Axea is pleased to announce that our complete line of cannabis isolate oils and infused topical products is now available on HeroDispatch.com for Canadian veterans and first responders.


Military veterans often carry the weight of their service long after they’ve returned home. From physical injuries to mental health challenges like PTSD, the journey to wellness can be daunting. Fortunately, there’s a growing body of research suggesting that cannabinoids like CBD (cannabidiol), CBG (cannabigerol), and CBN (cannabinol) hold promise in supporting veterans’ health, wellness, and mental wellbeing. Let’s delve into the benefits these compounds offer to those who have served our country.

  1. Relief from Physical Pain: Many veterans experience chronic pain due to injuries sustained during their service. CBD, CBG, and CBN have all shown potential in alleviating pain. CBD interacts with the body’s endocannabinoid system, which regulates pain perception, while CBG and CBN also exhibit analgesic properties. For veterans seeking natural alternatives to manage pain without the side effects of traditional medications, cannabinoids offer a promising solution.
  2. Managing PTSD and Anxiety: Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and anxiety are prevalent among veterans, often stemming from traumatic experiences during active duty. CBD has gained attention for its anxiolytic properties, helping to modulate stress responses and promote a sense of calm. CBG has shown promise in reducing anxiety by interacting with serotonin receptors in the brain, while CBN may help alleviate symptoms of insomnia often associated with PTSD. Together, these cannabinoids offer a multifaceted approach to managing the mental health challenges faced by veterans.
  3. Supporting Sleep and Restoration: Sleep disturbances are common among veterans, whether due to PTSD, chronic pain, or other factors. CBN in particular has emerged as a potential aid for sleep disorders. Interacting with the body’s endocannabinoid system to promote relaxation and induce drowsiness, it offers a natural alternative to pharmaceutical sleep aids. By supporting restful sleep, cannabinoids contribute to overall health and wellbeing, allowing veterans to wake up feeling refreshed and rejuvenated.
  4. Neuroprotective Properties: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a significant concern for many veterans, with long-term implications for cognitive function and overall brain health. CBD, CBG, and CBN all possess neuroprotective properties, potentially safeguarding against the damage caused by TBI and other neurological disorders. These cannabinoids have shown promise in reducing inflammation, promoting neurogenesis, and protecting against oxidative stress, offering hope for veterans grappling with the aftermath of brain injuries.
  5. Addiction Recovery and Mental Health: Substance abuse and mental health disorders often coexist among veterans, presenting complex challenges on the road to recovery. CBD, CBG, and CBN may offer support in addiction recovery by modulating the brain’s reward pathways and reducing cravings. Additionally, their anxiolytic and mood-stabilizing effects can complement traditional therapies for mental health disorders, providing veterans with a holistic approach to healing and rehabilitation.

For people navigating the complexities of physical and mental health challenges, cannabinoids like CBD, CBG, and CBN offer a ray of hope. From managing pain and anxiety to promoting restful sleep and supporting neuroprotection, these compounds hold promise in enhancing overall health, wellness, and mental wellbeing. As research continues to unfold, cannabinoids emerge as valuable allies in the journey toward healing and resilience.


Hero Dispatch provides a hand-picked selection of craft cannabis products, specifically chosen for our nation’s heroes. Their advisory board, comprised of veterans, first responders, and clinicians, is dedicated to providing this community with an ideal medical cannabis marketplace for their unique needs.

Through Veteran Affairs Canada (VAC) and direct billing via Blue Cross, the full suite of premium cannabis products on Hero Dispatch (including dried flower, oils, capsules, and topicals) can be delivered without any out-of-pocket expenses.

For more information on how to become a member, click here for their registration options –  and receive $50 off  your first order!

The endogenous cannabinoid system, named after the plant that led to its discovery, is perhaps the most important physiologic system involved in establishing and maintaining human health. Endocannabinoids and their receptors are found throughout the body: in the brain, organs, connective tissues, glands, and immune cells. In each tissue, the cannabinoid system performs different tasks, but the goal is always the same: homeostasis, the maintenance of a stable internal environment despite fluctuations in the external environment.

Cannabinoids promote homeostasis at every level of biological life, from the sub-cellular, to the organism, and perhaps to the community and beyond. Here is one example: autophagy, a process in which a cell sequesters part of its contents to be self-digested and recycled, is mediated by the cannabinoid system. While this process keeps normal cells alive, allowing them to maintain a balance between the synthesis, degradation, and subsequent recycling of cellular products, it has a deadly effect on malignant tumor cells, causing them to consume themselves in a programmed cellular suicide. The death of cancer cells, of course, promotes homeostasis and survival at the level of the entire organism.

Endocannabinoids and cannabinoids are also found at the intersection of the body’s various systems, allowing communication and coordination between different cell types. At the site of an injury, for example, cannabinoids can be found decreasing the release of activators and sensitizers from the injured tissue, stabilizing the nerve cell to prevent excessive firing, and calming nearby immune cells to prevent release of pro-inflammatory substances. Three different mechanisms of action on three different cell types for a single purpose: minimize the pain and damage caused by the injury.

The endocannabinoid system, with its complex actions in our immune system, nervous system, and all the body’s organs, is literally a bridge between body and mind. By understanding this system, we begin to see a mechanism that explains how states of consciousness can promote health or disease.

