Former New Mexico Governor and 2012 Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson, the newly named CEO of Cannabis Sativa, Inc., spoke with Annabelle Bamforth of Benswann.com to offer additional information about the company’s products and his evaluation of future marijuana trends.

Cannabis Sativa, Inc. plans to specialize in lozenges containing different blends of marijuana oil for both treating medical problems and pure recreational use. The company seeks to sell the lozenges in states where marijuana is legal. While Cannabis Sativa’s products are not yet on the market, Johnson was able to provide some details about the lozenges.

“A big part of what we’re intending to do is market this CBD oil, which absolutely works. Kids that have epilepsy are showing terrific improvement by using the oil,” Johnson said. “It also works for many types of cancer situations, MS, Parkinson’s.”

Johnson said that CBD is the medicinal active ingredient of marijuana. “Our product, the Cannabis Sativa lozenge, can be just the CBD oil, or it can be the CBD oil in combination with THC. Look at us as Coca-Cola– Coca-Cola Atlanta. What we’re looking to do, is we have these proprietary products, and we’re looking to establish 100 bottlers across the country to manufacture and sell our product. And we have a killer marketing campaign that we will unveil here shortly, so you will be able to identify our products.”

The lozenges are not simply “pot drops”. “There are two different strains of marijuana,” Johnson explained. “There’s the Sativa, which is a stimulus, and then there’s Indica, which is a depressant. So one kind of marijuana is a ‘go to sleep’ marijuana, and the other is a ‘clean your house’ marijuana.”

“So we have Cannabis Sativa- we own the proprietary rights to what we think is the ‘creme-de-la-creme’ of marijuana, in this case Sativa,” Johnson continued. “Everything that has ever been consumed on the black market, for example, has been a mixture of Sativa and Indica. There’s just no other way that it’s not going to be that case. Now that you have legalization, now that you have controlled products, you can virtually provide, in our case, proprietary Sativa strain that is 100% stimulant, 100% Sativa.” 

The ability to isolate Sativa and Indica, blend them together, or remove both entirely from the oil, is a process that not many people are aware of being possible. Marijuana may no longer be a mystery purchase containing unknown amounts of Indica and Sativa.

“You have the medical side of this which is CBD oil,” he said, “and then you mix the CBD oil with THC, and what you end up with on the medicinal side, you end up with competition for Oxycodone and all the painkillers that kill 100,000 people a year and yet nobody has been documented dying from marijuana.”

Johnson clarified that the medicinal lozenges can be “non-THC. No Sativa, no Indica. That oil is a lozenge with healing properties. You know, you bruise yourself, you wrenched your back. You take a non-THC lozenge and your back will be helped. You suffer from epilepsy. Wow, all of a sudden no more seizures. This is a lozenge with oil and no THC. No psychoactives.”

Johnson talked about the importance of cannabis oil being used as medicine when traditional medicines either fall short or are unavailable. “You yourself talked about the example of this woman [Shona Banda, who was interviewed by Ben Swann in May] and the effect that it had,” Johnson said. “You Google ‘epilepsy CBD oil’ right now and you’ll find an array of stories where children’s lives have been turned around.”

“Because of the microscopic presence of THC in this oil, it’s still a Class I narcotic in 25 states and in 25 states these kids are dying. They don’t get access to that oil. That’s crazy. That is just crazy,” said Johnson.

Johnson mentioned another property of marijuana called CBG:  “There’s also another property, another chemical present and it’s CBG, which actually stimulates frontal lobe activity. So it stimulates your brain. Because of prohibition, this chemical has been bred out, because there’s been a focus on more THC and less of everything else, where the ‘everything else’ has some real medicinal benefits.”

When comparing the lozenges to alcohol, Johnson said “I contend that marijuana is a lot safer than alcohol, and so I believe that this makes the world a better place. It makes the world a better place from a standpoint of, you know, helping kids with epilepsy, addressing all these medical issues that currently there are no medications available, making pain relief much, much safer than what is currently available.”

Johnson discussed the importance of proper labeling of the lozenges. “One of the the issues moving forward is labeling. Labeling the products so that people that have never tried marijuana before don’t have a Maureen Dowd experience where, you know, she consumed a 120 milligram dose of marijuana and apparently became comatose. There needs to be labeling. [The effects depend on] whether you decide to have 10 milligrams, or whether you decide to have 50 milligrams, it depends on you and your preferences.”

Personal responsibility and following law is also key, said Johnson. “These are the big issues moving forward, being responsible. Being responsible means complying with all the laws that we do face in this country.”

In Colorado, Johnson said that edible marijuana is generally sold in a package of 100 milligrams, separated in 10 milligram increments. He said that Cannabis Sativa, Inc. could sell packages in 15 milligram lozenges. When comparing the lozenges to smoking, “You smoke marijuana, you know, you get to this level of ‘wow everything seems terrific’ but you have to recharge, you have to smoke some more marijuana after about 45 minutes or an hour. With our product, which is not to smoke it, but you don’t have that. It’s something that I think is a very pleasant experience that lasts, you know, for hours.”

When asked if these lozenges may remove some of the negative stigma surrounding marijuana condemned by opponents as dirty and pungent, and if this might be an option for users who have problems with smoke, Johnson said “I absolutely believe that. People have, rightfully so, have an aversion to smoking. I have an aversion to smoking.”

“Edibles in Colorado are outselling the smoked product significantly,” Johnson continued. “But yeah, an aversion to smoking, it’s a rightful aversion, why smoke it when you can have something very pleasant to suck on?”

When asked about plans to market the lozenges beyond the United States, Johnson said he believes marijuana will be mostly legal in the US within ten years, save a few states. And “so goes the United States, so goes the world. We’re really betting on a legalized environment worldwide.” 

“I can’t tell you why the oil works,” said Johnson, who had previously noted he’s certainly not a scientist. But he hopes for much more research to be done. “Just an open ‘look, these products work, to the private sector, you can legally and scientifically now research this and tell us why it works and how it might work better.’ That’s the future. Very near in the future,” said Johnson.