Cryptocurrencies are changing the way the world pays - and earns.

 payment methods are arriving to every industry, and now, the legal cannabis market is no exception.

) for online medical cannabis purchases. Cryptocurrencies have proven to be viable and desirable payment options, and accepting these payment methods is well-aligned with our mission to continue to be an innovative and forward-thinking company.

One of the core goals of Shelter Market has always been to provide our clients with a broad choice of quality cannabis products at the lowest prices possible. We also want to support the growing cryptocurrency market, its investors, and to empower others in our industry and beyond to do the same.

“We are pleased to be the first medical cannabis marketplace in Canada to accept cryptocurrency,” says David Purcell, Shelter’s Chief Commercial Officer, “it’s a means to further provide our clients additional choice and security.”

If you’re ready to pay with a cryptocurrency on Shelter Market, there are two important things you need to know before getting started:

1) Once placed, orders purchased with cryptocurrencies cannot be modified.

Refunds will not be available in cryptocurrency; in the event that a refund is required, clients will be refunded the dollar value of their purchases, or given the opportunity to have that value applied to a future order.

While these policies may be revisited in the future, the current volatility of cryptocurrency value requires us to implement them for the time being.

Shelter’s cryptocurrency transactions are operated via CoinBase - you can learn more about them 

Once you’ve reached the checkout screen of your order, you have two options to pay using cryptocurrency.

1) Pay via Coinbase - selecting this option will open up a pop-up login page for Coinbase. Please note that 

2) Click the listed cryptocurrency with which you’d like to pay. If your currency isn't pictured, click Show More to reveal the entire available list.

Next, click on your preferred crypto, and use the given QR Code / Wallet Address via your preferred service to transfer payment.

If you have questions about how to pay for your medical cannabis with cryptocurrencies, 

please click here to contact our client care team

Article header image by Karolina Grabowska.

Cryptocurrency Payments Now Available at Shelter Market

Welcome to our new Shelter Market blog series, 

. One of the best things about craft cannabis, other than the exceptional quality of the bud, is the people behind the plant. For our inaugural post, we sent out questionnaires to four growers from our 

 and distilled down their top 20 answers. Read on to learn more about the folks producing your favourite flower.

BC Skunk #1, grew one plant in my kitchen.

2. What is your background in growing cannabis?

I’ve been growing cannabis my whole life for self-consumption.

3. What is your preferred consumption method?

4. What is a standout cannabis experience for you?

Every year we celebrate Valentine's day together as a family, this also happens to be the day we received our cultivation and processing licence! The boys cook us a delicious dinner and the ladies all observe with joints in hand! For some reason, forks are replaced with fingers, and cooking with cannabis enhances alllll the flavours!

5. What is your favourite cultivar to grow and/or consume?

We have been experimenting with cultivars that provide an uplifting and creative experience. Right now a favourite of ours is Subcool’s Strawberry Daiquiri! It tastes like a bowl of fresh strawberries and leaves you with an uplifting experience and enough energy to clean the house, have a workout AND bake a batch of bread!

It started with seeing the benefit the flower was having with medical patients (that were very close to me). This was definitely the driving factor that convinced me to continue in this industry. Today I get to enjoy the benefit the flower has for myself, from being a tired parent of two crazy kids.

Dry trim, to better capture the terpenes from the plant.

8. What growing method do you use, and why?	

Soil, it’s what I know and it's the most resilient.

9. Do you use organic or non-organic inputs, and why?

 Both, as there are benefits to both types of inputs.

10. How do you judge the quality of your plants?

11. What drying method do you use, and why?

 Whole plant hang dry. We believe this leads to better terpene profiles and a slower more controlled dry which preserves moisture in the bud and leads to a tastier end product!

12. What advice can you share with home gardeners who are new to growing cannabis?

Do your research on an easy to execute nutrient program and try to plan for a time of year that you can cultivate outdoors. Soil is much more forgiving than a potted plant!

13. Where do you grow your plants, and why?

Indoor: having complete control of my climate lets me sleep good at night.

14. What do you use for starting material, and why?

We usually start with seeds and will clone off the “best” genetics. We have also used tissue culture when ordering genetics from other companies.

