Hemp Extracts and CBD feat. Straight Hemp Founder, Devin Alvarez
It’s no surprise that people have questions about hemp extracts and CBD. What is it? Where does it come from? Why is it becoming so popular now? What is it used for? Is it marijuana? Is it legal? Is it effective? Where should I buy it? Does it have THC? How much should I take?
We get it. If you surf the web in search of answers, it’s not uncommon to find 50 different answers to each of these questions. It’s confusing to try to find information you can TRUST.
MEET DEVIN:
Well, look no further. In this episode, Ed interviews Straight Hemp founder Devin Alvarez. Devin started Straight Hemp because he wanted to provide a quality, clean product for his family and was frustrated at the lack of quality control in the hemp industry. If you have questions about whether hemp extracts might be for you, listen in!
Some Questions We Discuss:
What is CBD and why would someone want to consider using it for health benefits? (4:16)
What is the endocannabinoid system? (7:06)
How can you tell the difference between a high quality CBD product vs a low quality one? (12:50)
What is the best way to dose CBD? (19:25)
What are some of the different delivery methods of CBD? (23:33)
What are some of the legal challenges CBD had in the past and what does the future look like? (32:40)
Some key takeaways from this episode:
Cannabidiol (CBD) is is one component of hemp essential oils that work on the body in a myriad ways. (5:58)
The Journal of American Medicine not long ago surveyed 80 different products that were being sold online that, you know, were labeled as CBD products, and they found that 69% of those products were inaccurately labeled with respect to the CBD and THC content. (13:54)
For dosing, start low and go slow, find your minimum effective dose. (20:26)
The future has never been brighter for hemp. (35:27)
Don't trust any CBD that says it does not have THC if you're in a job that gets drug tested. (37:34)
Products + Resources:
Get Social with Devin:
CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL SHOW TRANSCRIPT
Brian Strickland 00:11 Hi, everyone, and welcome back to another episode of the Holistic Navigator Podcast, where we believe in the body's ability to heal itself. I'm Brian Strickland, the producer of the show, and we've got a great guest lined up today. Devin Alvarez is the founder of straight hemp out of Denver, Colorado, and is here to speak with us on one of the fastest growing supplements on the market today, CBD. So without further delay, here's your host, Ed Jones.
Ed Jones 01:12 Thank you, Brian very much. And I'm so excited as always to do this podcast, we just learned that we are in the top 50 in the ranking of podcast that is mind boggling when you consider we've only done how many probably Brian eight podcasts that we're going to be moving to 40 in 30 very quickly. And of course, everything that makes us go up on those ratings is you going into iTunes and writing and reviewing. So thank you everyone for being so loyal and helping us to do this. Today I want to talk about one of my pet projects, one of my absolute angels in my toolbox for health. And that is the thing called CBD or legally better worded hemp oil. And I came across this product about three to three and a half years ago at a convention company had given me a sample and I was walking through this huge convention center. And I took a dose of it under my tongue. I walked for about three to five minutes and knew that I had never taken anything that affected me the way that this CBD did. As far as calming me down, making me focus. I just was blown away. So I went back and had a long conversation with the people learned a good amount about it, and knew that life would never be the same as far as this conversation. And then we continued to learn more and more and it is now thank goodness the bill called the farm bill has passed. And that's going to give us a lot more flexibility and legality is not a perfect world but a better place than we were before. And today we have I consider one of the experts that I've ever spoke to about this topic. His name is Devin Alvarez from Straight Hemp. And welcome Devin to the Holistic Navigator.
Devin Alvarez 03:19 Thanks Ed. Thanks for having us on.
Ed Jones 03:21 We had a good long conversation yesterday and you actually spoke in a local community to a packed house. And I was so impressed because there's massive amount of confusion on this topic of CBD which stands for cannabinoids or cannabidiol. There's different ways you can say it. But I've kind of like I've been preaching for 40 years the like these categories of of needed stuff out of your toolbox to maintain health one of courses supplements, I totally know that we have to have the right supplements to age gracefully. We have to have the correct food done in the right proportions. We have to have exercise we have to have right cook healthy sleep, but I'm almost putting CBD and its own category of something that is as necessaries is almost vitamin D. So tell the listeners, let's go from an angle of they don't really know hardly anything about this, what is it and why would it be something that people want to consider?
