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Tag: endocannabinoid system

Cultivating Wellness: The Journey of Endozondo Farm

Written by Grace Gonzales on . Posted in Cultivation. No Comments on Cultivating Wellness: The Journey of Endozondo Farm

Endozondo Farm, a Texas-based hemp operation, was born from a passion for natural wellness and a desire to offer affordable alternatives to traditional medicine. Founded by Arturo Elizondo and his family, the farm’s mission goes beyond cultivation—they are committed to sustainable farming, community education, and elevating Texas as a leader in the hemp industry. In this interview, Elizondo shares the inspiration behind Endozondo Farm, the sustainable practices that drive their work, and his vision for a future where Texas-grown hemp is recognized and celebrated nationwide.

What inspired the founding of Endozondo Farm, and how did it evolve into a hemp-focused operation?

  • We were inspired by seeing friends and family face legal consequences for using a natural plant to find relief from various ailments. This fueled our passion to offer people an affordable, natural alternative to pharmaceuticals.

Can you describe the specific types of hemp you cultivate and the primary products you produce?

  • We focus on cultivating unique hemp genetics tailored to our customers’ needs. Potency and purity are our top priorities, which drive our selection and pheno-hunting processes.

What sustainable farming practices does Endozondo Farm implement to ensure environmental responsibility?

  • We use coco coir as a growing medium, which we recycle multiple times for both veg and flower stages. Our targeted watering cycles allow us to conserve water throughout the day.

How does Endozondo Farm contribute to the local community and the hemp industry in Texas?

  • We actively participate in local farmers’ markets and sponsor community events. Education on health and wellness is a big part of our mission, as well as supporting The Elizondo Foundation, our family’s nonprofit organization.

What challenges have you faced in the hemp farming industry, and how have you overcome them?

  • Texas lawmakers often seem more supportive of out-of-state interests, allowing them to sell products statewide while Texas farmers face restrictive regulations. We hope to see lawmakers prioritize Texas-grown products, giving local farmers a fair chance to thrive.

Can you share the story behind the name “Endozondo” and its significance to your mission?

  • The name combines “Endo,” for the endocannabinoid system, and “Zondo” from our family name, Elizondo. It reflects our commitment to harnessing natural plant properties

What role does innovation play in your farming techniques and product development?

  • We keep our processes straightforward, using automated watering systems and climate control to monitor grow conditions. For the most part, we let the plants thrive naturally, intervening only to optimize their health.

How do you ensure the quality and safety of your hemp products from cultivation to market?

  • Quality starts with maintaining controlled environments and a strict integrated pest management (IPM) protocol. We prioritize cleanliness, advance planning, and state-approved testing to ensure our products are safe and reliable.

What advice would you give to new farmers interested in starting their own hemp operations in Texas?

  • Educate yourself thoroughly and be prepared for long hours. Stay committed, and just go for it.

What are your future goals for Endozondo Farm, and how do you envision the growth of the hemp industry in Texas?

  • Our goal is to keep producing high-quality hemp with our customers’ wellness in mind, while continuing to educate the community on health. We see Texas becoming a hemp powerhouse, with a thriving local industry that supports our state’s farmers.

For more information, please go to: www.EndoZondo.com.

 

 

Wyatt Purp: The Brand Changing Texas Cannabis landscape

Written by Rachel Nelson on . Posted in Business. 1 Comment on Wyatt Purp: The Brand Changing Texas Cannabis landscape

(Story Originally written Jan 16th 2023 but was withheld by Wyatt Purp Legal Council)

 

Longtime friends Wyatt Larew and Dustin Ragon started their cannabis brand, Wyatt Purp. The business name stems from their cannabis oil that turns purple when it oxidizes. It’s also a play on Wyatt Earp, the American lawman and gambler who is portrayed in the classic movie “Tombstone.”

 

Ragon plays a behind-the-scenes operational role, while Larew is the dynamic face of the company. The pair call themselves complete opposites, but they complement each other nonetheless.

 

“I can’t do what he does, and he can’t do what I do,” Ragon said. “So it’s kind of like a perfect match.”

 

Upon receiving Texas hemp producer license No. 413 in 2020, Larew said he was determined to remain compliant with state laws. Originally, Ragon and Larew set out to manufacture delta 8 and other synthetic isomers but changed their minds after speaking with the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS).

 

“When you manufacture a drug, whether it’s delta 9 or delta 8 or any other synthetic isomer, you’re manufacturing a drug that replicates or is just like marijuana, and the intent behind that is that you manufactured a schedule 1 drug,” Larew said.

 

Larew said he went on to create a cutting-edge THC delivery system using recycled waste from hemp operations.

