tablets, and cannabis oil vaporizers. Today’s cannabis cultivators and legal operators use a variety of key extraction techniques to obtain the beneficial compounds of cannabis concentrate, including solvent-based extraction, CO2 extraction, and ethanol extraction. Each method has its advantages and drawbacks. Moving forward, standardized production techniques and a compassionate legal framework for cultivation and extraction will help patients and healthcare professionals unlock the full therapeutic potential of medical cannabis products.
Benefits and Safety
Though more research is needed to determine the full range of the plant’s medicinal benefits, cannabis has shown massive potential in addressing a variety of health concerns and ailments, including pain management, muscle spasm management for people with multiple sclerosis, alleviating anxiety, helping with sleep patterns, and tempering nausea in chemotherapy-induced adults.
Safety concerns are always valid when faced with any new, potentially therapeutic substance. Separating fact from fiction is the best way to dispel some of those concerns without limiting access to patients who benefit from the cannabis plant.
A study conducted in New Zealand found that individuals who heavily smoked cannabis in their teenage years and developed a marijuana use disorder experienced an average loss of 8 IQ points between ages 13 and 38.
Even after quitting marijuana as adults, the participants did not fully regain their lost mental abilities. However, those who started using cannabis as adults did not exhibit significant declines in IQ. Studies like this one demonstrate a clear need for open access to cannabis among adults who come to the plant for genuine quality of life improvement.
Legal and Regulatory Landscape
In the United States, the call to decriminalize marijuana possession has gained significant traction, with more than 30 states enacting some form of decriminalization law. Recent federal developments have further propelled shifting tides around cannabis regulation and policy. Most recently, President Biden’s executive action has provided clemency to individuals with minor federal marijuana offenses, directing the Attorney General to review marijuana’s classification under the Controlled Substances Act.
And though the legal strides toward greater access for medical cannabis patients have been great in the last two decades, new legislation will require consistent advocacy and careful deliberation to ensure those who need cannabis most can get it safely and affordably.
According to John Entwistle, medical marijuana advocate and co-author of California’s Compassionate Use Act, known as Proposition 215, the current economic and legislative structure of the legal cannabis market has a long way to go to ensure unfettered access to patients. Though a landmark bill for legalization at the state level, California’s Prop 64, legalizing cannabis use for adults over the age 21, has also created “a huge bureaucracy and a lot of taxes, regulations, and red tape. And the problem here is that your red tape and your regulations are not in proportion to the risk of the problem.” Under this type of regulatory environment, Entwistle adds, “The people who suffer the most are the people who need it most.”
As of May, 2024, the DEA is moving forward with plans to reclassify cannabis from a Schedule I to Schedule III controlled substance—recognizing the plant, for the first time since prohibition, as a substance of medicinal value with minimal risk. New legal frameworks for cannabis cultivation, distribution, and possession will need to follow suit to ensure viable medical access and a more sustainable, patient-friendly market.