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marijuana - extraction for cosmetics
I am a cosmetic formulator in Canada. The laws for marijuana are changing and we expect it to be legal to use and grow, sometime in Spring 2018.
I’ve been asked by a client to create two types of cream using marijuana. One is for pain and the other for skin problems (acne etc). Since marijuana is not yet legal in Canada, there is no resources for use in cosmetic applications. My question is about whether or not a grower can successfully extract by maceration or does extraction need to be done by co2? My client has macerated in oil and I’ve done some samples. Some people claim it works for their pain while others say it has no effect. It seems the people testers who want to be able to have marijuana for topical pain relief are the ones who say it works. The people who don’t use marijuana say it doesn’t.
Also, how would one know how much to use in a formula? I have no knowledge about marijuana so any information anyone can give me would be greatly appreciated.
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19 Replies
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I have tried this. Not having a $2,500 soxtlet extraction machine, I used anhydrous alcohol to extract the oil, and prepared a quite strong cream (5% oil). Tested this on a few different old people. No result whatsoever. Far better to smoke or eat it… to answer your question, it can be extracted if you have access to anhydrous alcohol. “Maceration” is not an option.
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Good info. Thanks.
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My guess is that it should come out like a tincture if it is extracted with ethyl alcohol, is that right? My client said they did some sort of extraction with ethyl alcohol and the end result was a sticky tar like substance. Does that sound right to you?
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You’ll want to use standardized Cannabidiol with a THC content that is below the legal threshold. It currently can be sold in all 50 states in the US and there are several reputable suppliers. Target your CBD content at 100 to 200 mg.
There is scientific evidence that it is indeed effective for pain management, particularly when combined with other pain management topical actives.
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If you read some of the credible studies that were done on CBD, the supported Science is that a measurable amount of THC for it to be effective. For reference, refer to the 1998 study by Israeli scientists Shimon Ben-Shabat and Raphael Mechoulam. This effect, best provided by a 10 part CBD to 1 part THC ratio is known as the entourage effect. In addition, most of the credible studies to refer to are from the UK and Canada. As such, the hemp based CBD oil is of limited utility.
I currently am doing a great deal of distance consulting in this area. Distance, since the raw materials (the cannabis derived CBD oil) is illegal in my home state. If you refer to the proposed California Law regulating Cannabis and Cannabis based products (recreational and medicinal) you will see that the State of California has placed a strong level of testing and cGMP compliance. I have been retained by several parties to assist in setting up their cGMP programs. The law is 278 long pages and I have read it through, no small undertaking.
Common thought is that CO2 extraction is preferred. Organic solvent extraction strips away many of the co-active terpenes (read the UK studies referring to the cannibanoid recepters) that are useful.
In summary, it is likely that in the US at least there will be a high standard set for the testing, qualification and documentation on the providers of the raw material. From what I was told by the head of the California program is that for CBD to be treated like a medicine, they are setting the bar for it to be produced like a pharmaceutical.
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Extracting using solvents extracts everything. The only way that the content of such an extraction can be confirmed is with gas spectroscopy. This is why extraction with supercritical CO2 is preferred. The pressure and temperature can be set up to extract particular molecular weights. Unfortunately the minimum cost of the machinery is around $2,500 and that’s for processing only an ounce or so, and it takes hours. I imagine that’s what they use for the manufacture of the more exotic edibles.
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Wow. So interesting. Mark do you know who the reputable sources are?
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Here are a couple of suppliers that I have used on CBD product development projects.
http://www.foliumbiosciences.com/cbd-oil-bulk-wholesale/
As most industrial hemp oil production in North American is from Canada, I would suspect that you will see several Canadian-based CBD Oil suppliers in short order once it becomes legal.
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Honestly, you will not get a reputable version from a source unless State/Province has legalized medical/recreational marijuana. For example, here in SC we can only get the less effective hemp based CBD (low yield, solvent extraction, no THC). Due to the presence of THC greater than 0.3%, the cannabis derive CBD can not be shipped across State lines in the US.
If Canada is legalizing, eventually you will find a reputable CBD oil supplier.
In California, the current issue is that the raw plant materials (cannabis) is being stock piled by growers in anticipation of the legalization in January 2018.
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The suppliers I referred you to all sell CBD containing levels of THC under the threshold limit. They’ll be happy to provide to you the specifications on their CBD Oil and they all ship throughout the US.
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The hemp based CBD is useless for any real Medical claim and pragmatically would really act just like a fixed oil such as straightforward Hemp seed oil as it likes the THC needed as part of the “Entourage effect” and lacks many of the terpenes.
https://unitedpatientsgroup.com/the-entourage-effect-whole-plant-extracts-thc-and-cbd
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Completely agree with @Microformulation. And from my own experiments I consider it a waste of product. The cream I made had 5% of high potency marijuana in it - an indica strain with 17% THC - and the recipients reported that it had no effect whatsoever.
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With the clients I am dealing with they are shooting for 10 parts CBD to 1 part THC. The hemp based has, by law, less than 0.3% allowable THC to be allowed in all 50 States.
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THCA is the main constituent in raw cannabis and transforms to THC when
burned, vaporized, or heated at a certain temperature. Acidic
cannabinoids (such as THCA, CBDA, CBGA, etc.) hold the most COX-1 and
COX-2 inhibition which contributes to cannabis’ anti-inflammatory
effects. THCA also acts as an anti-proliferative and anti-spasmodic.http://moderncann.com/cannabinoids/
Under the work done by Shimon Ben-Shabat and Raphael Mechoulam in 1998, THCA has been identified as one of the most active portions in Medical usage.
I attended a lecture series last month in California where this effect was discussed at length.
Of interest as well; https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12952500
In the article you quote, while they did track the CBD for absorption and efficacy, their CBD source still contained the THC analogues. This study was discussed, If I have time I can scan in the notes from the conference where thsi study is discussed.
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The research is promising … as usual, the regulations lag far behind the scientific community and society. Yes, if you have additional information, it would interesting to see what the THC content was in the CBD in the study I referenced.
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The research will lag in the US for years. For now, honestly the best research that follows acceptable study protocols are out of Canada and the UK. I have the pdf’s of the studies saved.
I really have two personal takeaways from my research;
- The cannabis based CBD is the best.
- And people who want it to be recreational will go to great ends to push it as a universal panacea. I get it, you want to smoke the real thing. I don’t really care. Just don’t post pseudoscience to justify that.
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My brother went through an episode of cancer. Virtually all of his healthcare practitioners recommended cannabis in some form or another. He does live in a State where Medicinal is legal.
As for recreational, I’d much rather people smoke weed that than get stupid drunk on alcohol. If you study the history of cannabis in the US, you’ll find that the Federal Government went to great lengths to propagandize “Reefer Madness” … Why? It was used by migrant workers from Mexico and Central America who had been smoking weed for hundreds of years … sound familiar to our current environment? It was all politics …
When we were in war times, the Federal Government actually exempted military service for Hemp farmers … the Government needed the fiber for uniforms, parachutes, etc.
In the end, the science will prove itself out.
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“Milk” made from hemp seed is a pretty good milk substitute. I rate it second in the list (cashew nuts milk is #1). I’m seeing bags of hemp seed in the supermarkets, for breakfast cereal.
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