CREATING AN ALTERNATIVE TO OPIOIDS WITH CANNABIS

Jul 17

Article by Den Dave @Beautiful_Weed_Flower

THE TEAM

What do an Oil and Gas lawyer and a Biochemist have in common and how did they come together to form one of the most sustainable cannabis grows in Colorado? That was the story that intrigued me when I was called up to write an article on the Lady Jane Cannabis company. Lady Jane is one of the premier wholesalers of craft cannabis in Colorado—producing 100% pesticide-free 100% organic cannabis grown in living soil—more on ‘living soil’ later…

WHY CRAFT CANNABIS AND SUSTAINABILITY ARE KEY

It was in 2011 while in law school that the owner of Lady Jane Cannabis, Kelly Fancher, lost her best friend to Opioid addiction. For a couple of years, she watched her friend slide from the doctor prescribed pain pills into heroin. It ended in 2011 in her death from an overdose of Oxycontin and alcohol which is all too common in America. This ignited her crusade to help people get off of pain pills and prescription drugs—which seem to be given out like candy these days. According to a study done in 2012 by the American Society of Addiction Medicine; 259 million prescriptions were written for opioids which are enough to give every American their own bottle of pills. This statistic does not even include the black market where users turn to heroin and black-market fentanyl because it is cheaper and easier to score. The need for alternatives is real and the need is now.

The cannabis industry provides an alternative to opioids in a safe non-addictive manner. This means knowing where and how your cannabis is grown is even more important. Just like when you go to Whole Foods or Sprouts you are going there because you care about sustainability and where products come from. The same should be true with your cannabis. That is where craft cannabis and Lady Jane come in.

After her friend’s death in 2011, Kelly did all she could to learn about alternatives to pain meds and this led her to cannabis. While she practiced law in the Oil and Gas industry she spent her spare time courting friends and investors to launch Lady Jane—a wholesale cannabis company whose sole purpose was to create a sustainable organic quality product that was good for the customer and good for the earth.

The cannabis industry by nature is not eco friendly—there are the lights, the water, the pesticides and each one of these items takes a toll on the environment. While the vision of the hippy growing cannabis outdoors is alive and well in our culture–the cannabis industry like any farming industry is wrought with synthetic processes. This allows growers to produce the quantity and yield required to satisfy the demand for legal cannabis and that means corners get cut. One of the stories that impressed me about Kelly was during the learning phase of her growing the product; the product created was not where it needed to be and this resulted in her cutting down and destroying 3600 plants. Rather than put a product on the market that was not suitable she did the honorable thing and destroyed the plants.

THE BIOCHEMIST AND THE GROW

Josh Bowman is the Biochemist in this story and the grower for Lady Jane. The process they use to grow cannabis is called ‘living soil’. Living soil was pioneered in Humboldt County for cannabis growth in the ’50s and ’60s but its process is backed today by science. Dr. Laura Ingham, PhD has been studying living soil and what is called the ‘food web’ for the last 40 years. Which is the science of studying the living organisms in the soil and how they create a symbiosis with the plants that are grown in that soil. Think about how a forest grows without pesticide fertilizer and other items we use to grow our food every day? The answer is living soil. When conditions are correct the organisms in the soil create the nutrients needed for the plants and the plants in turn provide the nutrients back to organisms in the soil. For Lady Jane, this creates a cannabis product that is free from pesticides fertilizers and this creates a product that is not only good for the environment but also good for the customer. Good cannabis should burn white ash and have a flavor that is distinguishable for each strain. …And after smoking the goods from Lady Jane I can say that the taste, look, and feel of cannabis are top-notch. Much of today’s cannabis on the shelves are grown synthetically in warehouses with lights, pesticides, and fertilizers that leave harmful residues on the products and are not sustainable for the environment. Living soil produces a better product that is much more environmentally friendly.

As someone in the industry, there are a lot of grow operations I have seen… I have not seen one like Lady Jane’s yet. Location is key for the grow and the location outside of Pueblo was carefully chosen for the ability to use a greenhouse. This was a key decision because the greenhouse allows the use of natural sunlight rather than electricity and lights. Lady Jane takes sustainability seriously which led to the hire of Biochemist Josh Bowman as the head grower at Lady Jane. Josh graduated from CSU in 2012 with a Biochemistry degree. Josh also lost his mom to opioid addiction when he was 12 years old and it was this common bond with Kelly that allowed the two to collaborate on the Lady Jane mission statement. Their goal was not to become another greedy pharmaceutical company bent on higher profit margins. It was to create a product that was non-addictive, environmentally friendly and gave folks an alternative to the pain medications doctors prescribe. For Josh everything about the grow is meticulous. Before entering the grow we were outfitted in scrubs to prevent the transmission of pests and to make sure we were not bringing in anything harmful to the grow. Our shoes were replaced with disinfected crocs and upon entering the grow we saw a clean pristine facility. My former life was spent in Silicon Valley in datacenters and this reminded me of the cleanliness we see is the datacenter.

BUT HOW DOES IT TASTE AND SMOKE?

As a connoisseur who has been smoking cannabis for the better part of 30 years and self-proclaimed weed snob I am very particular in the flower I smoke. Once I smoked some of their Lemon Train, I knew I was in flavor country. The Sager Bloom Haze I tried had a smell that reminded you of fresh fruit and summertime. While the flavor and effects of the cannabis I tried from Lady Jane were out of this world, it was the fact that I knew the product I was consuming was grown with love and care by a team of people who care about the end product. It is important as the industry grows that customers know where their cannabis products come from and how they are grown. Just like in any industry you are going to have your out for-profit companies and your companies that are built around good people making good products and Lady Janes is one of those companies.

WHERE DO I GET IT?

Currently, their cannabis is only available via wholesale but can be found throughout the state of Colorado at the following dispensaries. Elements Boulder, Green Solution, Nature’s Gift Shop, Starbuds, Euflora, Emerald Fields, Rocky Road, Simply Pure, Best Colorado Cannabis, Ace Organics, Village Green Society Boulder, Lucky Monkey, Green Dream, Choice Organics. Be sure to check out some of the grower’s favorites: Krishna, Double Lemon Pie, Pie Face, and Ghost Train Haze.