As rapidly as we’ve watched cannabis legalization unfold, the health and wellness industry has dramatically transformed its focus around the plant. From hemp-derived CBD to help with sleep disorders, or THC-isolated products promoting higher energy, the market is full of innovative products claiming to promote natural wellness. Yet despite the long history between cannabis and humans, we’re only scratching the surface of the health and wellness benefits the plant provides – especially as the scientific world attempts to measure and define these benefits more clearly.

Composed of organic roots and a drive for sustainable agricultural practices, EOS Farms is an outdoor cannabis cultivation in the Berkshires growing cannabis tailored to more than just maximizing THC. EOS Farms aims to identify and grow cultivars that create compounds that are useful for a wide range of purposes, including reducing anxiety, PTSD symptoms, women’s health, pain management, and many other ailments.

Cannabis cultivators are looking for good disease resistance, uniform plant structure, and potency – but the consumer effects and experience are equally as crucial.

With a regenerative and sungrown approach to cannabis cultivation, EOS Farms aims to put out a line of products curated with a sole focus on the consumer’s desired effects, rather than a fancy, high THC strain with unfamiliar nomenclature. This cultivation also mindfully selects the finest plant genetics that include a more balanced line of Type II cultivars, with a better ratio of low-psychoactive cannabinoids that gives a more desirable, functional high for day-to-day users.

Fine Tuning Plant Genetics for Desired Results

Davis Seeds is one of the many breeders partnered with EOS Farms to produce specific genetics that do well in this unique terroir – creating varieties that can grow high yields in a challenging climate while providing specific wellness effects that users can benefit from.

The results not only provide a more flavorful and full-spectrum experience for consumers, but flower that confidently gives optimized effects.

Both the regenerative farming methods and the plant genetics used in EOS Farm’s cultivation act as a symbol of the essence of sungrown cannabis – a full-spectrum cannabis cultivar, rich and robust in cannabinoids, and terpenes, grown carefully in the sun and soil.

Aside from its efforts to create a rich and biodiverse landscape for sustainable cultivation, one of the many goals for EOS Farm’s cannabis is to introduce consumers to the abundance of wellness benefits the plant can bring.

However, industry leaders promoting education about the plant, platforms providing plant medicine support, and unraveling insights into consumer demographics are all proving that EOS Farms is not alone in the mission of demystifying cannabis health and wellness.

Defining the Truth Behind Cannabis Health and Wellness with Cannabis Cultivation Researcher Steven Phillpott Jr.

As an environmental biologist, former sports scientist, cannabis cultivation researcher, and combat veteran, Steven Phillpott Jr. is on a mission to push the boundaries of cannabis health and wellness for a more well-rounded approach to the plant and all its power.

When his service as an active-duty Marine left him with a broken leg, Steven was led to a lifestyle of multiple corrective surgeries and pharmaceuticals, including opioids. Negative side effects from these factors left him concerned about his physical and mental well-being, especially considering the fellow Marines he knew who had overdosed from these same opioid prescriptions. When a close friend challenged Phillpott to educate himself on the science of the cannabis plant, rather than concede to its swirling negative stigma, his perception, lifestyle, and health were forever transformed.

He spent the next decade learning about the benefits and science of cannabis, engrossed in the educational research and resources around him, all of which further shaped his relationship and personal experience with the plant.

However, it was his first work experience as an inventory dispensary manager for a private MSO company that opened his eyes to how the industry is focusing on cannabis as a consumer-packaged good, rather than a living plant with medicinal properties.

“The biggest issue I see is that there is a massive bottleneck of opportunities focusing solely on THC and CBD,” Phillpott says about the perspective shift that is needed from the plant health and wellness industry. “Rather than focusing on one or two ingredients on a label, I challenged the health and wellness industry to explore cannabis as a botanical plant and superfood with robust antioxidant and neuroprotective properties… at least that's what the US Department of Health and Human Services U.S. patent US6630507B1 says.”

There’s More Than Just THC in Healthcare

Steven’s approach is simple: to explore and treat cannabis for what it is, a natural plant and living organism.

In his work with The Cannigma, Phillpott strives to provide deeper insight into the understanding of plant medicine and wellness – urging new and experienced consumers to consider how a plant or animal's biological implications produce cannabinoids in response to stress.