 

“Every single person who makes CBD isolate has a byproduct of waste called mother liquor, and they throw it away,” Larew said. “I took their waste and turned it into natural THC. I found a way to isolate THC for $50 for 1 million milligrams. I took the same mother liquor and made 90% distillate so that I can make a much stronger product. When I started this, it was considered trash, and facilities would pay you to just haul off their waste. Now, they sell it. I completely changed the whole industry. This is the greatest up-cycle in human history.”

 

Larew calls his THC isolation technique multi-billion dollar technology but also says corporations have ignored it.

 

“They want to keep their monopoly [on synthetic THC], and they don’t want to produce quality products at a lower price,” he said.

 

Larew said he has concerns surrounding the production of synthetic products because the customer never knows who is making them or the equipment used.

 

A growing brand

 

Wyatt Purp’s products are sold in more than 100 Dallas-area shops, and the company also white labels products for Planet K stores.

 

“My company is always going to produce the best products,” Larew said. “I’ve won multiple awards for my edibles. My gummies are stronger than any marijuana gummy. They include all of your minor cannabinoids. That’s all I do is take the waste and remove the CBD, so you have an entourage effect.”

 

Wyatt Purp’s owners say they strive to cultivate long-term business relationships by providing premium products at competitive prices. The company also has a loyalty program that shoppers can sign up for on its website, wyattpurp.com. Every dollar spent equates to one point, and after earning 100 points, customers receive a coupon for 50% off all store products.

The flower of life

 

Larew said he had a near-death experience (NDE) related to a chronic kidney condition in 2019. During the phenomenon, he said he was given a glimpse into what’s next, as well as the notion that every plant is a conscious being like humans.

 

“I believe cannabis is a spirit, not just a plant,” Larew said. “That’s why there is so much karmic justice associated with it, and those that exploit it are never going to make it because they don’t realize what they’re messing with. During my NDE, I saw that cannabis was a really spiritual, powerful entity. It wasn’t like all of the other plants — it represents something like mother.”

 

While some may feel skeptical about Larue’s brush with the after-world, he says he has full faith in everything he saw and experienced. He calls cannabis “the flower of life” and believes humans were created through intelligent design to have and use it.

 

“Every mammal has an endocannabinoid system,” Larew said. “Whether you’ve ever used cannabis or not, you have it in your DNA. It controls your central nervous system and immune system. It’s part of what makes a Homosapien.”

 

Hate from the state

 

Larew has been vocal about his critical attitude toward state hemp and cannabis laws.

 

“The state just banned anyone in Texas from producing smokable hemp products in 2022,” he said. “We can still sell the products, just not from the farmers that are here.”

 

Additionally, Texas just opened a business license application period that will add more dispensaries to the state’s limited medical marijuana program. Requirements include a $7,500 non-refundable application fee as well as $10 million in liquid assets.

 

“The delta 8 and hemp thing in Texas was just a soft release of cannabis to get the people here to accept it. This was their incremental way of wedging their way in,” he said. “Now, they want to sell licenses to pharmaceutical companies and not allow anyone else to be part of it. The state wants to have a monopoly on cannabis productions.”

 

Larew points out that the state police are in charge of Texas’ medical marijuana program, which he calls obvious government corruption.

 

“They’re arresting people for using a schedule 1 drug that they say has no medical use,” Larew said. “They’re saying, ‘Unless you buy our drugs, it’s illegal.’”


A parting gift

 

As a result of his kidney condition, Larew said he has endured 15 life-saving surgeries in the past five years. Because he has a donor kidney that only matches three out of six genetic markers, he said he does not expect to live a long life.

 

“This is a patch, so this is my gift to everybody else,” he said. “I just know I was born for this. I know everything there is to know about cannabis. I’m a grower, and I have a spiritual connection to the plant.”

 

In the future, Larew believes that his technology will be accepted in industrial farming.

 

“We are just trying to bring natural safe cannabis options to the masses for a fraction of the cost of the government’s pay-to-play scam. It’s completely possible.”

 

Ragon echoes that sentiment and views Wyatt Purp as a way to provide a needed service for humanity.

 

“My mission is just to spread this medicine as far and wide as possible and get access to as many people as possible no matter what your income level is,” Ragon said.

 

CBD, the Promiscuous Cannabinoid

Written by Project CBD on . Posted in CBD.

What’s so special about CBD? Why all the hype? Let’s strip it down to the basics.

Discovered more than 80 years ago,  CBD/cannabidiol is a chemical compound found only in the cannabis plant. In high-THC/tetrahydrocannabinol cannabis “strains” – those with the most pronounced psychoactive effect – CBD is typically the second-most abundant cannabinoid. But there are also cannabis varietals with more or less equal parts CBD and THC, as well as CBD-rich cannabis and “hemp” plants with little THC.