Devin Alvarez 04:26 Right, so we'll you know, jump into that in just a moment. But I want to echo what you were you were saying there in terms of you know, this being almost a vital nutrient to our bodies. There's not it's almost like you know we had so we have this endocannabinoid system in our body which is which is a natural, you know system like the serotonin system or the dopamine system. And it's almost as if we evolved to interact with these plants over time. And have you ever seen Michael Pollan's work you ever studied any his stuff like botany of desire?
Ed Jones 05:00 Oh yes.
Devin Alvarez 05:01 Yeah and so this you know this plant the hemp plant the cannabis plant that makes these cannabinoids has been part of our culture before recorded history and and back in even prehistoric times they found it with with humans and so, it begs the question Did we evolve with this plant and I would I echo your sentiments in terms of this being a a vital nutrient and at large in society, there is some mounting medical evidence to support the idea of this Endocannabinoid Deficiency Syndrome and but to getting back to your question, what is CBD and how does it work? CBD cannabidiol is a type of cannabinoid it's cannabinoids or terpenes, which are really the essential oils of plants. Now cannabinoids aren't, aren't really found in any other plants in large quantities not like they are found in cannabis and hemp. And cannabidiol CBD is is one component of a hemp essential oils that that work on the body in a myriad ways. We refer to that as poly pharmaceutical. So in addition to so CBD is kind of the buzzword, and that's what everyone's learning about right now. But behind CBD there are there are hundreds of compounds that can have an effect in the system and provide the overall experience and the healing power of of a hemp extract or hemp essential oil. But let's focus on CBD for a second. So CBD works on the endocannabinoid system as we were discussing, but it also works on a number of other systems in the body, the serotonin system, the dopamine system, something called your endovanillanoid system, which is a less well known system, but something that everyone's experienced. So for instance, if you've ever eaten a hot pepper, the experience of eating something hot is regulated by that indovanillanoid system. And its effects on these different systems are what's affecting that overall health outcome. So let's talk about the endocannabinoid system for a second. You we've identified two primary receptors in that system, the CB one and the CB two, and it is a what they call a partial agonist of the CB two, but what they call an allosteric modulator, the CB one, so it's creating an electrical impulse and a signal at the CB two, but it is it's changing what they call the conformational shape of the CB one so it's changing the way other things interact with the CB one while it's activating the CB two and then it's also increasing the natural levels of an Endocannabinoid called a non de mine. So you know you can ammonoids exists in nature there biosynthesized by plants, but the human body and actually mammals period, make their own cannabinoids internally to regulate a variety of functions to include relaxation, sleep, mood, things like that. And, and so it increases the levels of Ananda mind naturally in the body. And helps under might interact with that CB one system, okay, and so it is it's it's inducing some relaxation responses in that manner. It's improving mood function. And that's it CB one functions in the CB two, which is generally associated with the inflammation response in the body. It's, which may explain some of the effects it has on for instance, the cytokine response or the microglial response, these key immune system markers that are often associated with autoimmune disorders. And then in the serotonin system, it's it's also a partial agonist. So it's activating that system, which may may explain some of its anti anxiety effects that it has on folks and in the endocannabinoid system, which is associated with how we perceive pain. So for instance, you know, that chili pepper experience it's, it's called noisy receptive pain, and that noisy receptive pain is is is our, our interpretation of pain. Right? So its effects on that system, or one of the ways that it's having perhaps an impact on the pain experience.
Ed Jones 09:19 Gotcha.
Devin Alvarez 09:20 And that's just, you know, that's just one segment of what CBD is doing in the body. They're finding it to have you know, in addition to these neurotransmitter effects, also epigenetic effects. So you have this system called the P par gamma system, and it it resides on the nucleus of your, in your cell where your DNA gets expressed. And so it has some epigenetic effects affecting how your DNA is getting expressed, as well as cell signaling effects. So for instance, Dr. Ralph Mitchell amount of Israel has some papers out there that show that it down regulates the microglial response in the brain, which is micro glial cells are generally The recyclers have the body, particularly in the brain. So when you suffer a concussion or traumatic brain injury, the microglial cells will start, you know, cleaning up the debris. But they get into a positive feedback loop and kind of get out of control. And that's when you start dealing getting a, you know, neuro inflammation and damage to the brain. And they're showing that CBD helps down regulate that and signals to the cells to essentially calm down and reduce a number. And, you know, that's just the CBD component. And so these other parts of the puzzle, the terpenes Miocene beta carry off lean humulene pining there's, there's really a lot of them out there. They also have a whole spectrum of bioactive effects in the body.
