In this episode, my guest is Ricardo Rivera-Acevedo, Chief Science Officer and Director at Ecovita Health Corporation, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada working to initiate and manage a medical cannabis extraction facility and guide research and development of new therapeutic products. Ricardo is host of the Cannabis Science Podcast, the first weekly Canadian radio show focused entirely on cannabis and he is also a Scientific Consultant at ACGT, where he works to provide the skill and knowledge necessary to comply with the regulations set forth by Health Canada's Cannabis Act.

Born and raised in Puerto Rico, he attended City University of Puerto Rico. One of his college professors was from Canada and encouraged him to check out Vancouver where he ended up coming and starting his Ph.D. at the University of British Columbia in the Department of Pharmacology with a fantastic mentor. “That’s kind of where I started my path of not just drug development, medical research, but also my introduction into the science of cannabis.”

While preparing for his Ph.D. comprehensive examination, he mentions, “while studying the capsaicin receptor (the spicy hot feeling when eating a chili pepper) that receptor is actually activated and interacts with cannabinoids. And that receptor is also directly involved in pain sensation, noxious pain sensation. So I began to prepare this document for this examination. And I began to realize, Oh, you know what, there's a lot more to cannabis than I had previously considered in terms of like these molecular interactions because I always thought cannabis just had its effects on you know, on CB 1 receptor, cannabinoid receptor one and CB 2, and that's it. But it's much more complex than that and much more dynamic. And so that kind of began to push me in that direction”

Ricardo discusses being involved in the first clinical trial with dried cannabis on the island of Puerto Rico. “We were able to do the hard work and effort to initiate the first clinical trial with dried cannabis on the island of Puerto Rico, one of the first of its kind to any US territory.” He describes some of what he learned from this research; “So the basis by which you should really guide your therapeutic use is through the ratios of cannabinoids, CBD and THC. Now there are a bunch of other cannabinoids and they have some very interesting effects. But the main cannabinoids that are well studied right now are the THC and CBD. We've definitely established this conclusively, but it's also something that other groups and other labs have seen and many people have known for a long time, which is that when it comes to cannabis, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. So what does that mean? That means that when you have for example, CBD by itself, it is not as effective as CBD with THC, and then CBD with the other constituents in cannabis. But the issue is that, sadly, people have been focusing on CBD and THC for a very long time. So there's a lot of other chemical constituents that are now being explored but because they occur at such low levels in the plants, they're very difficult to get at levels too, to do a lot of these scientific experiments, particularly in smaller sort of academic environment. So what we're trying to do is to isolate them, purify them and then begin to introduce them back into a formula that reproduces what’d in the plant, but then we can also add or remove these different cannabinoids and see what happens. Because, honestly, to be just like open with you right now, it's kind of interesting and novel information that we've discovered. It's not just CBD and THC, that are doing this stuff, we're seeing effects that we can't describe just by looking at the THC and CBD that are very beneficial for a patient. And it has to do with the other cannabinoids that are actually present. And some strains have some of these cannabinoids like CBC for example, or, or even CBN that people have said, Oh, that’s the degraded products of THC. They do seem to have benefits for patients that are now only being teased apart.”

Ricardo also discusses his podcast; “Cannabis Science Podcast is exclusively dedicated to discussing the most up-to-date science on cannabis and cannabinoids, from an industry insider’s perspective”. He decided to start this labor of love to educate and inform anyone and everyone on the science of cannabis. What he had assumed was common knowledge even among the scientific population was not necessarily so. The podcast was launched in an effort to get everyone on the same page to inform and education on the science of cannabis.

In his own words; “I am a scientist and entrepreneur working to help biotech companies find better ways to solve poorly managed health conditions. To do this, my areas of expertise include drug chemistry and pharmacology, extraction, formulation, product development, facility design and operation, project management, regulatory consultation, as well as designing, organizing and directing clinical trials. I also strongly believe in science education and communication as valuable tools to improve people's lives by empowering them to make well-informed decisions for themselves and society. At this moment, I provide the training, knowledge, and skills necessary for organizations to successfully achieve their product and research goals”

From his website bio: Dr. Rivera-Acevedo is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology & Therapeutics at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. He is also cannabinologist and consultant for various pharma companies around the world.

With a BSc from the University of Puerto Rico – Cayey and PhD in Pharmacology from the University of British Columbia, he has extensive knowledge and expertise researching cannabis and its derivatives. In 2015, he established the first laboratory for cannabinoid research in the Department of Pharmacology at UBC, which is dedicated to understanding the therapeutic uses of different cannabis strains and formulations to treat different diseases.

He also teaches various undergraduate courses within the department including Introduction to Pharmacology, Statistics in Science, Drug Development, Natural Health Products, and Pharmacogenomics.

As former Director of Chemistry for Cannevert Therapeutics Ltd, he lead the chemistry team conducting R&D, QA/QC, and manufacturing research to improve cannabinoid extract formulations and development of new delivery methods. He also helped organize and supervise one of the first internationally recognized clinical trials with cannabis in Puerto Rico.

When not in the lab, he can be found in the dojo practicing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, teaching mindfulness to high school students with the Vancouver Crisis Centre, co-hosting the shows Cannabis Science Podcast, Cannabis Con Ciencia Podcast, and El Bus De Las 7 on Vancouver Coop Radio 100.5 FM.”

Thank you, Ricardo, for providing us with a glimpse of your ongoing research, work and projects in the area of cannabis science! There’s a lot more within this rich, informative episode that will be helpful for anyone wanting to increase their scientific knowledge on cannabis and gaining more of an understanding of the vast untapped potential of this plant.

Ricardo’s Links:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ricoriver/
Website: cannabisconciencia.org  (Cannabis Science and Research)
Podcast: https://cannabisconciencia.org/podcast/
Email: ricardo.rivera@ubc.ca
Twitter: CannabisFaculty, payme4science
The Univ. of British Columbia: https://www.grad.ubc.ca/alumni/profile/ricardo-rivera-acevedo
Press Release: https://apnews.com/7fa52c472c1092fdcb22ca734d4e449b
Research Gate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ricardo_Rivera-Acevedo

TSC Talks: https://tsctalks.com