Transcriber: Rhonda Jacobs Reviewer: Tanya Cushman
Hello, Portland!
(Applause)
Can you guys hear me?
Hello! And hello to everyone streaming - I know a few of you.
Have you had your coffee? Are you ready?
Alright. Good.
Since you're already settled in your seats,
I want you to lean in
because today, I get to tell you a secret.
And it's a secret that's been well kept for almost 30 years.
And I want to start by sharing with you a quick story
about a revolutionary named Jill,
so let's watch.
(Video) Hello. My name's Jill, and I have Parkinson's disease.
I've taken my Parkinson's prescription medication this morning,
and this is how it helps ...
and it doesn't.
This is my oil - cannabis oil.
And I'm just going to spread it on the biscuit like that.
It's been 20 minutes since I've had that butter and the biscuit,
and I feel wonderful.
No shakes, no nothing.
(Cheers) (Applause)
Alright, so we're all happy Jill got better, right?
But you're probably wondering, How is that possible?
How is it possible
that her well-researched, FDA-approved drugs aren't working for her
but something else is?
It's because there's a secret system in your body
that no one, like no one, is talking about.
Now, we know these systems really well, right?
They're taught in every health, anatomy and physiology class
between elementary, high school and medical school.
You guys know these?
Yeah, we have our circulatory and our pulmonary systems,
our skeletal and muscular systems - just to name a few.
And we all know about our nervous system, which we once thought controlled them all.
But today, I'm going to talk to you about this system.
It's a system totally unlike, supreme to and in control of all the rest.
And it was completely left out of every single medical textbook I read
despite its discovery 27 years ago.
[W.T.F.]
(Laughter)
Right?
I am not making this up. This is for real.
So since it's not in the textbook, I'm going to share it with you today.
I'm going to share with you the real science and the real history
of this system
and how you can use it to take control of your health.
But before I do, I want to share my story.
So when I was a kid, I wanted to become a doctor like my parents.
But as medical school approached
and my parents reflected on the changing medical field,
my mom encouraged me to "do something different" with medicine.
So I pursued a dual degree in medicine and business
to become a doctor entrepreneur
because we need entrepreneurs -
we can change the world with our ideas,
and I wanted to become a world-changing doctor.
Can't you tell?
(Laughter)
Yes!
With that notion, I was eager and energized to learn.
But what I learned deflated me.
Because for me, the salient lesson from medical and business school
was that big medicine is a big bureaucracy and paradoxical to health.
It was a heavy, really weighty, ethical dilemma
that forced me to confront the dichotomy
between wanting to become a healer but becoming a drug pusher.
I was training into a system pretty blasé
and disinterested in addressing the root cause of disease
and driven by patent medicine.
This is not what I signed up for.
And I was this close, literally, from walking away from medicine.
But I found a family medicine program with an integrative medicine track,
and that provided me a lens into ancient healing practices.
Now, we benefit tremendously
from the advancing technologies and innovations of today's medicine.
But what I found
was that people used to be great at healing themselves and others
and doing so with natural substances and simple practices,
like herbs and acupuncture and yoga and meditation and more.
This wasn't witchcraft or voodoo, right?
It wasn't then and it's not today.
These healers knew what worked, and they had sound theories as to why;
they just lacked the science.
They lacked the biophysical model demonstrating how,
and it was hidden in this secret system all along.
Are you guys ready to know what it is?
(Audience) Yeah!
Alright, so we're going to start with a word clue.
Can anybody pronounce this word?
[Endo-can-nabi-noid]
Okay, well, let's do it together.
So for the benefit of the group, let's sound it out. Ready?
Endo
can
nabi
noid.
Endo
can
nabi - noid
Endo - can ...
Louder, Portland!
Endo - can - nabi - noid
Endo - can
(Audience) nabi - noid
(Whoops)
Masterful.
Yes. Thank you.
So, yes, ladies and gentlemen,
this secret system is what's known as the endocannabinoid system.
Or ECS for short, so if I say that, you know what I mean.
And now, we get to really nerd out as I explain what it is and how it works.
So the endocannabinoid system
resides within all animals except the insect.