Ed Jones 10:48 Well, that is what a wonderful explanation for, for a very complex conversation, there is no doubt that the science is mounting every week, probably on CBD, but it's not an easy science to fully understand. Unless you are someone like yourself, who's delved into it, I will say on a personal note, again, I will, I will use CBD as long as I live. And I will do it the same way that I do every other thing which my supplements my workout, I'll do it in the wisest manner possible by learning from people who are experts like yourself. Now, again, for myself, I use it sometimes for anxieties. I don't have much of that. But I have anxiousness. I mean, we all do in this chaotic world at times, most of us. But I also sometimes use it for sleep, it doesn't always work for me, but sometimes it does. It's an odd little molecule for that. I will do it, of course for discomfort. But yeah, I can feel this overall balancing effect. That's really what my whole focus of eating and living is, is creating homeostasis of true balance where I actually have described CBD in this manner and tell me if this is accurate or not. I say if you if you consider a huge orchestra with 1000 instruments playing with 1000 people, you have to have an orchestra director, and CBD kind of as the director that can pinpoint and kind of regulate all of these different instruments. Does that sound kind of accurate?
Devin Alvarez 12:17 Yeah, I would, I would say so it, you know that endocannabinoid system and this functions in the body, it is helping to provide a certain level of homeostasis, and regulation, and, you know, the issues you describe, and using it are really kind of the summary of all of that, that science and all those receptors in this, you know, all these different mechanisms of action at the end of the day, it helps with discomfort in life and and, and helps you stay relaxed, but calm. And still with a lot of clarity, you know.
Ed Jones 12:50 Well, let me ask you, because the the most important thing about this and I know from my experiences is it's a wild wild west, right now in regard to the marketing, the products, the weight, these little stores are opening everywhere with, you know, CBD, and I'm kind of I'm not conda I am very concerned about the fact that they are, you know, not going to offer the kind of product that I believe we should be doing, which is more of a full spectrum. Can you explain what the difference between what I really good company like straight hemp would do opposed to some who won't do it on that level?
Devin Alvarez 13:29 Right. Yeah, I'm glad that we're talking about this, you know, quality control right now in this industry is all over the place, it's not well regulated. Now that the Farm Bill is passed, we're gonna have an opportunity to, to raise the bar in the industry across the board with the with the FDA, etc. But, you know, so first let's let's talk about a paper that was published by the Journal of American Medicine not long ago, where they surveyed 80 different products that were being sold online that, you know, were labeled as CBD products, and they found that 69% of those products were inaccurately labeled with respect to the CBD and THC content. And, you know, that's, that's one of the easiest things to get right in this in this space. And the fact that, you know, almost 70% of the companies they surveyed, were off with that regard is really an indicator that it's kind of the tip of the iceberg. I mean, things that you need to be concerned about, are not only you know, the cannabinoid dosing and accurate labeling of these products, but there's pesticide issues, there's heavy metal issues, there are solvent issues, there's mold and mildew issues, you know, these things are all very important to pay attention to from a production process and in a product standpoint. So, you know, the issue with having an inaccurately labeled amount of CBD is getting the dosing correct. While it's a pretty it's a very safe product. You know, you want to be able to dial in your dosing and be as accurate as possible with that with with the THC side of things, because in some of these products you do get trace THC, it's just part of the hemp plant. But in instances, you know, they found instances of products where there was there was way too much THC in there. And you could inadvertently, you know, get high and have an experience that you're really not looking for. So. And this was recently confirmed as quality control variance and issue with with a recent paper that was published by a European group as well. And this is something I saw time again, working in the professional marijuana side of things prior to founding straight hemp, I had the opportunity to work as a quality control engineer in Colorado. And, you know, we were helping Institute the concept of quality control for the first time in the marijuana space, because, you know, it was coming out of the closet, so to speak and into into the marketplace and the concept of quality control. Didn't people really didn't get it at first. And and so we saw a lot of weird things, like people selling CBD products that didn't have any CBD actually left a company over that. We saw a lot of pesticide issues, you know, the plant when grown in situations where it could be humid, particularly like in the southeast, or in a greenhouse or something like that it is prone to mold and mildew contamination. And so the mold and mildew is an issue because you can get a lot of folks that take these products have or have compromised immune systems, right. And then beyond that, the response to dealing with mold and mildew issue, when you have a million dollar crop on the line is to unfortunately go in there and people just spray it with whatever pesticides that can. So one of the issues we were running into in the marijuana side of things in Colorado was people using something called myclobutanil, which is also known as Eagle 20. And this stuff causes sterility in males as one of its one of its issues, right. And so it's dangerous stuff. And we're gonna see and we are seeing these kinds of issues crop up on the hemp side of things as well. And until we have stricter regulations in place, and or some kind of certification seal that we can all get behind, it's going to be variable in the way that as a consumer to protect yourself against this stuff is to ask those companies for their certificates of analysis or their CEO ways. And, and then unfortunately, even if they generate a CEO a for you, that's not that's not necessarily gonna say that it's the best thing because not all labs are created equal in the space, it's an emerging science with quality control. So, you know, you could have one lab that's coming from a position of agricultural science where the variances and tolerances are a lot different. Or you could have another lab that's coming from kind of the pharmaceutical background, where they're going to be a little more on the money with things. And so So, I mean, it is disconcerting. I mean, that's frankly, why I founded the company, I I wanted to really produce the highest quality products possible, and be able to bring those to my family and be assured that they were going to be good.
