Cannabis and its products are referred to in the USA as Medical Marijuana. The traditional approach to medical research of a single compound for a single target does not work for cannabis, as its medical benefits lie in the “entourage effect”.1 Likely more than just THC and CBD are participating in any medical effects, be it any of the other >100 known cannabinoids, >200 terpenes and terpenoids or flavonoids.2 Therefore, the cannabis field had adopted a strain/cultivar approach to judge effects for the patient. Although, we can agree that not the plant morphology but the chemical makeup3,4 of the cannabis product will be the underlying cause of any physiological effect. Furthermore, such chemical makeups are not only dictated by the strain/cultivar, but also influenced grow methods, drying and curing, and also the extraction method.
In this talk, I present our research at OutCo of how to effect and control the chemical makeup of flower and extracts. We have devised protocols to monitor the dry and cure of cannabis flowers in a way that we are able to modulate the terpene and cannabinoid profiles in our strain offering. Additionally, extensive research has been put into controlling, modulating and customizing the chemical makeup of cannabis extracts. We can show that not every extract is the same, but all offer different benefits on a molecular level. The talk will present our latest findings in this exciting field of cannabis research.
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