sometimes the best things happen by accident. #cancer #cancerremission #endocannabinoidsystem
Where it all began.
Remission in 2 months
'Barbara' met SKMS in 2015 after nine months of chemo treatment of a progressive cancer. She was feeling pretty lousy and the illness was progressing steadily. Sleep ws difficult and she was nauseous a lot.
The SKMS Kitchen made its first batches of traditional Rick Simpson Oil for Barbara, a concentrate of Cannabis Flower oils made by emulsifying plant oils into high grade fit for human consumption alcohol and then removing the alcohol by evaporation, and freezing to confirm separation.
This molasses like substance was supplied in the traditional fashion, in syringes for dispensing orally. Original RSO is not very efficient or convenient, and we later learned provides a very low absorption ration, but is effective.
Within 30 days Brenda's oncology team at Central Maine Medical Center gave a remarkable report of progress and 60 days later recommended to stop conventional chemotherapy treatment.
But the story continued
During 2015 SKMS also met several hundred combat veterans seeking severe pain relief and opiate addiction cessation, who quickly saw the value of concentrated symptom relief. The challenge was ease of use- dispensing a sticky black goo from a syringe was messy, and the dosage was so minute, a small amount could make a big difference.
The innovation this challenge created, ended up helping the cancer patients with both access and outcome success.
So the innovation began
SKMS' first attempts to encapsulate Rick Simpson Oil into traditional gelatin capsules discovered the occasional potential of RSO melting capsules, often in turn melting other adjacent capsules, and initiating a chain reaction of gooeyness ruining stored batches of RSO capsules.
This was an obstacle to large scale production or even patient product storage, and would certainly prevent retail sales.
SKMS' first major innovation was determining methods to successfully overcome this product compromise issue. Subsequently several million capsules were produced between 2015 and 2019... before the story took another unexpected turn.
But back to the cancer cases..
Numerous cancer cases were referred to SKMS by professionals from traditional and alternative healthcare and from other clients, following Barbara. While cannabis edibles were widely available in New England legally, very few operations made whole plant medicine versions capable of effecting cancer, and even fewer if any made product consistently or made consistent content product.
'John' was SKMS' second cancer patient, brought to us shortly after Barbara, with a pleading call at 6pm from a Lewiston Maine Nurse asking us to meet the family that night. John was in a wheelchair and could not lift his head when we first met. He had been discharged from Central Maine Medical Center that day after months of chemo treatment, and been advised to go home to make final arrangements. His wonderful and caring wife just wanted relief from the pain for him.
John started that night on SKMS original Chronic Illness Formula capsules, and lived four more years despite multiple advanced stage cancers. Time he spent with his daughter and wife. Before he chose to leave, he came to meet one of us, and explained that he knew the capsules worked, but that the chemo had left him with an eroded skull and jaw, he was in incredible pain, and he was choosing to end the fight. He thanked us very sincerely for the time given. He also made a joke about getting a bill from healthcare for a band aid from his last blood test, line itemed at $98.00, and pointed out that even without insurance, plant medicine was a heck of a value in comparison.
John was an early turning point in SKMS' decreasing willingness to endorse healthcare treatment options, and a cue that early treatment was paramount to success.
When did the formulations change?
Before stores were allowed in the Maine Medical Cannabis program, all sales were direct deliveries to patients, usually involving a phone call reviewing performance success of the patient's previous order, and their current state of health and symptom relief needs of their next order.
With inherent variation in whole plant med production, patients provided varied performance results feedback, providing guidance towards what works, and what doesn't work.
In a very competitive market, SKMS was highly motivated to pursue best performances, and followed these feedback points obsessively. As reports of improvement were noted, formulations were altered to adopt the change, initiating a truly amazing, rarely occurring and unique process in the cannabis industry or medicine development as a whole- what is called evidenced based research.
