In 2012, Colorado legalized cannabis and kickstarted a multibillion-dollar industry with every product imaginable — brownies, gummy bears, granola bars, even lube! But to say that we’ve “legalized cannabis” is mistaken — we’ve commercialized THC. In this fascinating talk, expert Ben Cort examines the impacts of this growing new industry on everything from policing & arrest rates to LGBTQ issues. Sober since 1996, Ben Cort has seen the devastation that substance abuse can bring first hand as well as the joy that is recovery. He spent the last 10 years inside nonprofit drug treatment and education programs like Phoenix Multisport, Stout Street Foundation, and The University of Colorado Hospital. He is the author of Weed, INC., a professional speaker, and a frequent guest in the media. Ben is a husband, father of three, and an avid sportsman. He enjoys fly fishing, hunting, mountaineering, and bike racing.

Takeaways:

• CBD is where most of the medical benefits are, but we prefer the psychoactive THC
• The cannabis we use is not “natural,” it’s far too high in THC
• Beware of the chemical being used to grow the plants
• Rich white people are controlling the market
• Denver’s pot business caters mostly to low-income, minority neighborhoods
• Marijuana-related youth arrest rates have increased among minorities
  • African Americans +58%
  • Hispanics +29%
  • Caucasian -8%

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And How to cook with Marijuana

Many studies have shown that THC does kill cancer cells. Therefore, smoking marijuana is a popular treatment for treating cancer.

A new study by Salazar et al. in The Journal of Clinical Investigation demonstrates that THC causes tumor cells to begin to degrade themselves from the inside (a process called autophagy, i.e. “self-eating”). Check out THC Gives Cancer Cells the Munchies Too for more information.

And we at Organic Lifestyle Magazine absolutely believe that marijuana should be legalized.

But there is a problem with smoking marijuana as a cancer treatment. Smoking marijuana introduces carcinogens into the body causing a host of problems, and when the THC is gone, the body is in a state ripe for more cancer.

Smoking anything is bad for you. And while there are certainly benefits to smoking marijuana, there is a better way to get the THC into your body. THC oil is a great option. You can purchase it (illegally in most states), and you can also make THC oil yourself.

How to cook with Marijuana

If you’re making pot brownies, or any other recipe to get you high, or for any other reason to get THC into your body, you need to extract the THC. THC is fat-soluble. It will pass right through the system if you simply throw some weed into your brownie mix.

You need to cook THC in oil. Coconut oil is a good choice: coconut oil can be heated to a certain point and still maintain it’s healthy beneficial properties (extra virgin, unrefined coconut oil is good up to 350°F).

Chop, grind, or otherwise cut the marijuana into fine pieces and put it into a pan with oil. Heat it below 350°F for 10 minutes. Add the oil to your recipe (you may include the leaves or discard them with a strainer).

Of course, we recommend you know where your weed comes from! Organically grown is not just for food. People that grow marijuana often add a nasty cocktail of chemicals to disguise the fact that their marijuana is lacking in quality.