The Future of Cannabis Education with MM411: Trends, Innovations, and the Passion Fueling It

Founded in 2009, MM411 is a cannabis education platform offering dozens of science-based courses online. Throughout its 15-year journey, they have navigated challenges such as stigma and misinformation, the Schedule I status of cannabis, and the need for banking reform. Today, MM411 has its sights on launching new and innovative education topics, including veterinary medicine and horticulture.

In this interview, Cannabis Science and Technology Editor, Madeline Colli, sits down with DeVol for more insights. As DeVol explains, “It's the patient story that it absolutely drives me every day… I think it's going to be a fun journey to keep expanding.”

Be sure to also catch up on the first part of this interview with MM411's Journey: From Grassroots Beginnings to Global Cannabis Education Leader!

Watch the video clip and read a partial transcription below!

Madeline Colli: What's something that really excites you about the future of the cannabis space?

Chris DeVol: Making cannabinoid medicines, available across the globe to anybody who would like to use it. That excites me. I do think we will get there. I think we'll get there pretty fast, honestly. And I'm not even on either political thing, people are driving the conversation. People will continue to make things easier and legal. I think we have to have more testing. This whole Delta-8-THC situation has got to be put back in the box. I think that could be something that really could harm the industry, but I don't want to pivot to the bad stuff.

So back to what excites me. I think one of the stats that that we have in our courses that really drives me, is that currently, and this is a research study, 89.5% of medical professionals do not feel prepared to talk about medical marijuana. That's the gap that we got to fill. That's the piece. It's a large percent of medical professionals to this day are still not taught the endocannabinoid system [ECS]. The ECS is the largest receptor system in the human body. It's newly discovered, and what they found is that cannabinoids, we create our own endogenous cannabinoids, is it's like a lock and key, and what the early studies are showing – and I know Dr. Ethan Russo has some very strong opinions about this based on research and science – is that the deficiency, if you're deficient in endocannabinoids, that’s where cannabinoids come in from the plant that actually then get you back in balance. You can be deficient because of stress and just life events and all this other stuff. The ECS maintains all homeostasis of the human body. It's also all mammals, birds, pets – only exception are insects. So that's where the excitement and the veterinary side of things, for me is that your pet can't lie. If all of a sudden your dog Sam is coming up the stairs easier because you're introducing CBD into their diet, that's a big plus for your animal. There was a veterinarian on the Dr. Russo webinar, talking about studies about CBG and pets and the anxiety that they feel, especially like Fourth of July, or some of those events that where you see people going into the dispensaries to get product for their own animals. He said CBG is as effective, in his opinion, based on what his research shows, as for humans, the CBG side of things for us to reduce stress, increase mood, and just kind of give some balance back without having to be high.

That's the other misnomer that I get asked the most often is all of us had to start understanding the plant at square one, and most of us didn't know immediately that there's THC, which is psychoactive, there's CBD that's non psychoactive, and then there's I think it's 131 minor cannabinoids and they discovered new ones, so I might be wrong on that number, but a lot of them. The CBNs, the CBGs, the THCAs, and all the little pieces that now start the building blocks of your own wellness journey.