Ed Jones 18:17 Well, and people need that assurance. And even when an if the regulatory nature of this gets on board, that still doesn't relieve you of being a very conscientious investigator of the product, because you know, everything ranges from good, better, best and the best perspective. And I have used many different CBD and hemp oil products with varying results. And I will have to say, I have a few brand preferences as far as, like, if I'm anxious once certain brands sometimes seems to hit the buttons a little better than another. But as far as your straight hemp, I most of the time, feel the effects that I desire from using the straight hemp that you produce. Now, I am always in a state of confusion slightly about my personal dosing. And I know that, you know, there's, I know that I want you to mention a website fairly quickly here. If people want to learn a lot more about this and they get to go or go, you know, go to work or whatever. Give it I want you to give a good website. But back to the dosing. You know, I will use one dropper three to four times a day and a like every four to six hours. But that's me, what is your personal and also your professional recommendations for people?
Devin Alvarez 19:39 Sure. And just regarding a website, there's something called Projectcbd.org that I really encourage folks to check out for more information. I imagine we can probably stick that in the show notes or everybody to go to.
Ed Jones 19:50 I love that site.
Devin Alvarez 19:51 Yep. So well personally I like to take 150 milligram dose in the morning. I like generally take a bulletproof coffee in the morning blended up with some MCT oil, but the him put the put the full spectrum extract in there and
Ed Jones 20:05 How many eyedroppers Is that?
Devin Alvarez 20:06 So with our product that is five eyedroppers, you know, and I'm a big guy, I'm 240 pounds and so, you know for for 150 pound person, it would be half that or something. It's so dosing is dosing is what we get our most questions on, you know, folks generally know it's it's working for one thing or another. My recommendation fundamentally is to start low and go slow find your minimum effective dose, it's it is it's a very safe product. So if you're into extreme sports, you can take larger doses and kind of back down and find out, you know, didn't kind of approach it two ways, you could take a larger dose and back down to your factor, you could start very low and kind of titrate, up weekly, or daily to effect. So in the literature, I'm going to give you some numbers. And these numbers are related to CBD isolate by itself. And this is important to note because CBD as an isolate as a pure CBD molecule, as the effects or its behavior in the body is different. When you have it with a little bit of THC and some of these other terpenes we were talking about, the effects of it are a lot more potent.
Ed Jones 21:19 And straight hemp is using a full spectrum, not an isolate.
Devin Alvarez 21:23 Correct. Yeah, we do not make any isolate products, I think that, you know, we find that isolate products can be difficult and challenging for folks to use. And you really don't get, you know, the full spectrum of health benefits, really. And we have some graphs that we like to show folks, one's a bell curve. And one is as kind of a dose dependent linear line kind of up into the right. And I can provide that for y'all to show folks as well. But, but basically, I'm with, you know, 2.3 milligrams per kilogram, to 10 milligrams per kilogram for pure CBD isolate is the dose range and literature that they're finding to be effective for various conditions. Now, keeping in mind that that's a CBD isolate, we would expect to find with a full spectrum product that our dose thresholds for good effect are going to be lower than that. So point one milligram per kilogram to five milligrams per kilogram, and we're talking about CBD standardization here. And from product to product, depending on the plants they're using, and the production methodologies, you know, they could be getting different, complimentary terpenes, that are also modulating this effect. So unlike, unlike an aspirin, or a traditional medicine, you'll get from the doctor, we know, we don't have necessarily, you know, take two in the morning and Call me later kind of thing with the stuff folks need to be willing to experiment a little bit to find the right place. But you know, so for 450 pound person, we're looking at, you know, five to 10 milligrams a day as a starting baseline. And and they can kind of incrementally move up to get to the effect they're looking for.