Though structurally similar, THC and CBD act in different ways on various receptors in the brain and throughout the body. Both compounds are hypotensive, lowering blood pressure, and neurogenic, stimulating brain cell growth. But CBD and THC also exert opposing effects at the CB1 cannabinoid receptor. THC is notorious for inducing “the munchies,” for example, while CBD lessens appetite and lowers the ceiling on the THC high.

Overall, CBD has a significantly broader range of pharmacological action than THC or any other known plant cannabinoid, of which there are more than 100. A recent paper highlights the role of transient receptor potential [TRP] ion channels in mediating CBD’s effects on seizure, inflammation, cancer, pain, acne, and vasorelaxation.  CBD also binds to serotonin receptors and PPAR nuclear receptors that regulate lipid metabolism and gene expression.

It’s this “promiscuous” nature, coupled with the extensive reach of the endocannabinoid system anchored to CB1 and CB2 receptors throughout the human body, that explains why CBD can affect such a broad range of physiological processes – and why there continues to be so much clinical and pre-clinical research focused on its therapeutic potential.

Below are some of the latest medical science findings: evidence of, if nothing else, CBD’s sheer versatility.

Killing Harmful Bacteria

The authors of a new study in the journal Scientific Reports

  suggest that CBD could be “repurposed” as an antibacterial agent in clinical trials given its ability in lab experiments to counteract a variety of harmful bacteria, including some classified as multidrug-resistant. Pure CBD exhibited antibacterial activity against all 21 strains of Gram-positive bacteria tested, as well as against lipooligosaccharide-expressing bacteria and Mycobacterium tuberculosis (the cause of tuberculosis).

But CBD performed better, especially against problematic Gram-negative bacteria, when paired with low concentrations of the powerful antibiotic polymyxin B, suggesting an additive or synergistic effect that could reduce reliance on this drug of last resort – and thus help maintain its efficacy. “We highlight the promising translational potential of CBD repurposing as an antibacterial agent, mainly in the combination [of] CBD plus polymyxin B against Gram-negative bacteria, for rescue treatment for life-threatening infections,” the authors write.

Healing Depressive Symptoms

The downstream effects of CBD’s wide-ranging activity in the brain are key to a recent study of depressive-like behaviors in mice. Here’s the rationale followed by the China-based researchers, whose work was published in February 2022 in the journal Frontiers of Medicine:

A growing body of evidence suggests CBD may be an effective antidepressant, but the underlying mechanisms are unclear. It’s known that chronic stress impairs neural stem cell differentiation and adult hippocampal neurogenesis (AHN), and that promoting AHN can increase stress resilience against depression, the study authors write. So could this be a pathway through which CBD exerts an anti-depressive effect?

Based upon an experiment in which CBD administration relieved depression and anxiety symptoms in stressed mice, the authors think so. While the findings don’t implicate a specific receptor or molecular target, they do reveal a previously unknown mechanism for neural differentiation and AHN in depression, the researchers write, and provide mechanistic insights into the antidepressive effects of CBD. While they’re optimistic about the implications (“undeniable direct evidence that CBD could be a potential treatment option for depression”), the authors acknowledge that much more is left to learn – especially in humans. “This study highlighted the need to deepen our understanding of CBD-induced neurobiological effects to understand fully the therapeutic potential of this phytocannabinoid in psychiatric disorders,” they conclude.

Reducing High-THC Cannabis Use

Could CBD-rich cannabis help people who engage in problematic use of high-THC cannabis? A March 2022 paper in Frontiers in Psychiatry  describes a survey out of France in which 11 percent of cannabis-consuming respondents (n=105) reported using CBD (mostly via smoked hemp-CBD flower) for the primary purpose of reducing consumption of illegal, high-THC cannabis. Of these, more than half reported a “large,” real-world reduction in high-THC cannabis use.

But the next survey question was even more interesting: when asked how, exactly, CBD use reduced overall consumption, most respondents cited “reducing cannabis withdrawal symptoms.” (Other options included “delaying first illegal cannabis joint of the day,” “using less illegal cannabis in joints,” and “increasing the time between smoking joints.”) This suggests they weren’t using high-CBD flower as a simple placebo or filler, but rather because the CBD actually diminished their desire for high-THC cannabis.

Again, these findings appear at least partially predicated upon the fact that in France high-CBD hemp flower is legal and high-THC flower is illegal. But the notion that CBD can ameliorate some unwanted side effects of too much THC is sound. In fact, earlier this year researchers in Colorado reported that cannabis with a balanced 1:1 THC:CBD ratio was associated with similar levels of positive subjective effects, but significantly less paranoia and anxiety, as compared to high-THC, low-CBD bud.

Nate Seltenrich, an independent science journalist based in the San Francisco Bay Area, covers a wide range of subjects including environmental health, neuroscience, and pharmacology. Copyright, Project CBD. Reprinted with PAID permission.