But despite the names of the companies involved, this isn’t some deal that’s furthering the sales of marijuana — legal or otherwise. Instead, PhytoSPHERE uses a system known as TerraSphere to create plant-based biocompounds for pharmaceutical and the so-called nutraceutical markets.
Michael Llamas, president of Medical Marijuana, a company that trades on the Pink Sheets and on the Over-The-Counter bulletin board, said PhytoSPHERE extracts hemp – a completely legal process, as it’s derived from hemp seeds and is categorized as food. One of the commodities emerging from the hemp industry is cannabidiol, an extract that comes in the form of crystal, oil or powder, where a “majority of the medical benefits” can be found, Llamas said.
He claims that it helps with treating digestion problems, acting as a super antioxidant, among other things.
“[It’s] completely organic,” Llamas said, “It’s been known to be beneficial in treating things from Alzheimer’s to pain management to multiple sclerosis [and] Crohn’s disease.”
In fact, while hemp and marijuana are from the same species of plant and appear to be similar, they are quite different, according to the North American Industrial Hemp Council Inc., an industry association representing the U.S. hemp industry. Hemp contains no THC, the active ingredient found in marijuana, making it unusable as a drug, unlike marijuana, the NAIHC said.
Medical Marijuana, also based in San Diego and involved with extraction and delivery methods of hemp-based compounds for use in pharmaceutical products, isn’t involved in “selling pot at all,” Llamas said.
But the similar-sounding name and familiar-looking plant have cast a stigma on the hemp industry, according to Llamas.
Bookmarks