What You Need To Know About Medicinal Cannabis with Len May

Len May is visiting with me today about the benefits of medicinal cannabis, the endocrine system, and genetics and how they all tie together.  The body releases hormones and endo-cannabinoids in order to regulate itself and various biological functions. Many people are deficient in various nutrients and hormones, but the body is wired to interact with certain supplements like cannabis.

Len's work at EndoDNA takes takes genetic profiling to match each person to their ideal regimen for the best health and lifestyle outcome.

Use code LEN25 at https://endodna.com/ for 25% off of everything available in the shop!

Transcript

Len May: 0:00

And by understanding that you have these predispositions, you can take specific action. So remember, some things we want to turn on, some things we want to turn off. If somebody has a predisposition to a certain cancer, well, guess what? By knowing this, you can actually take specific action to make sure that that genetic predisposition doesn't epigenetically turn itself on by lifestyle choices that we're making, including nutrition, including mental and physical health.

Magic Barclay: 1:11

Welcome back to A Magical Life. I'm your host, Magic Barclay. And today, Len May, the science guy, joins us. He is the M. S. C. CEO and co founder of Endocanna Health Incorporated. Len brings more than 25 years of cannabis and genomics experience to Endocanna Health. He's a pioneer in the medical cannabis industry. Len has been instrumental in shaping the current legislation and culture. He has held past positions as president of the Cannabis Action Network and board member and lifetime member of California. Cannabis Association. Len is the current chair of the CBD IA science board and is a stakeholder in some of the industry's most iconic brands. His areas of expertise include the workings of the endo cannabinoid system and how DNA and genetic expression play a role in personalized health and wellness, leveraging the revolutionary platform of endo DNA As a certified medical cannabis specialist in medicinal genomics, Len May has an in depth knowledge of genomics, cannabinoids and terpenes and their interaction with the endocannabinoid system. As well, he holds a Master's of Medical Cannabis and a Certificate in Endocannabinoid Formulation From the Institute for the Advancement of Integrative Medicine. Oh my goodness. I could keep going Lynn, but welcome.

Len May: 2:55

Thank you.

Magic Barclay: 2:56

now. Let everyone know why cannabis.

Len May: 3:02

Why cannabis? Well, cannabis is a substance that actually helps us to regulate our own endocannabinoid system. And the reason why cannabis, just like any other substance that we have receptors for, our body's built for, for cannabis. So I think it starts with understanding what the endocannabinoid system is. And then also how the endocannabinoid system is, uh, different for different people and then why phytocannabinoids from the plant, how they play a role in our own personalized health and wellness. So starting with the endocannabinoid system as a whole, the endocannabinoid system is a primary modulating system. It regulates and modulates all the other systems within our bodies and it's pretty new. It's been discovered in 1992. So, know, you have healthcare professionals that. Don't even know that there is such a system, but it's a super important system because the way that works is he gets signals from all the other systems within our body and it sort of sends him like salmon swimming upstream back to the brain through the central nervous system. And then our brain makes a decision, which. endogenous, meaning within our bodies, which endogenous endocannabinoids, which are really neurochemicals to be able to excrete. And the overall goal of this system is to maintain balance or homeostasis. So when we have that signaling and it releases your endogenous endocannabinoids, the two endogenous endocannabinoids that it releases are anandamide. And the word Anand means bliss in Sanskrit, so this is our bliss hormone, and that's the one that we feel euphoric, it stimulates appetite, it helps with regulating pain and other feelings that we have, also mood, etc. And then the second one is 2AG. And that one helps to regulate some other systems like our immune system, our digestive system. So it really helps to regulate the systems, working together in unison with our other systems to be able to have this whole, balance within our bodies. And cannabis. is really important because there are some people and some deficiencies in what we naturally produce. We can look at some of them as part of genetic predispositions and other ones are caused by, you know, lack of consumption of some of those supplements that we actually need within our bodies. so when we consume phytocannabinoids, from the cannabis plant specifically to the major phytocannabinoids in its decarboxylated state. What I mean decarboxylated is when the plant grows, it grows, uh, with acid molecules attached to that. So the first thing you do when you grow a plant and it starts to bud, is primary, uh, phytocannabinoid is, cannabijeral, so CBG. From there, it creates all the other phytocannabinoids, like what we know as THC, uh, CBD, but all of them have an acid molecule, so THC A, CBD A, et cetera. Once the plant is, uh, taken down and cured, it starts expressing its essential oils, which are called terpenes, which give it its smell and also work together to produce an effect. So when you heat the plant, it actually drops the acid molecule and converts to like, for instance, THCA converts Delta 9 tetrahydrocannabinol. When that happens, we have receptors in our body. So CB1 receptors are mostly located in our brain and central nervous system. And CB2 receptors are And our bodies are immune, digestive, other systems. So when that acid molecule drops off, the delta nine binds to CCB one receptors and actually releases anandamide. And when we the same affinity for the CCB two receptor, when we consume CBD, which is the, uh, missing the acid molecule as an affinity for the CB two receptor, and then it releases two ag. So together those endogenous endocannabinoids. Actually help to regulate all the different systems within our bodies. And it's truly, truly important to be able to have, this plan that comes from nature. So for us to take it to supplement ourselves, what will we may be naturally deficient in, which will help our bodies and our brains function better.