15. What advice can you share with people looking to transition to or start in the legal market?

Plan carefully and try to work with what you have.

16. What has been your biggest challenge/failure when growing cannabis?

The ups and downs of the legacy market, and the shift from legacy to legit. Doing the same thing (growing) that I have always done but in a new challenging way.

17. Without giving away your secret sauce, what growing techniques set you apart?

Most importantly, we have Mom sprinkle her love on the plants! We have an incredibly dedicated cultivation team that understands that the smallest details matter! We truly pour our lives into caring for our plants and the process. Our growing methods stem from our farming background and the experience that we have taken from four generations of farming on a large scale. You learn from every mistake and improve because of them, attention to detail is key in the process and being able to identify improvements and perform plant care with purpose is something all of our team members strive for. On the farm we don’t have the ability to control our environment and growing indoors has given us the ability to provide our plants exactly what they need to thrive, their success is dependent on our actions and we take this responsibility in earnest! If you’re listening, plants have something to teach all of us and we are here to learn!

18. What has been the highlight of your career as a licensed grower so far?

19. What is a misconception people have about growing cannabis?

 That growing fire is easy. It takes a repeatable day in day out process, with incremental improvements - that seem to last a lifetime.

20. What is the legal cannabis industry getting right, and what would you love to see as the industry matures?

 I think the safety of the products in the market is great. Hopefully, in the future, the industry loosens up on some restrictions and gets the price of cannabis to retail lower.



Hearst Organic is located in the small French community of Hearst in Northern Ontario. The greenhouse and shop are the province’s first micro-cultivation site and are built around the priority of doing things right, and bringing true craft cannabis to Canadians in small batches. Their promise is to strive for quality over quantity. 

Today’s answers were provided by grower Joel Lacelle.

Organnicraft is a craft cultivation facility located just outside Vernon, British Columbia, and is staffed with some of the most experienced legacy market individuals in the Okanagan Valley. They produce a mix of high-end California Exotics and a few BC staples brought in from the legacy market, allowing for premium cannabis and large yields in small-batch rooms. Within the facility, every task is carried out with strategy and passion leading to white ash, tremendous amounts of resin, insane total terpenes, and high THC. 

Today’s answers were provided by grower Chris Cagnoni.

Prairie Grass is a family-owned and operated craft cultivation facility located in Southern Alberta. This passionate team combines four generations of farming experience with the co-founders’ medical backgrounds in pharmacy and nursing to create products that support patients and showcase the unique properties of the plant. 

Today’s answers were provided by growers Olivia Penner and Rebecca Thomson.

Verte West is a small-scale cannabis producer on Vancouver Island. The team comes from the legacy market, and have brought their experience and passion to the new legal cannabis world in Canada. Verte West focuses on unique tall plants with flavour profiles that require attention, and sometimes longer growing times that other growers may shy away from. Their goal is to consistently produce high quality craft cannabis by hang drying, hand trimming, and employing local help. Verte West is self-funded, locally owned and operated. They don't have a board or fancy VP's, just a band of brothers focusing on growing great cannabis. Today’s answers were provided by grower Tyler Hass.

Editor’s note: Interviews have been edited for length and clarity.

 and the other growers in our Craft Collective. 



4 in 20: Meet 4 Shelter Craft Collective Growers in 20 questions

It’s finally here! Over our past five years in cannabis e-commerce we have had the opportunity to work alongside our members to create a better website based on your feedback. We have overhauled our entire platform with new features and updates to bring you an exceptional cannabis purchasing experience.

We are so thankful to all of you for your suggestions and support, and we look forward to continuing to create something amazing together.

Read on to learn more about our new improvements!



Finding the right cannabis products takes patience and our new navigation system makes the search a whole lot easier. Shop our selection of craft and other premium products using pre-filtered popular links.


What’s new and what’s on sale? Search both categories directly on the homepage so you can browse faster and better.



The product cards are designed to relay key facts about each product quickly and efficiently so you don’t have to search for the details needed to make an informed purchase.