Just like how cannabis plants produce cannabinoids (phytocannabinoids) in response to environmental stressors like UV radiation, many other living organisms – cats, dogs, fruit flies, bears, and humans alike – produce endocannabinoids to help regulate internal stability through homeostasis. “It’s a naturally occurring system that was only discovered in the 1990s, but has the potential to change life as we know it…if we could just stop solely focusing on the element of THC.”

Today, as an environmental biologist and cannabis cultivation researcher, Phillpott believes cultivation methods and practices are everything when it comes to the end-consumer experience. “Like humans, twins from the same parent plants can have vastly different expressions of cannabinoids and terpenes, depending on their environment. Rather than focusing only on inhalable products with arbitrary naming, or sky-rocketing THC percentages, we should focus more on the desired experiences and rely on data to help us narrow it down.”

For instance, if a veteran with PTSD is seeking cannabis to help reduce the likeliness of an episode, the right data and insight into cannabinoids and terpenes will help this individual consume something that should increase those chances.

This advocacy for research and education is what will help push the needle in shifting cannabis health and wellness to a more optimized and influential experience for all patients seeking relief.

Navigating Women’s Rollercoaster Journey to Cannabis Wellness with Ally Schott

Even in today’s advanced medical field, many individuals struggle to identify or pinpoint relief from medical ailments. Many gender disparities and inequities within health care are rampant, with an unfortunate impact on certain patient groups.

In the healthcare setting, even today, women battle perceptions that they are “too emotional”, as evidenced by longer ER wait times than men to receive pain medications. More specifically, women comprise 70% of chronic pain patients, yet 80% of pain studies are conducted on men and male mice.

Ally Schott is one of the many women out there who have endured this frustrating journey in healthcare. Her experience was the inspiration for her platform for empowering women’s health and wellness.

“When I was diagnosed with endometriosis at 12 and late-stage Lyme disease at 19, my daily life was a constant battlefield. There was medical gaslighting, excruciating daily pain, multiple surgeries, and a plethora of diets and treatments explored.” For Ally, IV antibiotics, acupuncture, and even medication-induced menopause at an early age could not provide more than an ounce of fleeting relief.

It wasn’t until her early adult-life career with an edibles brand that she not only discovered cannabis but how its effects were directly improving her symptoms and quality of life. From there, she fervently threw herself into understanding the underpinnings of cannabis – exploring terpenes, the endocannabinoid system, plant allies, consumption methods, and how to dose the plant based on one’s unique health and wellness needs.

“The nuances of my cannabis wellness journey took me years to nail down,” Scott reflects, “But when I did, I began sleeping through the night for the first time in 20 years. Any pelvic or joint pain I experienced suddenly felt manageable, allowing me to exercise, function in daily activities, and even enjoy sex for the first time. Cannabis transformed my body’s rebellion into cooperation.”

How the Eir Club is Advocating to Elevate Women’s Health

While navigating her journey to better wellness with cannabis, Ally was inspired to create a more inclusive and empowering space that advocates for women taking control of their pain and symptoms – but without the 20 years of trial and error she experienced herself.

That’s when she founded the Eir club, an AI-powered plant medicine telehealth platform for women grounded in plant medicines' evidence-based efficacy and versatility. Eir Club uniquely combines top-tier medical expertise, technological innovations, and clinical tools to connect the biochemical effects of cannabis with patient symptoms to achieve better outcomes.

The Eir Club is a digital clinic that focuses on utilizing cannabis and plant medicine for endometriosis and its 22 comorbidities. It’s a platform bespoke to women’s bodies, conditions, experiences, and overall health and wellness needs. Members of the Eir Club receive comprehensive, individualized telehealth coaching sessions with clinicians specializing in cannabinoid therapeutics – combining compassionate care with innovative science, tailored care plans, product recommendations, educational courses, and answers to the most common questions and concerns from women patients.

“Eir was born out of a desire to empower and support women facing chronic conditions, for those exhausted from being on the receiving end of medical gaslighting, having limited, ineffective treatment options, waiting for a diagnosis, and feeling an overall lack of agency in their medical journey…” says Schott, “We empower women with the tools necessary to address pain and other symptoms safely, effectively, and autonomously.”

When used properly and responsibly, cannabis can be a powerful tool for women who are tackling the overlapping complications women’s health presents. With that being said, there’s still a sizable gap of misinformation and incomplete knowledge out there about the plant, particularly regarding the impact of cannabis on women.

“I would love to see an uptick in research focused on women, endometriosis, cannabis, and the interplay between these elements,” Schott reflects on her hopes for the continuous emergence of the wellness and cannabis industries, “Cannabis can help you embrace resilience, adapt to change, and find strength in your unique journey.”

