Gentle Help Cannabis Farm

In the hoop house

In words: you stand on the path down the middle of a hoop house. The hoops arch overhead, pale against the glowing plastic, closer together towards a bright doorway at the far end. On both sides cannabis plants stand in their beds, tall at the front and smaller further back, with big fan leaves of seven narrow leaflets and pale green flowering tops dotted with orange hairs and white frost; two of them have purple flowers. Along the edges of the beds, by the path, grow clumps of basil, yellow heads of dill and orange marigolds.

What is in it, as far as anybody can say

These are some of the strains people ask for, under the three words strains are sold by. The figures are Leafly’s, off each strain’s own page: the middle of the lab results it has for products sold under that name, and the three terpenes, the plant’s scent compounds, found most. Leafly publishes no CBN for any strain, so the table says that rather than guessing.

Now the part that matters more than the table. The three words do not tell you much about what is in the jar. Researchers who looked at tens of thousands of lab results said so:

In general, we found that industry labels are poorly or inconsistently aligned with the underlying chemistry.

Researchers who bought samples from dispensaries in Colorado, Washington and California and looked at their genes found the same:

We failed to find clear genetic support for commonly referenced Sativa, Indica and Hybrid types as described in online databases.

And the number on the label is often higher than what is in the jar. Tested in a lab, flower bought from dispensaries along Colorado’s Front Range came out well under its labels:

Average observed THC potency was 14.98 +/- 2.23%

So read every figure here, and every figure on a label, as a rough guide and never a promise, and go by how something sits with you rather than by its name.

Grown with companions

Between the cannabis grow the plants a grower’s guide, Joshua Mezher’s at a shop that sells grow kits, says grow well beside it. What each one is supposed to do is the guide’s word: a university extension service says research mostly does not back companion-planting claims, though marigolds grown as a cover crop do cut down a kind of worm in the soil. The farm grows them anyway, because they are good to grow: most of them are food, all of them flower, and none of them goes to waste.

• Basil: the guide says it brings in helpful insects and keeps some pests away. It goes to the café in the old dairy, and the honesty box.
• Dill: the guide says it draws caterpillars away from the cannabis. It goes to the café in the old dairy, and the honesty box.
• Chamomile: the guide says it protects young plants from pests. It goes to the café in the old dairy, as tea.
• Coriander: the guide says it keeps aphids and spider mites away. It goes to the café in the old dairy, and the honesty box.
• Alfalfa: the guide says it feeds the soil. It goes to the farm's animals and the sanctuary's residents.
• Marigolds: the guide says they keep pests away above ground and below it. They go to the honesty box, as flowers.
• Lavender: the guide says it keeps some pests off and brings bees in. It goes to the honesty box.
• Yarrow: the guide says it brings in ladybirds and hoverflies. It goes to the honesty box, dried.
• Sunflowers: the guide says they draw insects away and shelter the beds. They go to the honesty box, and the birds.

Why this farm is here

Stimpunks’ Executive Director, Chelsea, also works at a cannabis dispensary in Colorado, and she meets a lot of neurodivergent and disabled people across that counter. Ryan, who builds this street, has a neuromuscular disease that responds well to cannabis. That is his body’s answer, and nothing on this page is a promise about anybody else’s. Our own Addiction entry puts it in the first person:

Many neurodivergent folks have hyper-reactive nervous systems. Anxiety and sensory overwhelm flood the senses. A substance that eases this flood offers relief and escape.

That entry collects Autistic people writing about cannabis, and what happened to prescriptions where medical cannabis became legal, under Autism and Cannabis and Cannabis and Harm Reduction. It is where this farm comes from. So is harm reduction, which grew out of the War on Drugs and the HIV and AIDS years, and meets people where they are rather than where somebody thinks they should be:

Harm reduction recognizes and honors the myriad of ways survivors cope, recover, and heal.

How to be careful

Nobody here is going to tell you not to. These are the things public health says help people stay safe, in plain words, each with where it comes from.

1. Edibles take a while, so start low and go slow

   Colorado sells edibles in servings of 10 milligrams of THC or less. If you do not know how one will affect you, Colorado says to eat less than one serving and wait at least 90 minutes, and up to four hours, before having more.

   Take from 30 minutes to 2 hours to feel intoxicating effects, so some people may eat too much, which can lead to poisoning and/or serious injury.

   From “Safety with edibles”, Colorado's official cannabis site and “Cannabis and Poisoning”, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in the public domain.

2. Not before driving

   Colorado says to wait at least six hours after smoking up to 35 milligrams of THC before driving or riding a bike, and at least eight hours after eating up to 18.

   If you intend to drive, the safest option is not to use any alcohol or drugs, including cannabis.

   From “Driving and traveling”, Colorado's official cannabis site and “Cannabis and Driving”, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in the public domain.

3. Not with alcohol, and tell whoever prescribes for you

   Colorado says cannabis and alcohol together impair you more than either one alone, and to tell your health care provider if you take prescription medicines, because they can interact.

   From “Mixing cannabis with other substances”, Colorado's official cannabis site.

4. Smoke is hard on lungs

   Eating it, or a vaporiser for flower, keeps smoke out of your lungs, though Colorado says the research on vaporising is not settled yet.

   Smoked cannabis, regardless of how it is smoked, can harm lung tissues and cause scarring and damage to small blood vessels.

   From “Cannabis and Lung Health”, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in the public domain.

5. Vape carts only from a licensed store

   In 2019 and 2020 an outbreak of lung injuries was traced to vaping products, most of them containing THC and bought from friends, family or dealers rather than stores.

   Vitamin E acetate is strongly linked to the EVALI outbreak.

   From “Outbreak of Lung Injury Associated with the Use of E-Cigarette, or Vaping, Products”, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (archived, 2020), in the public domain.

6. Concentrates are much stronger

   Colorado says concentrates can be up to 90 per cent THC, and that making them at home with flammable solvents has caused explosions and deaths.

   From “Safety with THC concentrates”, Colorado's official cannabis site.

7. Never synthetic cannabinoids

   They are not cannabis, whatever the packet says.

   Use of synthetic cannabinoids is associated with severe, potentially life-threatening health effects.

   From “Cannabis (Marijuana)”, U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse, in the public domain.

8. If you cannot stop being sick

   Some people who use a lot of cannabis for a long time start vomiting and cannot stop.

   CHS only resolves when a person stops using cannabis completely.

   From “Cannabis (Marijuana)”, U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse, in the public domain.

9. Locked up, away from children and pets

   Colorado says to keep cannabis in child-resistant packaging, locked, where children cannot see or reach it, and that vets are seeing more pets that have eaten it. Poison Help is 1-800-222-1222, and 911 if it is serious.

   From “Safe storage”, Colorado's official cannabis site.

10. In Colorado

    You have to be 21. Buy only from a licensed store, an ounce at a time; you can have two ounces and give up to two ounces to another adult, never sell it, and never share it with anybody under 21, which is a felony. Not in public, and not on federal land.

    From “Laws about cannabis use”, Colorado's official cannabis site.

What the farm gives

• Flower, rosin and resin go to licensed dispensaries and nowhere else. Never to the honesty box on the street, because a box nobody watches cannot ask anybody’s age, and nothing is sold to anybody at the farm.
• Cordage and cloth, from the stalks of the hemp grown for fibre, go to the honesty box, beside the farm’s wool.
• The companions: the herbs to the café in the farm’s old dairy and the honesty box, the alfalfa to the farm’s animals and the sanctuary’s residents.
• Teaching: everything on this page, and anything you ask in the hoop houses.