Vendor Education Month

As part of our fifth year anniversary, Harborside Health Center Oakland is proud to announce Vendor Education Days! Every Sunday in the month of October, several of our regular vendors will be here giving out samples of their medicine and educating patients about their products. Most of our guest vendors will be demonstrating edible medicine, as edibles are the most difficult to measure effects and potency. Please come and meet the people behind your medicine! For more info, see the Ombuds department.

Every Sunday in October, guest vendors will be demonstrating medicine and giving out samples. 

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'Weed Wars'!

How Harborside landed a nationally televised reality show series

I'm often asked if, when we launched Harborside five years ago, I ever imagined it would become as large and prominent as it is today. And I have to admit that I am not surprised-I always believed patients would overwhelmingly prefer to visit a dispensary that provides both professionalism and integrity. However, even in my wildest dreams, I never imagined that Harborside and its staff would become the stars of a major television series. But, as most of you already know, that is exactly what has happened. Read full article

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Andrew's Bullhorn   

A humorous meditation on all things Harborside...

By Andrew DeAngelo, General Manager, Harborside Oakland

Harborside goes Hollywood

When I found out that I was going to Los Angeles for "Weed Wars," I was really excited. I was also a little nervous. They were asking Dress, Steve and I to represent the show to the entire American television press. And not only represent the show, represent our collective and all of our patient members. It was a big responsibility and I did not want to make mistakes.

When I looked at the itinerary for the trip I noticed two things-one good, one bad. The good thing was Discovery was giving us VIP treatment. It's important to make the talent happy if you're going to parade them in front of the press. The bad thing was they wanted to pick me up at 6am to take me to the airport. I quickly got on the phone with my brother's assistant...

"Dani, can't I get on the later flight with Steve and Dress?" She replies calmly, "No, you, Steve and Dress have to take separate flights." This makes no sense to me until she goes on to say, "If the plane crashes they don't want all of you to die at the same time; this way two of you will still be here to promote the show." I take a second to absorb that then say, "These people think of everything, don't they?" "Yeah, they are a pretty sharp outfit," and then she hung up the phone because Steve was calling.

Read full article 

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Cannaseur Corner

Rick Pfrommer, Purchasing Manager, Harborside Oakland

One of the most exciting developments we've seen at Harborside over the past year has been the rise in popularity and availability of CBD-rich medicine. We're all familiar with the cannibinoid compound, THC (tetrahydrocannibinol), and its medicinal effects. CBD (cannbidiol) helps relieve nausea, convulsion, inflammation and cancer cell growth, without the psychoactive effects like its counterpart, THC. This allows many THC-sensitive patients to medicate effectively and still function normally without any change to mental processes.

CBDs were inadvertently bred out of cannabis during the '80s and '90s, as cultivators worked to increase THC levels in their flowers. Older cannabis users may remember the availability of pure landrace strains from Thailand. Thai ganja was one of the original "couch-lock" strains, which is a characteristic particular to CBD-rich cannabis. However, we'll never truly know exactly how much CBD was present since cannabis laboratories in the '60s and '70s were simply pipe dreams in the mind of the user.

CBD-Rich Harelequin Flowers

Flash forward from those lab-less days of yore to 2009, when Harborside Health Center, in conjunction with Steep Hill Laboratory, first identified a strain-Soma A+ (from legendary activist and breeder, Soma)-that was rich in CBD. This was an exciting discovery!  

Previously we had only seen trace amounts of CBD, 0.1% and lower in the tested medicine. However, Soma A+ tested with a whopping 6.0%. And then we uncovered more CBD-rich strains: Jamaican Lion, Harlequin, Omrita Rx and True Blueberry x OG Kush #5 arrived, impressing us with their high levels of healing potential. The True Blueberry OG holds the record for CBD at 11.0%. The others range from 5-9%.

As the availability of CBD-rich strains became more prevalent (due, of course, to lab testing), we began gathering testimonials and anecdotes from our patients. We were looking to confirm the efficacy of CBD medicine for a multitude of medical conditions; we have yet to find a CBD user who hasn't found relief. Read full article 

PLEASE NOTE:  New Vendor Orientation will now be held 

11am to noon on Wednesdays and Fridays only. Thanks! 

For questions or comments about Harborside Oakland's purchasing department, please email:

karl.pfrommer@harborsidehealthcenter.com.   

COMMUNITY NEWS

Harborside South in a league of their own...

When word of HHC-Oakland's softball team made its way to San Jose, it energized the staff. We all thought it would be great to organize a team of our own-and like that, the Harborside Steamrollers was formed. We joined a Tuesday night corporate co-ed league at Twin Creeks Sports Complex in Sunnyvale.