Magic Barclay: 7:46

Overview of how this all works. What with what you do can help to accelerate people's health, not just their physical, but also emotional and spiritual health. Why is medicinal cannabis such an all rounder?

Len May: 8:02

everything that we do is a personalized experience. So first of all, people need to understand the way drugs work in general. and drugs are vilified. But what happens is. We have activity within our bodies in our brains that are actually responsible for the experience that we have it. The drug is only the catalyst. So reason I bring up cocaine just to give people an understanding of how it works. So when you consume cocaine, Cocaine and binds to your doping receptors, and it does two things. It blocks the reuptake of the dopamine squirts about 100 times more dopamine that we naturally produce ourselves. So the dependence is not on the cocaine, which is a vehicle. It's on the dopamine that's being released. So when we are consuming cannabis, cannabis itself Is, uh, releasing those endogenous endocannabinoids. And it's extremely important to be able to have the right ratio of cannabinoids and terpenes so somebody can actually bridge that deficiency that they may be, naturally prone to. So the reason why Endo Health was created in the first place is, cause I had a personalized experience myself, when I was a kid. Uh, you know, I would sit in class and the teacher calls on me and I sort of would not pay attention because I had all these windows in my head that were open, sort of these tabs on your computer. And the reason why is because I was diagnosed with a DD and what was happening is I had depletion of dopamine. So my brain was always looking for that hit of dopamine and I was put on prescription medication and some of that worked. I mean, it helped me to focus, but I actually took away any emotion, any feeling for me whatsoever until I was hanging out with some older kids. And they asked me if I wanted to smoke a cigarette and I was like, yeah, I'm hanging out with older kids smoking a cigarette. Great, let's do it. And they actually filled it with cannabis. I didn't know, but when I went back to class. The windows that were open narrowed and I could focus and I still had feeling and emotion, all these things. So it became my medicine. And the reason why it's really important to be able to know what works specifically for the individual, because some people have predispositions to possible adverse effects. So I've talked to many people, he said, yeah, you know, cannabis is not for me, especially THC. It creates anxiety, creates stress. Well, you know. First of all, you should know what you're putting in your body. So the cannabis that you're putting in, you should know that it matches with your genetic predispositions and what you're epigenetically, what you're turning on once you're consuming that. So the idea is to be able to use one's DNA to guide somebody through that process. And the way that it works is, you know, we have a buccal swab, you swab the inside of your mouth, we have a test called endodna, and then you would send it to our lab, or you can upload existing information from your 23andMe, from your Ancestry, etc. And then from there, you would get a profile, a report. Uh, which is completely de identified and personalized to you. And what it does, it looks at symptomatic conditions associated with two things. What people use cannabis for, and will your genetics play a role? So things like predispositions to anxiety, cognitive function, mood and behavior, pain and nausea, and sleep. So once you understand that you have certain predispositions to something, you may consume the right ratio of cannabinoids and terpenes that can mitigate the possibility of that adverse effect and still give you the therapeutic properties that you need that are personalized to you. And once you've consume that ratio. The other thing to know is how much to consume. So now that you know, this is my ratio of cannabinoids and