Cannabis and the Endocannabinoid System

Presented in collaboration with the Morty & Gloria Wolosoff Foundation

Everyone possesses an Endocannabinoid System (ECS). You didn’t learn about it because it was first discovered in 1992. Unlike our cardiovascular system or neurological system or any of our isolated systems, the ECS is a master system regulating all other systems in the body. Its main function is to maintain bodily homeostasis, essential for sustaining life. Our bodies produce cannabinoids (THC & CBD are examples of cannabinoids produced by the plant) which serve as messengers that go out to some of the millions of cannabinoid receptors located throughout our bodies with instructions on what to do to control pain, immune function, cancer, inflammation, the list is long. But as we age our bodies production of cannabinoids declines. Supplementing daily with the cannabinoids from the plant feeds our ECS, enabling us to heal and stay healthy.

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About Andi Novick

For nearly two decades I’ve been growing awesome fruits and vegetables and herbs. It’s not me - it’s my soil that should be given all the credit. It is loaded with compost and nutrients that feed a subterranean network of microbes that nourish the plants. Then there’s also the multitude of beneficial plants that grow alongside the crops. Those plants invite teams of insects, birds and bees. They also help me take care of pests and diseases because I would never use synthetic pesticides and other chemicals on my babies. After all, it is my children who consume what I harvest so I am particularly motivated to nourish the natural world that helps me provide.

But in 2018, it was the cannabis plant that called me back off the farm into the political arena once again. In response, I founded NY Small FarmA (NY Small Farm Alliance of Cannabis Growers and Supporters) to educate legislators and the public of the importance of welcoming back this sacred plant and the need to grow her outdoors under the sun, conscientiously and lovingly tended by small farmers, and of the need to put an end to what was becoming a horribly polluting multi-state business: industrial indoor cannabis cultivation.

On behalf of this plant I went to Albany, met with legislators and the governor’s office, drafted proposed legislation (I’m an attorney as well as a farmer), lectured at colleges and local libraries, wrote policy papers and Op Eds for local papers. I was convinced that once Albany understood how important this plant was they too would want to ensure its integrity. I urged that the Cannabis plant establish the paradigm for how all plants should be grown: without dangerous pesticides and without ripping up the earth with regular tilling.

I appeared on podcasts, gave interviews to the press and traveled around the state in what I affectionately called Canna Curious Community Chats, speaking to the public about the beneficence of this plant and the seemingly miraculous list of human conditions she could heal.

One of the greatest benefits I’ve received from working with cannabis has been to my emotional and spiritual well-being. In our spiritual practices we seek to enter into stillness and open our heart perception. Cannabis can amplify our ability to do that. She is not a substitute for a spiritual practice, but she is one of our tools for doing the work of tending consciousness. Cannabis helps me to take time out and see things from a different perspective: one that is grounded in the aliveness and awareness of the present moment.

Cannabis has been my inspiration to share all that I’ve learned with others as prohibition was finally coming to an end. This is my next chapter in sharing.

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