The physical appearance of cannabis is a key factor in determining quality. In addition to providing downloadable certificates of analysis (COAs), we also highlight dried flower on our product cards so you can get an accurate representation of the product you are purchasing.

THC-dominant, Balanced, and CBD-dominant products stand out with visual representations of each category, making browsing simpler. Look for the diamond for THC, a circle for CBD, and a hexagon for THC/CBD-balanced products.

Terpenes are an important part of the cannabis equation when it comes to product selection. Dominant terpene values are prominently displayed so you can get a more comprehensive understanding of the different cultivars and potential effects.

Each cultivar (and each lot, in fact) has its own unique terpene profile which we represent with a colour-coded graph. Learn the colour combos of your favourite terpene as a tool to help you filter your selections.

Product formats typically range from 3.5-28 gram offerings but you can also see the cost-per-gram breakdown for each category of size.

Already know what you’re looking for? Skip the extended product card details and simply click “add to cart” for an express shopping experience.

Simplify and enhance your shopping experience with our new filters. Easily discover the products you are looking for by choosing the categories that matter most to your product selection. Detailed descriptions and COAs are available on all products in the product card section.

Members can now easily shop between lots of the same cultivar and producer in one place. We simplified comparing THC, CBD and terpene values, pricing, and formats of the different lots so you can choose the best product to suit your needs.\

View and download lot-specific COAs right from the product page. This detailed information can help you make the most-informed decision about your cannabis products to help with selection. THC, CBD, and dominant terpene values are listed right on the product cards for easy access to commonly searched product information.

Member details can be easily accessed all in one place! View your medical documentation quantity limits and expiry date, update your address, and review your order history so you can easily repurchase products you love or find new products with similar profiles.

We have simplified our member sign-up with a new medical application tracking system. This helps new members ensure they have all the necessary information needed to register, every step of the process. Ready to sign up? 

New Website Features and Enhancements

...the case for Cannabis synergy via the “entourage effect” is currently sufficiently strong as to suggest that one molecule is unlikely to match the therapeutic and even industrial potential of Cannabis itself as a phytochemical factory.’

- 

Whenever we consume cannabis, whether we are smoking, vaping, or even using topicals, our bodies are interacting with a wide-variety of botanical compounds known as phytocannabinoids. Phytocannabinoids are cannabinoids produced in plants, as opposed to endocannabinoids which are produced in the bodies of most mammals. Each of these compounds provides its own signature effects and benefits, which shift and change as they interact with each other. This phenomenon is known as ‘The Entourage Effect’.

Dr Ethan B. Russo is a neurologist and pharmacologist who is known for his extensive studies of cannabis and its effects on the body and mind. He delves into researching the interactions between these cannabinoids in his essay 

The Case for the Entourage Effect and Conventional Breeding of Clinical Cannabis: No “Strain,” No Gain;

 ‘...the case for Cannabis synergy via the “entourage effect” is currently sufficiently strong as to suggest that one molecule is unlikely to match the therapeutic and even industrial potential of Cannabis itself as a phytochemical factory.’ 

THC (Tetrahydrocannabinol) & CBD (Cannabidiol) are some famous players in the cannabinoid scene. These two compounds have been isolated and incorporated into a vast array of products; edibles, topicals, tinctures, you name it. While these two compounds undoubtedly provide an array of potential health benefits, there is a growing movement embracing ‘whole plant medicine’; aka ‘Nature’s Multivitamin’.

The vast array of synergistic phytochemical factors which make up a plant's unique biological makeup are comparable to a symphony orchestra. An untrained ear is unable to pick out the individual instruments, however, this does not mean their absence would go unnoticed.

We are still learning much about the nature of the intricate relationships which exist between the phytochemical constituents of the cannabis plant. For example, the active ingredient in Aspirin is acetylsalicylic acid, derived from 

 (White Willow bark). Aspirin is commonly taken to treat fever, pain and inflammation. It also is an effective blood-thinner. However, with long term continued use some adverse side-effects can begin to manifest, such as increased bruising as the vein walls become thinner and more permeable. 

 itself provides similar anti-inflammatory, pain relieving effects, but the plant contains other chemical constituents beside acetylsalicylic acid that work to modify the effects, and is found to fortify your vein and capillaries overall. Digitalis is another medicine, derived from Foxglove, that can have serious side effects when isolated from other, counteracting constituents. Phytocannabinoids are being found to have similar moderating effects on each other.