terpenes, how much should I take? Dosing is very important and it's based on metabolic function. We all metabolize things differently. And based on your metabolic function, you can see, well, you're a poor metabolizer or you're a rapid metabolizer or you're an intermediate metabolizer or normal metabolizer. So that will guide. how much of a phytocannabinoid, amount you should be consuming or actually method of consumption as well. If you're a poor metabolizer, maybe avoid first pass delivery, which is through your liver and consume something sublingually or, or through your, uh, buccal or buccal cavity. So, That's the second part of the third part of that is drug interaction. When people consume prescription medications, and they consume supplements, well, certain phytocannabinoids can interact with those. So we have to understand, and we have a database of over 200 different prescription medication, and they may show you that there's an interaction between a phytocannabinoid and that in that prescription medication. So what do you do? Don't consume your phytocannabinoid together with your prescription medication. Stagger your consumption and how long you stagger for depends on what type of metabolizer you are. And the real kick to all this is not only is Cannabis truly a therapeutic agent that we all should be supplementing with and the amount and what kind depends on the individual, but also you can measure how well it works. And how you measure how well it works is By the epigenetic expression of when you actually put something in your body, what switches are turned on, and you can measure that through not only patient reported outcome, but also to biometric feedback. So we have a wearable device, like our endo link device, or you can integrate with a Fitbit or a whoop or anything, any other biometric device, and you can actually measure and see how that fight a cannabinoid formulation is working for the individual. So an example would be sleep, right? So if somebody has a predisposition to insomnia, or they have a predisposition to bruxism, which is actually grinding your teeth, and there is a correlation, we just finished a study, between stress and anxiety, and how that expresses itself with quality of sleep. So it's not about sleeping for eight hours a night for an individual specifically, it's the quality of sleep that you get. And what people sometimes do is they consume a high amount of THC before they go to sleep. And what happens there is their body can be really tired and they can, you know, go to sleep. However, that extra THC can actually stimulate brain activity. And when it's stimulated, they're not going to be able to get the restful sleep. So as they're not getting restful sleep, they're waking up, they may be agitated and that stress level continues throughout the day. So they continue on this hamster wheel. So by understanding somebody's genetic predisposition and somebody may have that predisposition of bruxism, which is grinding your teeth. So the way that it shows up in sleep quality is they grind their teeth and are getting, not getting the restful sleep. So suggesting a formulation that is more personalized to the individual. Now we can measure the quality of sleep, how much alpha, how much theta, what is the REM sleep? What is the heart rate variability? What is the blood oxygen level? We can learn from that on how it's working for that individual. And then start using machine learning, which we do, to create better predictive inferences. So now we can have an archetype of individuals that are like this, that have used this type of formulation, that are more efficacious. And that's really, truly precision medicine, and that's really what cannabis is.

Magic Barclay: 15:52

Love it. Look, our next standard question is around wealth and people think it's just finances, but also we're talking personal and emotional wealth. So Len, from your vast life experience, which we discussed a little off air, what are your top three tips to creating

