Along with a wide array of tours that take one throughout Northumberland and Prince Edward Counties, local guide Peter Brotherhood is offering a new one – A Cannabis Tour: Healing Body, Mind and Spirit.
It's a unique day tour, Brotherhood's press release said - the first of its kind in Canada, open to individuals and groups.
The itinerary includes a visit to the FSD Pharma Cannabis Facility which, by 2020, will be the largest hydroponic indoor facility in the world, with roughly the area of New York City's Central Park. For security reasons, this visit will see passengers stay on the bus, though the production of medical cannabis will be discussed at length.
Two Alderville First Nation stops are more interactive, with the aim of demystifying the stigma associated with the use of this plant and the opportunity to learn of the Anishnaabe (Ojibway) traditions of healing (including the teaching precepts of the Seven Grandfathers).
At the Medicine Wheel Natural Healing Store, clients' needs will be assessed and various strains of cannabis will be recommended.
There are more than three dozen strains available, ranging from sativa-dominant to indica-dominant to hybrid genetics. Information will be available on them all, including THC and CBD content, effects and common medicinal uses.
The store's 200 products include cannabis flowers and seeds, extracts, oils, edible additives (such as syrups and tinctures), salves and edible products (including gummies). There is also hardware such as vaporizers, pens and closed-loop extractors.
At the second Alderville stop, the Green Room, similar products are for sale.
Brotherhood's press release points out that, while certain cannabis strains produce euphoria, others have been used in the medical community to treat more than 200 chronic conditions, including pain, anxiety, sleep and eating disorders, fibromyalgia, atrophy, cancer, post-traumatic stress syndrome and depression.
Each tour includes lunch in Cobourg (either at Arthur's Restaurant and Pub at the Best Western Plus or the Woodlawn Inn), and the opportunity to shop for shortbread cookies at the Sprucewood Handmade Cookie Company.
Brotherhood recommends Tuesdays to Sundays as the best time for this tour, for which all clients must be over the age of 19 (birth certificates for young adults are mandatory).