Ed Jones 23:03 Now, again, you did one time a day dosing, but do you recommend that for most people?
Devin Alvarez 23:07 Right, so I probably do one time a day dosing, because I'm so busy that I forget to do it later. But they're, you know, depending on what you're what you're trying to manage, by using these supplements, you may want to dose in a different manner. So for instance, if you're taking something so that you can get better sleep at night, it might be prudent to go ahead and take this stuff closer to your bedtime, so that you can you can have that long lasting effect through the night. And then you know, this is we're just talking about an you know, an edible product here, there are multiple delivery systems to look at. We offer three different delivery systems, we offer an inhalable delivery system, we offer a topical through the skin and we offer the edible and there's there's benefits to each of those with with the edible, you're getting the longest lasting effects are getting, you know, six to 10 hours of good effect with the product. Whereas with an inhalation, you're getting two to four hours, but the onset time is different. So when you eat it, you know, you're looking at 20 to 45 minutes before it kicks in, it's having an effect. Whereas when you inhale it, it's almost instantaneous.
Ed Jones 24:15 And when you say edible, you're talking about the oil.
Devin Alvarez 24:17 I'm talking about an oil, yes. Yeah, like so yeah, not a candy or anything. Yep, talking about an oil, which you can also apply sublingually as well, which, you know, so with with any oil, you can, you can apply it sublingually keep it in your mouth, you're going to get a faster absorption rate, it's going to come on quicker, and more, it's gonna be more bioavailable to you. Whereas if you eat it, you know, it goes through first pass and you get 10 to 20%. You know, it gets into your system.
Ed Jones 24:44 Yeah, well, I love that and I and just to kind of reiterate, when you buy an isolate, you're not going to get the same effects from the same dose that you would a full spectrum. So full spectrum may cost a little more but you're going to be able to use less of it. Now here's also one other thing that I've experienced through a lot of, I guess I would call a counseling with lots of people about their health I had, we happen to have a VA hospital not far from here. And about a year and a half ago, people started coming in flux to me and asking about how do I manage my life because I'm no longer able to get opiates. And it was a learning curve for sure. Because you know, you can read all you want and listen, but it's really where the rubber meets the road when when I talk to someone, and they actually do something, and then we reevaluate. And we go back, and you know, we keep evaluating to reach a goal. Well, I feel pretty confident that, you know, this product has one of the greatest hopes and promises to help people not use life threatening opiates. But this gentleman came in and he was 70 years old, and had a many multiple injuries from the military. And he said, they've either reduced or taking him off opiates. And he said, I have to be honest with you. If I don't reduce this pain, I am going to kill myself within the next few weeks. And I can't do anything that's an opiate anymore. I said, Well, sir, let's do this. Let's start with, you know, one eyedropper three to four times a day. But also, I'm a huge absolute believer that we need to raise vitamin D levels to a very significant amount and put him on 20,000 units a day, which is real inexpensive. And then also a high quality brand of curcumin because most brands are not working and you have to get really good quality ones like Terry naturally are several that we recommend. They came back two weeks later. And he said, You know what? I'm not sure I think is working. But I want to continue another two weeks. I said, Okay, let's do this due to eyedroppers, four times a day. He came back two weeks later and said that he was sitting on the back porch. And all of a sudden, he just realized out of the clear blue, that he had no pain at that moment. That's amazing. And he said, You know, it didn't last hours and hours. But it was the turning point for him that he gave him hope through a product at so safe and natural. I mean, I know you hear those stories, too, don't you Devin?