Len May: 16:10

wealth? Well, it depends how you define wealth, you know, for me. Wealth is waking up every day healthy, with love and passion and everything else falls in line. So number one, you have to be physically and mentally healthy. So the number one thing you should do is create rituals for yourself that you can repeat and replicate that'll help you You know, fill your own cup, sort of say, uh, make sure whatever it is that you do, physical activity, meditation, uh, any other things that you can do to work on you. So you have that good attitude to go throughout the day. The second thing is find something you're passionate about, whatever that is. Find it, look for it. You don't have to settle for something that you may not be connected to. Now, every experience and I've had lots of different, uh, job experiences working for, you know, big six consulting at Price Waterhouse to do being a commercial, a real estate broker, but having a passion for the therapeutic properties of plant. Having all those experiences in my life helped me to run my business because I had those experiences. Maybe that wasn't what I was meant to do, but those are all little breadcrumbs that you take with you that help you be successful in, in any business venture that you're passionate about. And the third part of the thing is give back because at the end of the day, Your passion or that's my tip and my passion. It has to be. It has to be something that you're able to share with others. And because you're able to work on yourself, your physical, your emotional, your mental well being, you're able to be you. to create a passion for what it is that you do. Now it's time to help other people with that passion. So for us, and for me specifically, you know, helping people, I can tell you a lot of different examples, helping people that were had six months to live with cancer coming to us and living for six years and living good lives, uh, when they, everybody else, you know, wouldn't be able to, uh, gave up on them basically. That's the purpose. So doing something you're passionate about and then being able to give back to others that they can actually help spread that information. Those are probably the three top tips that I would give somebody for being wealthy.

Magic Barclay: 18:47

Terrific tips. And look, our final standard question is around weight loss. Many people battle their weight and it can be quite a lifelong. journey. We know that stress is a key factor in weight issues. So have you ever battled your weight? If so, how did you win the war and what can medicinal cannabis do to help us on our weight loss journey?

Len May: 19:14

Uh, it's such a wonderful question. I'm not sure if I battled weight per se, but I'll give you a couple of examples. So the first one being is during lockdown, My daughter and I decided that we're going to get gelato, uh, because, you know, whatever, whatever, we're sitting at home, I'm not exercising as much, so I started getting gelato and, uh, started feeling myself getting puffy after a couple months. So I made a decision. First of all, I'm going to give up sugar. And that was the main thing. And once, once I was able to give up sugar itself, and there is a mindset and sugar is extremely, extremely addictive. So being able to give up sugar and then things that convert in the sugar, like, uh, simple carbohydrates, uh, the breads and, and, and pastas and rice, I found my body actually shrinking. And this is without much exercise. then from there I started. Connecting myself to what it is that, that really I like to do for physical activity. So, and one of them is hiking. So I started discovering hiking. So now because I'm in nature and I'm hiking and I'm also eating properly, you know, my body started to transform the other thing that you brought up in stress. So I had a physical when I turned 50, you know, I had this major physical, uh, which I really don't go to doctors so much, but Yeah, I was like, all right, let me go check, check this out. So I really get stressed out when it comes to give them blood. And to a point where, you know, even when I'm giving blood and I, and I have tattoos and I've needles are not really my, my fear, but it's just the blood exiting my body. Or for some reason, it really stresses me out. So I had, uh, I've given my, blood test. And when I get, went through my results with a doctor, my glucose level was a little higher than normal for me. And she's saying, well, I don't know. I think you're healthy. There's no, doesn't seem to be an issue, but if you really want. where a glucose monitor. So I did for several weeks. And this is what I found out. First of all, because of the stress level, because of all the cortisol that was pumped into my bloodstream, it actually elevated my glucose level. So that stress actually created all this extra, you know, blood sugar. And that is a big culprit to weight. So you absolutely hit the nail on the head, stress, anxiety, that actually reduces your ability for your. In your digestive system to function properly because it's actually converted glucose to fat, and storing it as that for a rainy day. So by way of my glucose monitor, I could see which foods actually spike glucose. And the foods that I really thought were spiking glucose. Weren't really that I had like a matcha latte from a Starbucks and that's spiked my glucose. I'm like, that's not supposed to have sugar in it. And I had a, a Thai dish. And the sauce probably had so much, uh, you know, corn syrup or something like that, that actually spiked my blood glucose level. So understanding what it is that you can and cannot eat also is a personalized experience. And by the way, the final thing on that, that I want to say is. Our test looks at the full endocannabinoid system and you have genetic predispositions to metabolism. So some people don't metabolize certain things correctly. And if you know this about yourself, and some people are predisposed to weight gain and things of that nature. So understanding your own body and understanding what the possibilities are with your own body can help you make smart decisions about your own health and wellness and nutrition. We've

Magic Barclay: 23:07

covered a lot already just with our chat so far, but what is something that we haven't covered that you feel the listeners need to hear?