It's a 600-million-year-old messenger and receptor system
integral to homeostasis, or the management of balance,
within your body.
From embryonic development to immunosurveillance,
there is not a single function in your bodies
that is not somehow influenced or modulated by the ECS.
You can think of it as a switchboard
functioning in and across all physiologic processes and organs,
acting and reacting to internal and external stimuli
to direct, correct and overall manage your health.
Although a gross simplification,
the endocannabinoid system can be broken down
into four core components.
First up we have the cannabinoid receptors,
like CB1 and CB2 and counting.
Next we have the ligands that bind to those receptors
and initiate an action called endocannabinoids,
or body-made cannabinoids, like anandamide and 2-AG.
And we have the synthesizing enzymes
that make these endocannabinoids on demand when they're needed
and the degradative enzymes that break them down after they're used.
And it works through something called retrograde signalling.
So illustrated in this diagram is the route of an endocannabinoid
that's made in a post-synaptic neuron
in response to neurotransmitter stimulation.
It then travels backwards, or retrograde, across a synapse,
where it binds to a cannabinoid receptor on the pre-synaptic membrane
to initiate an action,
in this case, blocking the release of neurotransmitter.
So let me break it down a little bit simpler with an analogy.
(Laughter)
Yes.
So let's say the endocannabinoid system
is your dormitory or your apartment building,
and your neighbor across the hall is making a lot of noise,
and they're getting really loud.
You just walk across the hall,
and you politely ask them to turn the volume down.
So you can imagine how important this function is
when cells are sending signals of stress, pain or inflammation.
Like your noisy neighbor, these processes need to be checked.
And it's through this mechanism
that the endocannabinoid system checks these processes back into balance
so that your body can relax, remember to eat, fall asleep,
forget traumatic experiences and protect itself,
along with a host of other mediating and restorative processes.
The endocannabinoid system keeps your body in balance.
Up to now, you guys probably thought the brain was the boss, right?
We all did.
But the brain's not the boss.
The endocannabinoid system is.
And we had it wrong.
So with all that said, you guys might be confused
why this really awesome system was kept secret for so long.
Well, I'd say
that it probably has something to do with the plant they used to discover it.
So back in the '80s, researchers wanted to know how THC worked.
And THC is a plant-made cannabinoid, or phytocannabinoid, found in cannabis,
and it's responsible for the intoxicating and euphorogenic properties
that cannabis is so infamous for.
And using radio-tagged THC, the endocannabinoid system was discovered
as THC locked into and unveiled this extensive receptor network
concentrated throughout the brain and throughout the rest of the body.
And THC did this because, they found out, it's a direct analog, or mimicker,
of our own endocannabinoid, anandamide.
And as an aside, anandamide, also known as the bliss molecule,
is what's really responsible for the runner's high, not endorphins.
Right?
So if any of you have ever experienced the euphoria that's come with exercising,
that's your endocannabinoid system - that's anandamide.
And we're finding more, each day,
about over 100 other phytocannabinoids found in cannabis and other plants
that mimic our endocannibinoids
and have the potential to supplement or modulate the endocannabinoid system
in therapeutic and healing ways.
So this is where we're at:
We have this incredibly mind-blowing system,
and we have this plant - y'all, a plant -
that works on this system in therapeutic and healing ways,
so what I really hope you're wondering right now
is "What's wrong with that?"
Alright, well, the answer lies within the annals of American medical history,
starting with two guys
who really wanted to sell a lot of prescription drugs.
And in their heyday at the turn of the 20th century,
American medicine was based on homeopathy and herbal medicine,
and naturopaths and chiropractors weren't "getting down" with patent drugs.
So with the millions of dollars in their pocketbook,
a document called the Flexner Report
and the full force of state governments,
American medical training was consolidated and standardized
in accordance with pharmaceutical drug science
to the exclusion of holistic care practices,
natural substances and remedies and natural cures.
And this created a system
that made patentable pharmaceutical drugs that treated symptoms
easy to sell,
and that made natural holistic care and practices
and unpatentable plant medicine like cannabis
fringe, quackery and illegal.
