Healthy & Awake Podcast · Mike Vera, Board-Certified Health Coach

The Truth About Medical Cannabis They Don’t Teach in Pharmacy School w/ Dr. Codi Peterson [Ep. 71]

·46 min·3 clips

Dr. Peterson says cannabis is being pushed toward 90% vape carts and THCA crystals.

1. Healthy & Awake Podcast centers on medical cannabis, pediatric pharmacy, and the gap between plant medicine and pharmacy-school training. 2. Mike Vera hosts and interviews Dr. Cody Peterson, a pediatric pharmacist, University of Maryland cannabis-science graduate, and chief science officer at The Conigma. 3. The episode asks whether cannabis can be used as medicine without collapsing it into a single molecule like THC or CBD. 4. Peterson says he has helped children navigate medical cannabis while still working in a hospital pharmacy setting. 5. He points to children with cerebral palsy, paraplegia, chronic seizure disorders, and mental illness as patients he sees in pediatrics. 6. He argues that the endocannabinoid system exists in vertebrates and interacts with THC across humans and other mammals. 7. He says the common claim that cannabis is bad for children's brains comes mainly from recreational teenage use, not guided medical use. 8. Peterson notes that children already receive opiates, amphetamines, antidepressants, and benzodiazepines in clinical practice. 9. He says cannabis is probably the most studied plant in the world, but research has leaned heavily toward adverse effects. 10. He describes Epidiolex as an FDA-approved plant-based cannabis extract for three pediatric epilepsy conditions. 11. He says Marinol, approved in the 1980s, uses laboratory-made THC for appetite loss and chemotherapy-related nausea. 12. Peterson says Marinol sold about $900 million in revenue last year and could reach $1 billion this year. 13. He contrasts pharmaceutical THC with botanical cannabis, which remains Schedule I in the United States. 14. He explains that CBD was already present in cannabis before the 1930s, but it re-entered mainstream markets after the 2018 Farm Bill. 15. He says the hemp definition of less than 0.3% THC helped trigger a CBD flood into supplements, gas stations, and pillowcases. 16. Peterson explains THC as a rigid key at CB1 and CB2 receptors, while CBD is a floppy molecule with far more unpredictable actions. 17. He says CBD may interact with 65 to 120 estimated targets, which makes its effects harder to predict by dose or indication. 18. Peterson argues that isolated molecules like morphine, heroin, fentanyl, and pure THC can increase potency while stripping away the plant context. 19. The conversation has a conversational interview style, with Peterson using analogies, timeline references, and repeated contrasts between plant extracts and drug isolates. 20. People interested in cannabis medicine, pharmacy, or pediatric therapeutics will get the most from it; readers wanting quick pro-or-anti cannabis slogans may skip it.

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