Len May: 23:18

Just this two things about genetics in general. So one of the things that people have told us before is, you know, I don't feel like giving them all my DNA. Maybe somebody will clone me one day, maybe pharma will get my information. So the first thing that I want to say is that we are. We all the information we're hit by GDPR compliant, but all the information that we gather is the identified. So we are gathering data and data is important for us to be able to communicate back to, uh, you know, the, the, uh, the medical community, the cannabis community. But it's not about Lenmay's personal data that we care about. We care about a thousand people that have my profile, that have my genetic profile, that have taken a certain formulation and have shown efficacy. Because that helps us communicate back and say, Hey, these terpene profiles work better. So cultivate these or formulate these. So it's very, very important to know. And the other thing is that. Why DNA is important to begin with and the way that I actually look at this as you without your DNA, you sort of driving your car without a GPS and your GPS tells you that this road over here may have an accident. May have some road construction, may have a broken down vehicle. So now that you know this, you can make smart decisions by avoiding those potholes, avoiding that road, maybe take another road. So by having your DNA test and your full DNA test with everything, you'll know sort of the sharp corners to avoid. And then the other thing that's really important is by understanding that you can then control, you can take better action over yourself by making the decisions for epigenetic expression, and I'll explain what this means. So 99. 9 percent of us. Or identical. It's a 0. 1 percent that makes the biggest difference. So when we get DNA from our parents and 50 percent for our mother, 50 percent for our father. Once we have this DNA, it's basically an encoding genetic message that's in our DNA. Some of those think of it as like a bunch of on off switches. Some of those switches already turned on. So like predispositions or like for our hair color, our eye color, our skin color, but some of them encoding. Is just that. And the messenger RNA, what we do with our life, our lifestyle. So our mental health, our physical health, what our nutrition is, how we conduct ourselves on a daily basis. It can actually help trigger, turn on those switches or turn off those switches. And that's the epigenetic expression, which proteins to be able to create. Why this is important is because if we know a predisposition. Let's say the opioid dependence. We know this about ourselves. So, and we can communicate with our doctor. We're empowered with information with a healthcare professional to say, I have a genetic predisposition of opioid dependence. Maybe I should avoid opioids altogether or minimize the amount because I have a predisposition for that and look at phytocannabinoids as an alternative. There's also predisposition of alcohol dependence, et cetera. And by understanding that you have these predispositions, you can take specific action. So remember, some things we want to turn on, some things we want to turn off. If somebody has a predisposition to a certain cancer, well, guess what? By knowing this, you can actually take specific action to make sure that that genetic predisposition doesn't epigenetically turn itself on by lifestyle choices that we're making, including nutrition, including mental and physical health.

Magic Barclay: 27:12

Great. Now, before I let you go, Len, we love freebies. So what can you offer the listeners and where can they find it?

Len May: 27:19

So we can offer the listeners a discount code of any product within uh endo dna.com. So you can use the code Len, LEN 25 25, and it'll give you a 25% discount of any single product that is within the endo, DNA

Magic Barclay: 27:41

catalog. Terrific. Thank you so much for joining us. I've really enjoyed our chat and you know, I really urge everyone to look into the benefits of medicinal cannabis and really take the stigma out of it because it is just such an amazing gift of nature that Has just been demonized and you know, really listeners open your minds and really look into this for your health. Lynn, thank you so much for joining us.

Len May: 28:15

Thank you. I really appreciate

Magic Barclay: 28:16

it. And listeners, thank you for your time. Go forth and create your magical life.