Of course, there is huge merit to isolating compounds and studying them extensively. We have collectively benefited from the scientists who are working tirelessly to understand plant compounds and how they individually interact with the human body. However, it is important to not get lost in the details. Like Monet’s famous ‘Water Lilies’ painting series; when viewed up close they seem dreamy and unorganized, take a step back and watch the bigger picture come into view. Nature truly knows best.

This website provides general information and discussions about cannabis and related subjects. The information and other content provided in this website, or in any linked materials, are not intended and should not be construed as medical advice, nor is the information a substitute for professional medical expertise or treatment.

If you have a medical concern, you should consult with your healthcare practitioner or seek other professional medical treatment. We do not ever recommend that you disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking out such advice because of something that have read on this blog or in any linked materials. If you think you may have a medical emergency, call your doctor or dial 911 immediately.

The opinions and views expressed on this blog and website have no relation to those of any academic, hospital, health practice or other institution.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6334252/

https://www.leafly.ca/news/cannabis-101/cannabis-entourage-effect-why-thc-and-cbd-only-medicines-arent-g

https://www.wired.com/story/cannabis-science-entourage-effect/

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/heart-disease/in-depth/daily-aspirin-therapy/art-20046797

https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/documents/herbal-monograph/final-european-union-herbal-monograph-salix-various-species-including-s-purpurea-l-s-daphnoides-vill_en.pdf

The Entourage Effect; How Does It Work?

Cannabinoids are initially found in acid form in plants, so while we refer to compounds like THC (Tetrahydrocannabinol) and CBD (Cannabidiol), the correct name for them in their natural state is THCA and CBDA (Tetrahydrocannabinolic Acid and Cannabidiolic Acid).

While these two Cannabinoids hog the limelight, CBGA (Cannabigerolic Acid) is actually the driving force. Often overlooked, as it typically only makes up about 1%, CBGA is where all other Cannabinoids derive from. During plant growth, CBGA converts to other Cannabinoid acids, mainly, THCA, and CBDA, and CBCA (Cannabichromenic Acid).

Through the process of decarboxylation (typically heating, vaping, or combusting, but also through drying) these compounds become non-acidic (and the ‘A’ is dropped from their names.). As of the date of this writing, no clinical studies have been done on CBG, however, we do know that CBG acts on both the CB1 and CB2 type receptors in our bodies.

TETRAHYDROCANNABINOLIC ACID AND CANNABIGEROLIC ACID FOR SYMPTOM RELIEF

THCA is considered non-intoxicating, and while research is still lagging far behind, it is suspected of providing anti-inflammatory, and appetite increasing effects, and some patients have reported it is useful for insomnia, muscle spasm, and pain relief. It also acts on both the 

In acidic forms, these compounds have been treated as non-pharmacologically active, however, in 2008, 

CBDA was found to have anti-inflammatory effects

 effects. As these compounds naturally degrade into their non-acidic forms, they haven’t been considered stable enough to be used in clinical settings, however, in 2019, Dr Mechoulam and his team synthesized a stable version of CBDA.

CBCA reportedly exerts anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial and analgesic activity. As of this writing, no studies have been performed on humans, but it is suspected that CBCA does not work on either the CB1 or CB2 receptors.

Acidic forms of Cannabinoids are typically accessed through juicing fresh cannabis plants, and topicals preparations.

Understanding Cannabis: Phytocannabinoids

The Endocannabinoid System (ECS) is an internal biological system that 

. The ECS’s main priority is to maintain homeostasis, which is when all systems are balanced and harmonious. The ECS is made up of three separate parts: Cannabinoid receptors, Endocannabinoids, and Metabolic enzymes.

Let's take a closer look at each of these separate parts.