In addition to regulating our internal and cellular homeostasis, cannabinoids influence a person’s relationship with the external environment. Socially, the administration of cannabinoids clearly alters human behavior, often promoting sharing, humor, and creativity. By mediating neurogenesis, neuronal plasticity, and learning, cannabinoids may directly influence a person’s open-mindedness and ability to move beyond limiting patterns of thought and behavior from past situations. Reformatting these old patterns is an essential part of health in our quickly changing environment.

What Are Cannabinoid Receptors?

Sea squirts, tiny nematodes, and all vertebrate species share the endocannabinoid system as an essential part of life and adaptation to environmental changes. By comparing the genetics of cannabinoid receptors in different species, scientists estimate that the endocannabinoid system evolved in primitive animals over 600 million years ago.

While it may seem we know a lot about cannabinoids. Large gaps likely exist in our current understanding, and the complexity of interactions between various cannabinoids, cell types, systems and individual organisms’ challenges scientists to think about physiology and health in new ways. The following brief overview summarizes what we do know.

Cannabinoid receptors are present throughout the body, embedded in cell membranes, and are believed to be more numerous than any other receptor system. When cannabinoid receptors are stimulated, a variety of physiologic processes ensue. Researchers have identified two cannabinoid receptors: CB1, predominantly present in the nervous system, connective tissues, gonads, glands, and organs; and CB2, predominantly found in the immune system and its associated structures. Many tissues contain both CB1 and CB2 receptors, each linked to a different action. Researchers speculate there may be a third cannabinoid receptor waiting to be discovered.

Endocannabinoids are the substances our bodies naturally make to stimulate these receptors. The two most well understood of these molecules are called anandamide and 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG). They are synthesized on-demand from cell membrane arachidonic acid derivatives, have a local effect and short half-life before being degraded by the enzymes fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) and monoacylglycerol lipase (MAGL).

Phyto cannabinoids are plant substances that stimulate cannabinoid receptors. Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, is the most psychoactive and certainly the most famous of these substances, but other cannabinoids such as cannabidiol (CBD) and cannabinol (CBN) are gaining the interest of researchers due to a variety of healing properties. Most Phyto cannabinoids have been isolated from cannabis sativa, but other medical herbs, such as echinacea purpura, have been found to contain non-psychoactive cannabinoids as well.

Interestingly, the cannabis plant also uses THC and other cannabinoids to promote its own health and prevent disease. Cannabinoids have antioxidant properties that protect the leaves and flowering structures from ultraviolet radiation – cannabinoids neutralize the harmful free radicals generated by UV rays, protecting the cells. In humans, free radicals cause aging, cancer, and impaired healing. Antioxidants found in plants have long been promoted as natural supplements to prevent free radical harm.

Cannabis, The Endocannabinoid System, And Good Health

As we continue to sort through the emerging science of cannabis and cannabinoids, one thing remains clear: a functional cannabinoid system is essential for health. From embryonic implantation on the wall of our mother’s uterus, to nursing and growth, to responding to injuries, endocannabinoids help us survive in a quickly changing and increasingly hostile environment.  Can an individual enhance his/her cannabinoid system by taking supplemental cannabis? Beyond treating symptoms, beyond even curing disease, can cannabis help us prevent disease and promote health by stimulating an ancient system that is hard-wired into all of us? Research has shown that small doses of cannabinoids from cannabis can signal the body to make more endocannabinoids and build more cannabinoid receptors. Therefore many first-time cannabis users don’t feel an effect, but by their second or third time using the herb they have built more cannabinoid receptors and are ready to respond. More receptors increase a person’s sensitivity to cannabinoids; smaller doses have larger effects, and the individual has an enhanced baseline of endocannabinoid activity. Regular doses of cannabis might act as a tonic to our most central physiologic healing system.

Many physicians cringe at the thought of recommending a botanical substance and are outright mortified by the idea of smoking a medicine. Our medical system is more comfortable with single, isolated substances that can be swallowed or injected. Unfortunately, this model significantly limits the therapeutic potential of cannabinoids.

Unlike synthetic derivatives, herbal cannabis may contain over one hundred different cannabinoids.  Scientific inquiry and patient testimonials both indicate that herbal cannabis has superior medical qualities over synthetic cannabinoids.

In 1902 Thomas Edison said, “There were never so many able, active minds at work on the problems of disease as now, and all their discoveries are tending toward the simple truth that you can’t improve on nature.” Cannabinoid research has proven this statement is still valid.

So, is it possible that medical cannabis could be the most useful remedy to treat the widest variety of human diseases and conditions, a component of preventative healthcare, and an adaptive support in our increasingly toxic, carcinogenic environment? We at AXEA believe yes. This was well known to the indigenous medical systems of ancient India, China, and Tibet, and as you will find in this report, is becoming increasingly well known by Western science. Of course, we need more human-based research studying the effectiveness of cannabis, but the evidence base is already large and growing constantly, despite efforts to discourage cannabis-related research.

This is changing, in part because the public is demanding it. People want safe, natural and inexpensive treatments that stimulate our bodies’ ability to self-heal and help our population improve its quality of life. Medical cannabis is one such solution. This summary is an excellent tool for spreading the knowledge and helping to educate patients and healthcare providers on the scientific evidence behind the medical use of cannabis and cannabinoids.

We are thrilled to be nominated as finalist for “Brand of the Year” at the 2024 Grow Up Awards!

The Grow Up Industry Awards is a national annual event honouring cannabis professionals and companies and recognizing excellence and innovation in our industry.

 

Voting is now open at www.growupawards.com. We thank everyone for their support and wish all nominees the best of luck!