Filling the Gap in Consumer Research with Dr. Riley Kirk and The Network of Applied Pharmacognosy

Highlighting this evident gap in information and knowledge around cannabis plant science and its health benefits is exactly the driving factor for one particular non-profit.

The Network of Applied Pharmacognosy (NAP) is a fiscally sponsored 501(c)3 non-profit connecting research in industry and academia with the cannabis consumer, bringing validity to lived experience with natural plant medicines.

The goal of the NAP is to learn directly from the experiences of cannabis consumers, identify the gaps in this knowledge, and then target those research areas for deeper insight and data through biochemical analysis.

Dr. Riley Kirk is a co-founder of the Network of Applied Pharmacognosy and a natural product chemistry expert. She is motivated to teach patients and stoners alike how to listen to their bodies, find the right medicine, and share those experiences for a butterfly effect of healing.

While organizations such as the National Institute on Drugs of Abuse (NIDA) have formed government-funded research trials on cannabis, there is still an inherent lack of trust and negative stigma towards the use of cannabis medicine in this published research.

“In cannabis, censorship has been a barricade for getting information out about proper dosing, product types, and consumption methods,” Dr. Riley Kirk explains this challenge in cannabis health and wellness and the NAP’s hopeful solution, “Our goal is to provide a combination of science-based knowledge with the lived experience of cannabis community members. These consumer experiences are not always validated by scientific studies or correctly advocated by those outside of the cannabis industry.” The NAP represents these cannabis users and allows them to have a voice in this research as well.

Furthermore, it is one of the core competencies of NAP to conduct research at a community level that communicates back to the participants. As a result, these studies further demonstrate the need for this information in our community, decrease the amount of guilt for being a daily cannabis user, and bring validity to cannabis as medicine.

Revolutionizing Cannabis Research & Uncovering New Insights

The organization’s most recent research accesses a group of wildly underrepresented people in scientific studies. The demographic for the first 5,000 participants was women who identified as neurodivergent and are mainly part of the LGBTQ+ community.

“The goal here was to keep this survey open to obtain longitudinal data and to reach a minimum of 10,000 participants before publishing the data for peer review,” says Dr. Kirk.

She and the team at NAP acquired data through social media platforms, event recruiting, and dispensary marketing while continuously expanding this demographic to capture the largest diversity of consumers possible. Dr. Riley says some of the questions in this survey unveiled that 16% of participants can’t feel edibles, and other relevant insights, all to increase the quality and accessibility of medicine. Yet, like many leaders in this industry, Dr. Kirk and her team were met with polarizing pushback and support on this specific research.

“The Network of Applied Pharmacognosy is disrupting systems, whether that be traditional academic systems, systems of medicine and healthcare, or systems of oppression for underrepresented individuals. To me, the opposing feedback received from this current study is an indication that we are doing something positive and different for our community, and it is much needed.”

Positive feedback from those who were involved in the NAP’s research or simply educated from its findings has found validation and recognition in their consumption purpose. This science from NAP acts as advocacy, showing cannabis is a valid medicine whether you microdose 1 edible a month or dab 15 times per day.

“Now, we should look to our communities for mentors, teachers, and new consumers to identify research gaps that can provide high-quality, accessible medicine to all.”

There is an inherent lack of trust associated with typical medical research paradigms. NAP believes that removing the judgment from cannabis, treating it as a medicine, and highlighting under-represented populations will further the industry and allow more research on these topics that have been prohibited for decades.

NAP is here to push the boundaries of plant medicine and cannabis research, including all communities and consumers in the entire analysis and process.

Optimizing All Aspects of Cannabis for Better Wellness

Cannabis is not only the key that grants access to a natural path toward wellness, it’s a validating tool we can all relate to when it comes to providing the relief and support we seek.

“From the moment they open the package there is the aroma, there are the physical characteristics of the plant, and of course the kind of high you get; we’re interested in going deeper than just indica or sativa,” EOS Farms’ Cultivator Ryan Montella shares the cultivation’s excitement for expanding its cannabis genetics.

Innovative thought leaders, brands, and insightful research will be a driving factor in how consumers stay in touch with cannabis wellness. However, the crux of this rise in plant medicine will forever lie in accessibility, dependability, and responsibility – all of which are key initiatives for EOS Farms and its quality, outdoor-grown cannabis.

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