The cannabinoid receptors are a big part of cellular response. They essentially sit on the outside of the cell and transmit information to the inside of the cell. While there are more receptors, the most widely studied and well known are the CB1 and CB2 receptors. CB1 receptors are generally found in the brain and the central nervous system and are the cannabinoid receptors that are responsible for interacting with Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and making you feel what we all typically refer to as “high”. CB2 receptors are usually found in the extremities, however, both CB1 and CB2 receptors can be found throughout the entire body.

While the most famous Cannabinoids are THC and CBD, these are just two of hundreds of a class of compounds called 

 are similar to plant cannabinoids in that they bind to receptors however, endocannabinoids are unique because they are produced by your body naturally. The two major endocannabinoids are anandamide and 2-AG and these are produced by your body on an on-demand basis. Your body doesn't store them, you use them as needed.

Metabolic enzymes are the ECS clean up crew. They work to efficiently break down and dispose of endocannabinoids once they’ve been used. This efficiency is what distinguishes the endocannabinoid system from other neurotransmitters which can hang around the body beyond the initial need. The two major metabolic enzymes are called FAAH and MAGL.

-FAAH (Fatty acid amide hydrolase) breaks down anandamide.

-MAGL (Monoacylglycerol lipase) breaks down 2-AG.

THC binds to both the CB1and CB2 receptors where it can affect such processes as your appetite, memory or sleep patterns for example. As CB1 Receptors are the main target of THC binding, scientists believe that the 

interaction between the two is the primary source for the sensations of intoxication.

 The interaction between THC and CB1 receptors also influences the perception of pain which is likely why many patients report relief from symptoms of chronic pain when using medical cannabis. 

Interestingly researchers suggest that the phytocannabinoid cannabidiol (CBD) doesn’t bind to either the CB1 or CB2 receptors but is thought to work to modify the receptors' ability to bind to cannabinoids. Have you ever heard that 

taking CBD to counteract the effects of a too-strong THC dose

 can be helpful? That’s because CBD can weaken the CB receptors’ ability to bind to THC, thereby modulating excess cannabinoid activity in the brain. This can help reduce anxiety associated with THC. It’s important to note that many variables come into play with individual experiences including your unique biological makeup and genetics, the ratio of CBD/THC taken, the intensity of the anxiety, and even the sort of products you’ve used. 

While there is still much to learn and understand about the human ECS, researchers have identified a range of functions that are regulated by it, including but not limited to:

Understanding Cannabis Series: The Endocannabinoid System

The Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations (ACMPR) 

 is essential if you, as a patient, wish to grow your own medical cannabis. With this authorization medical patients with a green thumb can rely on home cultivation or a designated grower (who will grow on their behalf) for their medical cannabis or to supplement what they are ordering from a provider. 

In this post, we’ll break down what an ACMPR license is, how to apply for one and how to get started once you receive authorization from Health Canada.

FIRST THINGS FIRST, YOU’LL NEED A MEDICAL DOCUMENT

If you don’t have a medical document authorizing the use of cannabis for medicinal purposes, you’ll want to make an appointment with your healthcare provider. If you can’t see your own physician or don’t know where to start, an alternative that we recommend is 

. They offer free Canada-wide telemedicine services and will work with you to create a treatment plan. Read more about what to expect at an Apollo cannabis Clinic appointment 

Be sure to tell your physician that you intend to grow your own plants as you will need your original medical document to send to Health Canada to register for an ACMPR license.

In order to complete the registration process, you will need to send Health Canada the following documents:

The original medical document from your health care provider

completed registration application form for personal production

, which includes a signed and dated declaration from the person who owns the site where you intend to produce consenting to the production if:

It is not your ordinary place of residence.

Mail this package to the following address:Health CanadaAccess to Cannabis for Medical Purposes ProgramAddress Locator: 0302BOttawa, ON K1A 0K9While each Canadian household is allowed to grow up to four plants, the number of plants allowed to grow under ACMPR is dependent on the prescription and medical needs authorized by your licensed practitioner.The number of plants you can cultivate is directly proportional to the strength of the dosage. 

 to access the online calculator by Health Canada which takes into account your daily limit, the growing method you intend to use and the number of growth cycles expected per year.

