Beyond CBD: Colorado’s Jake Black, PhD talks about CBG, The “STEM CELL” OF PHYTOCANNABINOIDS

While CBD (cannabidiol), the second best known component of the marajuana plant behind THC, continues to make a huge impact in the marketplace due to its purported multifaceted wellness properties, CBG (cannabigerol) could be next in line for broader applications. Due to a growing number of reports covering a multitude of health dividends, some of which adherents claim overlap with those of CBD, cannabigerol is referred to as the ‘stem cell’ of the phytocannabinoids in cannabis.

Investigating new compounds of cannabis with implications for healthful applications in skincare and wellness supplements, TrustBeauty talks with Jake Black, a Yale PhD. and CEO of Treehouse Hemp, a Colorado-based hemp processor that has manufactured pure, unadulterated cannabinoid extracts for CBD brands since 2015.

Treehouse Hemp’s client base uses cannabis extracts to manufacture a variety of enhanced products including; topicals, health and wellness supplements, products for pets as well as for the equine market. Black clearly stressed in our talk that the, “The FDA does not approve the majority of phytocannabinoids for any particular use, however we are emphatic about guaranteeing the quality and the purity of our compounds, and we provide certification of that purity across the board.”

“Because marijuana had been completely illegal in recent decades, even the academic community’s ability to validate the myriad presumptive benefits was completely curtailed. Consequently, claims propagated for hundreds of years by cannabis enthusiasts such as treating allergies, inflammation, anxiety, and skin conditions could not be investigated ,” explains Black. “Now we can extract each of the cannabinoids and examine exactly the potential medicinal properties that might deliver significant health benefits to people and provide alternatives to traditional pharmaceuticals.”

About the future of cannabinoids beyond the well known THC and CBD, Black suggests that the accessibility of a select few phytocannabinoids will lead to their large scale extraction, study and marketability. Treehouse Hemp believes that overall, costs will continue to come down as the science of extraction and cannabis genetics improves.This will lead to the wider availability of certain cannabinoids that hold great promise, especially CBG and a few others on the horizon, like CBN and CBC. He notes, however, that the road for getting to marketability for many of the lesser known cannabinoids (out of the 100+) will take study and qualified scientific research, which takes time. Right now, CBG’s reported ability to have impact on inflammation, possible neuroimmune response system impact and seemingly well-documented antimicrobial properties make it a viable project study.

One of the first states to legalize marijuana, Colorado is rich in individual and commercial endeavors to decipher the network of phytocannabinoids and how each reacts, mostly with the human endocannabinoid system, but also with domesticated animals.

When Black completed his studies at Yale University, he brought his passion for chemistry and the study of natural products back to his home state. Like many highschool students he played some sports (football and lacrosse), while also spending a fair amount of time playing video games and dating, while being as he readily admits, “a bit of a nerd”.

It was he and others he’d connected with in his postgraduate pursuits who founded Treehouse Hemp, with the ambition to investigate everything that the world knows as “weed” and advance research in its untapped potential. His passion for exploring cannabinoid ratios and formats has positioned Treehouse Hemp as an innovation leader in the cannabis industry. Black looks forward to the future of research on the potential wellness benefits of individual cannabinoids as well as in combination.

The Treehouse Hemp lab is located in Longmont, Colorado.