Our first game started off a little rocky, as we allowed four runs in the top half of the first inning-but the nervousness faded quickly and we bounced back to tie the game in the bottom half. I was pleasantly surprised by the competitiveness our team showed throughout the entire game. After a long-fought battle, the final score was Team Hate 14, Harborside 10. In the second game we were on one of the "showcase" fields and held the lead for a majority of the game. But due to some odd league rules, we again fell just short of our first victory: Sandlot 12, Harborside 10.

It's funny to me how fast the amount of anxiety that preceded our first game has turned into anticipation each week for Tuesday night. And though we are yet to record our first win, we are all having a blast!  

If anyone would like to come and share the experience by cheering on the Steamrollers, contact nick_bradley@harborsidesj.com for game times and field information.  

- Nick Bradley, Assistant Sales Manager, Harborside San Jose

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Being Well

An ongoing bulletin on holistic services at Harborside

The Substance Use & Misuse Clinical Program

By Jennifer Janichek, Harborside Harm Reduction Counselor

Harborside's free "harm reduction" clinical services assist many different patients. The program helps patients who just want information about cannabis. Participants may desire to learn harm reduction strategies to apply in their life. Some patients are seeking to use medical cannabis to help them quit or reduce the use of another drug, while others seek assistance in moderation management. And for some patients, quitting a particular substance (like tobacco or alcohol) is appealing. Bottom line-this is a medical cannabis-friendly program that attempts to support patients with substance use and misuse issues. For more information about the specific services offered, check out the white binder at the front desk.

Harm Reduction Tips: Adjust the way you consume cannabis. One of the great aspects about this plant is that there are many ways to use the medicine effectively. The safest forms of cannabis consumption include ingestion, sublingual, and topical application.

*Mix it up! Sometimes it just makes sense to inhale (if possible,

use a vaporizer and don't mix in tobacco), and other times it may make more sense to apply a topical directly to the area in need. Or maybe, a long-lasting edible is a wiser medication choice.

*When ingesting cannabis, be sure to check the dose recommendations and the amount of cannabis or hash per dose, and consume small amounts. If necessary, work your way to more but wait two hours before gradually increasing the dose. Understand that the effects from eaten cannabis may be more pronounced.

*Pay attention to your desires and needs-what form of cannabis would best meet those desires and needs? Take care to find and use the form and dose that best fits your needs.

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A patient we love

Howard Gold is, as he says, "a young 68." He's also proud to be a gay man and is very involved in the LGBT community. Originally from Dallas, Texas, Howard moved to the Bay Area 25 years ago. He was a longtime bulimic/anorexic. Familiar with the medicinal benefits of cannabis, Howard's physician recommended it for his depression and to stimulate his appetite. Howard was skeptical at first, but his doctor said, "Why don't you investigate? Go and ask questions, find out about strains." Somebody suggested Harborside, where, Howard says, "They were so accommodating and answered all my questions. When I smoked pot before, you bought it off the street-and this is so different! A staff member even went with me up to the counter and helped me go through it so I understood." In the two years Howard has been a patient at Harborside, he's educated himself, taken numerous free classes, enjoys the smokeless efficacy of edibles, and does volunteer activism every other week. "[The staff] knows I would do anything for them, so I'm waiting for them to create more volunteer opportunities."

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FAQ of the Month:

What are 'Clean Green' and 'Best Practices'?

Harborside Health Center always encourages responsible gardening. Irresponsible growing results in environmental damage and gives a bad name to the community, and to the movement as a whole. We respectfully request any and all providers to abide by environmentally friendly and safe growing techniques.

One way we ensure ecologically sound, diligent cultivation is by inviting our growers to participate in the Clean Green Certified and Best Practices programs. Clean Green Certified is an agricultural inspection process based on the USDA National Organic Program (NOP), supporting gardening practices without the use of synthetic chemical fertilizers and sprays. Just like the NOP, the Clean Green program includes both the growers and the distributors (i.e., collectives, cooperatives and dispensaries). With the Clean Green certification program, medical cannabis patients are now able to be guaranteed the availability of cannabis that was grown, processed, handled, stored, transported, packaged, labeled and distributed using standards and procedures that comply with national guidelines for organic and sustainable farming.

Best Practices works much like the Clean Green program, except that it does allow for the limited use of synthetic fertilizers and inputs in a measured and responsible manner.

Both programs include a detailed review of the producer's methods and inputs. An annual, on-site inspection is included in the certification process to help ensure that the methods and inputs claimed in the records are, in fact, being used at the operation.

Clean Green and Best Practices were founded by Chris Van Hook, a USDA Organic Certifier and advisor with over 40 years of experience in agriculture. As a licensed California attorney, Chris follows procedures to ensure confidentiality of information, even from law enforcement; Chris will not testify against any grower he works with. His team brings a combined total of over 70 years of experience in the agriculture and mariculture production fields, which helps assure the outlined programs are followed with the highest levels of integrity.

For more info, visit www.cleangreencert.com

-John Brown, Marketing/Web Manager,  john.brown@harborsidehealthcenter.com.

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