Devin Alvarez 27:19 I do. Yeah, in fact, that was my primary motivation. And getting started in this work was I had lost a I had lost a stepfather to opiate addiction. He he was a blue collar guy a mill right. And he had bad back problems. And they had him on fentanyl. And he got he overdosed. And he we lost him and, and my my mother who's been a waitress her entire life has hip arthritis and things and she, they just give her prescription for Percocet for the longest time. And she takes them you know, and she got addicted to I mean, it's very hard not to get addicted to these things. opiates are are dangerous, because they cause allodynia in the body. And they you know, the more you take them, the more sensitive they make you to pain they stop working after a while it's horrible. However, the great news is that my mother has been opiate free now for her, you know, over 180 days, she was able to get off of them. And she claims that, you know, was using these products that really helped her in a huge way. And, you know, the folks like the gentleman you're talking about sometimes you do need to take a larger dose of these things to have those effects, especially when you've been deep deep in an issue like opiates for some time. And you know, the great thing about these, these this class of product is it's very safe for people it's not addictive, doesn't you know, doesn't fit, you don't have to just keep taking more and more has nothing like an opiate, in that sense. And actually, it ends up so there's some research out there that shows that the CBD helps reduce the density or essentially delete two of three opioid receptors in the body. So which which helps reduce cravings, which helps reduce, reduce, withdraw and reduce these allodynia effects. And that's actually why we made the the larger bottle that we carry, we make a 4000 milligram bottle. And we know we wanted to get this in a in a price point that would be affordable to somebody who needed to take a large amount of it every day.
Ed Jones 29:20 Well, that's wonderful, because not all companies do that. And clarify this for me. Because with all my readings, I had come across a couple's studies that show that on PTSD, post traumatic stress disorder, which is debilitating to millions in his country through either military through just life, traumatic events that basically lock your brain into this kind of frozen anxious state that you really seem to have no control over. The wiring is actually at fault. And some studies were kind of pointing the fact that the right dose of CBD could actually rewire. So Some of these broken connections. Does that sound reasonable?
Devin Alvarez 30:03 Yeah, it does. So there is literature out there in the in the medical evidence that supports that that notion, and I mean, so one of the ways it could be duped Well, so, first of all, it's almost like our society at large is dealing with complex PTSD, you know, exactly from you know, I mean, they've shown that trauma is can be transgenerational and can be given through the genetics from from your, from our past, you know, so, so, you know, we grew up sort of generationally fighting our way out of nature out of the mud, whether it was whether it was an infection or disease, or saber tooth tiger or something. We've developed this complex PTSD over 1000s of years. And it's not really serving us anymore. And and, and one of the ways that the CBD is having an effect is, first of all, by impacting you know, that serotonin system and then enhancing mood. But there's also this thing called the HPA axis in your body, the hippocampus pituitary adrenal gland complex, and they've they've shown that that has a lot to do with how PTSD manifests in the body. And there's evidence out there that is, that is indicating that that the interplay with the endocannabinoid system in the HPA axis is reducing the substrate for some of the stress hormones like cortisol, etc, that are kind of the chemical messengers for how we relate emotion and memory and current experience, which is, which is really kind of how PTSD plays out. And ultimately, you know, it's also one of the, you know, being able to be in a more relaxed state, when you're, when these things are coming up for you allows you to rewire your neural imprints around them. It's one of the reasons why the the MDMA therapy that maps is working on right now, which is in phase three, trial seems to be so effective. And we, we've had an experience with a number of veterans that come in and use these products, just remember that
Ed Jones 32:09 I just am always, my whole life has been so connected passionately, to the belief that the human body and psyche have so much more capabilities to be healthy and to get well, then we give it credit for especially the mainstream, philosophical approach that there's a pill to fix everything. Well, the pills they're talking about are certainly not the pills that I embrace in my life, or we talk about on here. But as far as, you know, the Farm Bill really quickly, it just passed and you know, not that far past. What will that mean for the future of CBD? And if anyone's listening, and they're worried about the legalities traveling across state lines or flying in airplanes, what's the deal?