GETTING STARTED WITH GENETICS FROM SHELTER MARKET

Once you have a registration certificate, you may want to register with a licensed producer like Shelter Market to order:

an interim supply of dried cannabis, or cannabis oil

You may also want to access this interim supply option while you wait for your first harvest or if your crop is unsuccessful and you don’t have enough cannabis in storage to meet your needs.

It’s important to note that since seeds and clones are a means of producing cannabis, a Registration Certificate is required to purchase them on Shelter Market. Per section 290 (2) of the Cannabis Regulations, three seeds are equivalent to one cannabis plant. This means we may limit your purchase of seeds based on the amount of plants you are eligible for under your Registration Certificate

How to Register For An ACMPR License

It’s been nearly two years since the Canadian federal government legalized adult-use recreational cannabis and in that time many more Canadians have learned about and accessed cannabis for medicinal reasons.

You may wonder why a medical consumer might go to the trouble of seeing a physician for a medical document when they could just as easily pop into their local licensed retailer to pick up what they need. While each person has their own reasons to seek a medical document, some reasons might include the ability to claim medical cannabis on your taxes, establishing a patient file and historical usage with a health care provider, or because as medical patients they can access a variety of trusted brands and products along with exclusive access to 

 offered through providers like Shelter Market.

Whatever your reasoning, it's a pretty straight forward process when you utilize a cannabis specific clinic, like 

WHAT PATIENTS CAN EXPECT WHEN SEEKING A MEDICAL DOCUMENT FROM APOLLO CANNABIS CLINIC

Especially now in the era of Covid-19 social distancing, visiting a health care provider in person may prove much more difficult than in previous years. The good news is, to make an appointment with an Apollo physician you will not require a referral from your own family doctor and to get the process started you only need to use the online form found on their website 

.

If you live in Ontario, your consultation with the Apollo physician is free as it is covered by OHIP. Outside of Ontario, Apollo offers a free, secure video appointment available across Canada.

Once you’ve filled out the form, an Apollo Patient Care Specialist will call you to set up your initial appointment. They’ll ask a series of questions to determine your eligibility for medical cannabis such as have you ever been diagnosed with schizophrenia, been in a car accident and are you a veteran or a first responder?

Then they’ll send you a medical history questionnaire which you will need to fill out and return prior to your scheduled appointment.

You’ll receive a treatment plan during your first appointment and then you’ll have an opportunity to discuss which providers and products would be best suited to your needs. At this point you can request a specific provider, such as Shelter Market, and the Apollo team will ensure your medical document is sent to our client care team. You will also need to fill out a Shelter Market registration form, which can be found 

It’s worth noting that many patients split their daily limit across two or more medical documents so that they can access multiple providers. Transferring a medical document from one provider to another is 

Three months after your initial appointment, you’ll get a follow up where you can discuss your current treatment plan and make adjustments if necessary. In the meantime, Patient Care Specialists are available seven days a week via phone, email, or chat to answer any ongoing questions you may have.


For a list of Canadian Cannabis Clinics please 

What to Expect When You Make An Appointment with An Online Cannabis Clinic

Cannabis prohibition is just now beginning to end in some parts of the world, and so, this remarkably useful plant that has been used as medicine for at least 2000 years, and for 

, is just now starting to become known to us. Thankfully however, some limited research had been done under prohibition, and had already yielded remarkable discoveries.

 and two years later Cannabidiol (CBD) was discovered. It would take another two decades for Dr Raphael Mechoulam to 

, what many consider one of the main active ingredients in cannabis.

Over the next decades, more of this class of compound would be found. Dubbed ‘Cannabinoids’, 

 in the cannabis plant, only around 110 of which are currently known. In addition, Cannabinoids have been found in other plants as well, such as Echinacea, which is thought to contain even more Cannabinoids than cannabis itself.

 that humans (and many mammals, birds, fish, and reptiles) have two separate types of receptors for these compounds, all throughout the brain, the immune system, and other organs. It was also discovered that our own bodies actually produce cannabinoids, leading to the need for the distinction of endocannabinoids (made by the body), and phytocannabinoids (made by plants).

