Octave Cannabis is bringing Cannabis Connect to Lloydminster to educate the public on various science, business, and community aspects of the cannabis industry.
Octave creator Ian Spence is a University of Saskatchewan Agriculture Biology student who has started creating a new technology to grow cannabis and idea that came to him at an AG conference in Panama.
“The aspect of it that I am shooting for is to be able to grow different varieties cannabis in different environments, optimized for each variety.”
During Cannabis Connected on August 31st at the Wild rose Pavilion, Spence will be revealing to the public more about his new technology.
“We will figure out how the plant prefers to be grown in the research setting. In the Cultivation setting, we will be actually able to deliver that environment precisely to all tissues within a population.”
Spence created Octave Cannabis to provide researchers with an improved platform to optimize environmental treatments of select cannabis varieties. Once he got patent pending status on Octave he decided to host Cannabis Connected to bring together industry professionals and locals together to learn more about the cannabis.
“The main idea of the conference is to network for everyone interested in it, try to get them in the same spot. Im also trying to bring the conversations into the light a bit. A lot of people are hesitant to tell their stories because of the stigma related to it.”
Spence originally went to the conference in Panama to learn how to grow food during the winter months through Controlled environment agriculture. During the trip, he discovered the major effect it could have on Cannabis. Spence says there are more parts of cannabis that can be used if grown correctly.
“There are hundreds, about five hundreds compounds that are active in cannabis that that our produce by several different pathways. Any change in the environment can change the active compound profile in many different ways.”
Most pharmaceutical companies focus on one compound in the plant such as CBD, Spence says the environment the plant grows can affect the other five hundred compounds which can be used for certain medicinal needs. Spence believes the legalization will be a slow burn on reducing the stigma on Cannabis and that once it starts helping people, that’s when perception will steer towards the positive.
“In my first year of school, my grandma got breast cancer. I started researching Rick Simpson oil, which is basically cannabis oil, I suggested that to her and she actually uses that as part of her treatments. It helps.”
Tickets for Cannabis Connected are $20 and can be bought through their Facebook page. All proceeds from the event will fund a scholarship program for local post-secondary students pursuing a field related to cannabis.