What's surprising the most
is that US physicians prescribed cannabis routinely to their patients
well into the 20th century.
Cannabis was once a top three most commonly prescribed medicines,
dwindling out of use due to heavy taxation,
the prosecution of the doctors who prescribed it,
and, finally, it being written out of the American pharmacopeia in 1942.
You see, big business wrote my textbook.
And I can only speculate
that the endocannabinoid system was kept secret for so long
because its science validated the use of unpatentable plant medicine,
like cannabis and other natural practices.
But the pharmaceutical industry wasn't the only big business
disrupting the once-free market of health.
We Americans spend multiples of billions of dollars annually
on unhealthy and low quality foods
in addition to the prescription drugs we reflexively depend upon,
both of which are directly linked to endocannabinoid system dysfunction,
which we now know is the precipitant to most chronic diseases.
And as a result, Americans are getting sicker and sicker,
riding around and round on a Ferris wheel of big interests
that we pay to ride.
That doesn't make any sense.
We're outsourcing the responsibility of our health to the bigs,
and they're cashing in at our expense.
Staying on this ride is a losing battle.
But this can be the past ...
if we reimagine our future.
And in this future, all we need ...
is love.
(Cheers) (Applause)
Yeah.
(Applause)
But the type of love that I'm talking about ...
is self-love.
Because in the battle with the bigs,
self-love
is the revolution
of one.
Not until we start taking good care of ourselves
do we opt out of the big business of disease.
And the revolution of one is you choosing to live in balance,
and the endocannibinoid system is your on-ramp.
Now, as powerful and resilient as the endocannibinoid system is,
it is not immune to aging or the assaults of modern living,
like those unhealthy foods and chronic use of prescription drugs,
environmental pollutants and toxins,
emotional stress
and how all of those things interplay on our genetics.
Now, I've just listed the top five contributors
to ECS dysfunctioning and disease,
and they should be avoided.
But caring for yourself and your endocannibinoid system
requires a bit of understanding of what nurtures it and what restores it,
and here are your tools:
Eat real food
because it provides the body with what it needs for healthy cells
and the raw materials for building those endocannibinoids.
Supplement with adaptogenic herbs and spices
because they soothe and tone the endocannibinoid system,
aiding in balance restoration.
Detox because it cleanses the body.
It reduces inflammation
and rids it of hamful toxins that abet endocannibinoid system dysfunction.
Incorporate phytocannabinoids and cannabimimetic practices.
Phytocannabinoids, like CBD and THC, when taken as whole plant cannabis,
have shown helpful
in diseases of endocannibinoid system dysfunction and wellness overall.
And cannabimimetic practices - I know, that's another fancy word -
like sleeping and exercise, yoga and meditation,
deep breathing and prayer
soothe and tone the endocannibinoid system
as though they were supplements themselves.
And lastly, maintain healthy relationships.
The effects of personal relationships across work, home, your social settings
affect endocannibinoid system tone.
And y'all, create reasons to smile and hug often.
Because as it turns out, smiling and hugging,
part and parcel with healthy relationships,
triggers the release of your endocannibinoid anandamide,
the bliss molecule.
Now, as we're nearing the end of my talk,
I know I've given you a mouthful of information,
and it might be a little overwhelming,
but I really hope it piqued your curiosity and maybe sparked some inspiration
as it did for me.
And I and my family have been so compelled
by the physiology of the endocannibinoid system
and the care it requires
that we're pioneering the nascent fields of endocannabinology
and cannabinoid medicine
with many other scientists and clinicians worldwide.
This is our calling.
And affecting systemic change with this system
is what gets us up and going every morning,
and we're not going to stop until this information is in the textbook.
Are you with me, Portland?
Right?
(Applause) (Cheers)
I mean, this is life-changing information.
(Applause) (Cheers)
Yes.
So I encourage us all to learn from our past
and reimagine our future (Whispering) with this system.
Because the secret to balanced health
resides in the science and total care of the endocannibinoid system,
and I can tell you like we tell our patients
that getting started is a lot simpler than you think.
You just have to choose one.
And you too can be a revolutionary
like Jill.
Thank you.
(Applause) (Cheers)