We now know that Cannabinoids play a significant role in regulating our bodies. This series will continue to explore cannabinoids and other active ingredients in cannabis, and how they interact with each other, and with our bodies.

Click here to see part one of this series: Understanding Cannabis: Origins

Understanding Cannabis Series: The Discovery of Cannabinoids

While the origin of cannabis has been hard to pinpoint, we do know that it originated 

. We also know that China is where its first medical use was recorded. In 100 AD it appeared in the world’s first (surviving) 

. It soon came to be considered one of the 

In the western world, medieval times saw 

the birth of the western medical tradition

. It did not evolve from medicines already being used, but diverged wildly into many practices that are considered barbaric, uneducated, and downright harmful by today’s standards. One man, Paracelsus was ridiculed in his day, and for generations after, for trying to preserve the knowledge local women healers had of various plant medicines. His revolution against this new, religious-based medical establishment would eventually win out, and today he is considered 

Cannabis would be used as a medicine for hundreds of years until the invention of patents, and the introduction of the government regulation of medical products in the early 1900’s. Just as scientific advancement made new understandings of plants and medicines possible, political elements succeeded in getting cannabis (and other plant medicines) deemed illegal, and 

Understanding Cannabis Series: Origins

This is a guest post from Stephanie Karasick, Founder and Chief Creative Director of

In August 2014, I nervously sat in the waiting room of the Cannabinoid Clinic, one of the first medical cannabis clinics in Toronto. I was ready to give cannabis a try, but felt very unsure about what I was embarking on. I had no guidance, just hope, based on my handful of “recreational” experiences with weed in my 20s, that this was worth a shot. I was 42 and had suffered from chronic depression and anxiety all of my life. I’d been on and off a handful of psychotropic medications and therapy. Cannabis though? Was it safe? Would people judge me? Was I going to become one of those stoner people? Would it even help? I left that day with a recommendation for a gram a day, split between two Licenced Producers, and a quick lesson on how to grind up and vaporize the buds.

The answers came. Yes! Cannabis did help! In fact, it was the only thing I’d tried that allowed me to feel present and happy. I blindly bought a few different strains. It was only a matter of a few days and I realized that not all cannabis worked the same for me. The CBD one did little, while the one with the peppery smell at 12% THC was like a ray of sunshine. I started taking notes. I’d jot down the time of day, amount I was taking, the temperature I vaped at, and most importantly, how I felt each time, before and after. I did this for 6 months. I learned about terpenes and irradiation and transparency (most Producers at the time chose to be “proprietary” and not show lab reports.) I learned that there weren’t enough useful resources for a patient like myself, trying to figure all this stuff out. I wished there was an app, like my Fitbit, that could help me track all these variables and really see my progress. It simply didn’t exist.

I needed to create this app. As luck would have it, my husband has a business that builds apps and sites for sports teams. I convinced him to give me access to one of his developers and build a prototype. Strainprint was born. A friend of mine was in the tech business and loved what he saw so much that we joined forces (along with a few other smart folks), decided to put our own money into developing it and get it out there!

The first version of Strainprint launched in 2017, with the guidance of medical advisors to ensure we were creating something extremely useful. We also built a loyalty program to reinforce the behaviour of tracking. Since then, we’ve helped thousands of patients keep track of when they medicate and figure out which cannabis products work best for them. Millions of anonymized data points of peoples’ experiences get sorted through a robust software to make sense of it. Researchers, doctors, and growers can gain more insight into this amazing plant’s ability to relieve so many symptoms. Slowly, the use of cannabis as a medicine is being considered by people who once shunned it. The evidence is all in the data.

But there is so much more to be done. Companies like Shelter get it. They know that people rely on the products they sell and they want to be able to provide consistency, availability, and transparency to their patients. They’ve aligned with quality growers who care. And so the learning continues. Nothing makes me happier than when we hear from patients telling us how much they get out of tracking. If you’re genuinely invested in learning what’s working best for you, and have trouble remembering how you felt last time you medicated, you’re not alone. There’s an app for that, it’s free, and you can download it 

Bonus: Enter the activation code FINDSHELTER when you set up the app, and you’ll get access to special coupons ;)

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