SKMS had hundreds of clients to gather feedback from, almost weekly, some even daily, for years. Formulation ingredients and processing techniques adopted substantial alterations over time as improved performances were observed, resulting in many performances essentially doubling in their healing speed for most patients.
Around 2017 a second formula was added to assist sleep and provide an additional pain relief option to cancer patients, the SKMS Purple Purple Severe Pain Capsules. And the simple dosage protocol guidance was born of "Blues by day, Purples by Night, increase dosage frequency until sleeping 12-16 hours in each 24".
Did it work?
SKMS and clients did see the healing success the endocannabinoid system is capable of, over and over, in a wide variety of cancers and ages during the next four years. Stomach and Colon cancer in a 40 year old professional skier, Skin cancer on a 55 year old man, Breast Cancer radical remission in a 45 year old woman, brain tumor reductions, blood cancers, lymphatic cancer and lung cancer victories, prostate cancer remissions, numerous precancer markers disappeared, and literally more success stories than SKMS staff could recall in one sitting.
It became abundantly clear working with hundreds of clients over several years, that the formulations worked, the endocannabinoid system could affect cancer, and that getting ahead of the illness, dosage and sleep were all key markers of success.
And then the bigshots wanted to put us out of biz..
SKMS was forced to release a secret the Kitchen had been working on for years when we received a call from a state regulatory department warning that a national corporate cannabis operation intended to sue to block distribution of SKMS capsules in the pending legal store market.
This was to be based on not having a Federal Alcohol processing license, a regulatory occurrence with precedent in other markets.
And so in 2017, SKMS released its first 'zero processed' water only powdered Rick Simpson Oil, a true pharmaceutical grade material, or Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient.
Obtaining organic alcohol or pesticide free alcohol for processing was becoming increasing difficult as early as 2016. The potential of concentrating toxins known to cause cancer and seizures into medicine intended to treat the same conditions was an impassable potential obstacle to production.
So, SKMS had spent over a $100K in product alone looking for a way to produce Rick Simpson Oil ... with just water. Being that plants are oil based, and oil and water don't mix.. it was an ambitious task. But, it started to become clear, that wholeplant cannabis innovation, was part of what SKMS was all about.
And there were unexpected benefits.
From the first release of the first Zero Processed water only powdered SKMS concentrate, the Anxiety Relief Formula, it became clear that absorption was dramatically improved, and that as suspected absorption played an almost larger role than dosage in relief success.
When additional formulations were adopted to the zero processed powdered format it was discovered matching doses provided reduced time to relief and more relief for less cannabinoid content.
This was subsequently seen in cancer patients, who responded much quicker to cannabinoid therapy treatments of the SKMS Blue and Purple Capsules.
And then the Banks found SKMS
In 2020 SKMS began the process of navigating state and federal regulators for legal national distribution of SKMS capsules online, on encouragement from national banking.
By summer of 2022 SKMS cancer capsules had accomplished a major tumor reduction inside a VA hospital in North Carolina, a non cannabis friendly state, shipped via USPS as an unregulated substance, confirming the reality of the Federal Controlled Substance Act and the 0.3% THC limit.
By Fall of 2022 SKMS capsules were live online on the RealCannabisMedicineCo.com platform, complete with normal credit card processing, shipping nationwide priority mail. While this is certainly not the conclusion of the SKMS story, it was a monumental achievement, a first for real wholeplant medicine, a first demonstrated effective canna med available to any adult on the internet.
In 2024 SKMS capsules were brought into a series of Clinical studies which first independently identified cannabinoid profiles most effective for specific relief or healing, and then matched the SKMS capsules to their findings. Subsequently the SKMS capsules were re-trialed and outperformed the results of the very research supporting them.
Nothing a whole lot of SKMS Cancer patients wouldn't tell already, but science is always good to have on board.
Best wishes on your healing journeys, and feel free to reach out to SKMS staff with questions.
SKMS Staff
Portland Maine April 5th, 2024
O. 207 544 6744
C. 207 671 8387