Devin Alvarez 32:53 Right, so the farm bill was a huge piece of legislation for the industry. It's a little it's still a little ambiguous how it's all going to turn out. But fundamentally, what the farm bill did was, gave the congressional stamp of approval to to to the industry. And, you know, to what degree, it's segmented into pharmacy. But to what degree it's segmented into natural products is kind of still to be determined in some degree. There is some, you know, so prior to the farm bill passing, we were operating kind of in a gray market, you know, we had the 2014 farm bill that, that spelled out the opportunities to do this, but there were still a lot of ambiguity around it. And this, this really, it permanently removed the DEA from the picture. So it basically one of the biggest things the farm bill did is it said listen, hemp is not a controlled substance, it does not on the Controlled Substances Act, it is permanently like not ever on that anymore. So that removes it from the DEA purview. And so then the only federal regulatory body is going to be the USDA and the FDA. And, and there, there are some, there's some, there's still a lot of ambiguity around Okay, well, is CBD itself going to only be allowed in pharmacy? Or or will it be allowed as a dietary supplement? You know, originally the FDA took the position that CBD was, was a drug and wasn't allowed as a dietary supplement. But they all but they also took the position that you know, hemp was a dietary supplement. It's been in it's been in use, you know, for 1000s of years. However, they have recently made some public statements that indicate that they are maybe shifting their position some. And so their original logic for that was that the original the ind it's called an ind, an investigational new drug patent or application that was that was put in by GW Pharmaceuticals a few years ago. And essentially the way it works is if I have a new ingredient that hasn't been market as a dietary supplement, kind of whoever makes it to market for Either if I market is a dietary supplement first or if I put an ind on it first kind of dictates which path it goes down in the FDA eyes but what's what's unique about this is hemp products have been sold for a long time and CBD is a natural part of pretty much any hemp product it went when when you're dealing with like an essential oil or an extract or something like that.
Ed Jones 35:23 So the future looks bright as far as it can be with government.
Devin Alvarez 35:27 You know the future has never been brighter for hemp really I mean like our our position here at trade hemp is we're you know, we're working on some some FDA pipeline stuff to to establish drug claims over this over over these effects but also still maintain its position as a dietary supplement and so you know, we're we're hoping to take this is essentially kind of the Tylenol space right, like we want this to be available over the counter, it's very safe, you know, we want doctors to be able to recommend and we'd like people to be able to get insurance claims for it but still make it make it widely available.
Ed Jones 36:01 Lovely. And and as far as traveling with it on the plane and a car what's the issues right now?
Devin Alvarez 36:06 Totally okay to do that now. You know, now However, that doesn't mean that local law enforcement won't be confused and will still see this happening. Sometimes. For instance, there was a CEO for him company traveling out of Czeckoslovkia and I believe it was Florida recently. And they, they confiscated her hemp lotion, claiming it had trace amounts of THC in it, right. And so they're still under the impact. So I haven't had any problems. It's very, we very rarely hear that problems are reported. But, you know, you could still have a local Leo who, who doesn't really understand the space. But the great news is, you know, every time it's gone to court so far, so for instance, actually was here in Tennessee with Operation Candy Crush, where there was a I think it was rut County, they they went in busted a bunch of shops, I think like 23 confiscated all their CBD products locked them up. But the judge threw the case out, and I believe and and, and, and restored these companies back to their original position. And that was pre Farm Bill. And now post farm bill, we're going to continue I think to see education.
Ed Jones 37:13 Yeah, that was a real comedy act when you watch the news the next day with the sheriff and all these people are got this CBD and they think it's not marijuana, but it is the worst off of them. Yeah, it was just a real joke. But as far as the last question is, and I know I've dealt with this too far more degree than I would have liked to. First off, in my opinion, is don't trust any CBD that says it does not have THC if you're in a job, like a truck driver or a pilot or this or that, because there are people who have lost their jobs because of being tested positive. Whereas where we're just going to go with people who are using a product as legal, but yet they get fired as their options.
Devin Alvarez 37:55 Right. So, yeah, that that is an interesting topic, because so I might my prediction for the future is we're going to can, you know, we're going to continue to see folks who have jobs where they do drug testing, get into some hot water around these legal products. And I think we're going to, as you know, as we establish precedent in the court system, be able to sort of change the tide in the future. I mean, we have, for instance, I believe it's Maine recently passed a law you can't, you can't, you know, take someone's job away from them or otherwise hurt them, if they're using a product that's legal. And but to get back, you know, what you said very, in the beginning there was if you know, if you do have a job where you have to be concerned about a drug test, any hemp product that you take, you do need to be concerned about even if they claim to have zero THC, because the real the way that they are claiming they have zero THC is, of course, using a production process, either an isolation process or prepatoria chromatography to remove the THC. But it's a lot like, it's a lot like a peanut allergy, right? I could make a food product in a factory that also manufactures things with peanuts. I mean, I have actual peanuts in my food, but I may have some peanut dust on there. And that peanut dusts can trigger an allergic reaction and so any amount of residual THC that's present, because it bio accumulates in the body and it's fat soluble could build up in the body and eventually trigger a positive drug test, although you're not getting high or having any of these effects. And, and that's something important to know because there are a lot of companies out there claiming You know, this is a you know, you won't fail a drug test, totally safe, and they're setting people up for you know, to not make an informed decision and until we have something that is clinically validated across multiple populations. We can't really make that claim and the the analytical equipment they use to measure whether or not th is present. I mean, the best equipment in the world still has a limited detection. It doesn't say none of these things say zero, for sure what they say is below our ello D, lower limit of detection. Okay,
Ed Jones 40:12 Yeah. Well, one thing I've found through experience, and we're gonna end up closing this soon here, but the certificate of analysis that you talk about, which is of course paperwork that a company will provide that shows the analysis of different constituents of a product. What we found in many of the CBD companies is Oh, yeah, they'd send us one, it looked really good at all the right numbers, but every batch that we would get, they wouldn't send a new Certificate of analysis, they sent the same one, they sent the first box, so they were not doing regular Sir David Joseph gets of analysis like straight hint does. I mean set, I have a gentleman who really researches this, and he's so impressed with how your company straight HAMP has checked all the boxes exactly the way it should be as a company, for people listening who want to learn more about your company. How could they find that on the web?
Devin Alvarez 41:04 Yeah, so they can visit us at straight ham calm on the web, they can find us on Facebook. In either case, you know, you can you can reach out through a little chat bot right there and talk to somebody live at the company, during normal business hours typically get a response instantly.
Ed Jones 41:19 Yeah, wonderful. Is there any last comment or anything you'd like to say before we close out?
Devin Alvarez 41:24 Yeah, also, another caveat with this base is that there are drug to drug interactions with this product. You know, folks, some folks out there espousing it's, it's totally 100% safe, take as much as you want, etc. There are, you know, there haven't been any, like major adverse effects reported no seizures, no death, that sort of thing. With the epidiolex trials with GW Pharmaceuticals, they gave people really massive doses and also showed, you know, it was very safe, not toxic. However, it's important to note that there are drug to drug interactions. And it's important to investigate those. And we don't need to get into all the details here. But if you want to go to project cbd.org, under the news section, they actually just published a primer on drug to drug interactions. What I will tell everybody that's listening is if you know, it's not a showstopper, I'm not telling it to scare you off or anything. It's very safe. But if you're taking a medication that also has a warning about whether or not you should eat grapefruit, which is common on anti epileptic drugs, common on a lot of blood thinners, that's it, that's an indicator that you should have an additional conversation with your doctor. And if your doctor doesn't understand what you're talking about, you might bring them this primer from project CBD to help educate them on the topic.
Ed Jones 42:40 Wow, what a packed house of information for the person who is who's obviously into these type of conversations on this podcast, because it's been a gray area. And I mean, I talk to people every single day. And you know, as much as like people know, a certain vitamin or mineral or protein. I mean, they're still in the first grade would CBD and where they could be in the 12th grade or in the college level on the nutritional supplements, we have a lot more to learn, we already know a good amount. But the biggest thing to me is finding partners you can trust along this way. And that is what's always been so frustrating is everybody's you know, sings a good song. But the main thing you need to look for is companies and individuals who have the ethics and who have the passion who actually tell the truth. One thing I've certainly found is, if a company, you can't find where the buck stops with someone in a company, and is spread across departments and stockholders, just run from them, it's generally not going to be a happy ending. So, Devin, thank you for sharing your wisdom today. And I know it's going to help a lot of people. One thing I said last time, and I really, really loved this poem, and I want to read it one more time because it means a lot to me. I don't divide the world into the weak and the strong, or the successes or the failures, those who make it or those who don't. I divide the world into learners and non learners. People who listen to this holistic navigator are learners and I'm proud of all of you. Well, that's it. That's it for this week's episode. Thank you so much for listening. And just so you know, you can now find us on iTunes, if you wouldn't mind leaving us a review and subscribing. That really helps us get the word out about this podcast. If you have any questions, be sure to visit the holistic navigator comm and drop us a note we really love hearing from everyone who's tuning in. Until next time, I'm Ed Jones. And remember, when a doctor cannot do good, he must be kept from doing harm. Thank you