Alternative Medicine

With cannabis now legal in Canada, there are several legal options for purchasing it. Some grow their own; some prefer to walk into a local dispensary, while for others, the convenience and abundant choice offered by online dispensaries is the primary choice. For those who opt to buy cannabis online in Canada, then here’s the lowdown on the legality of online dispensaries and how safe an option they are.

Buy Cannabis Online in Canada
According to official stats from the Canadian government, online cannabis sales amounted to 13.3% of the market share in the year following legalization in October 2018. With $900 million worth of cannabis products sold, there is clearly phenomenal demand. And with e-commerce quickly becoming so deeply integrated into our modern ways, the influence of online dispensaries looks set to grow substantially over the coming years.

Is it Legal to Sell Cannabis Online?
Yes it is. Across all of Canada’s provinces, it is now legal to purchase both medicinal and recreational cannabis either from a government-run website or from a licensed private seller.

Why Buying Weed Online is Safe
Buying your cannabis online is perfectly safe provided you do your due diligence. It’s essential to make sure that you only purchase from reputable vendors who source the cannabis products ethically and in accordance with the law.

Buying Weed Online: How it Works
The act of purchasing cannabis online in Canada works very much like purchasing any other goods with some exceptions.

One of the main differences is with age verification. When you order cannabis online, you’ll be required to verify your age before shipment can be processed. Buyers must be over 19 in all provinces, although Alberta and Quebec have different age limits of 18 and 21 respectively.

Once orders are placed, vendors will then carefully package the cannabis products in discreet packaging and send them directly to your home. Although stigma continues to wane, most consumers still don’t want their neighbours or others to know what’s inside the packaging, and discreet packages make it impossible to tell what’s inside.

The packaging usually consists of an air-proof container that’s tightly sealed and placed in a box for additional protection during shipping to ensure that the cannabis products arrive undamaged.

Online Dispensaries: A Reputation-based Model
One of the issues most commonly associated with online dispensaries is the element of trust that the buyer must place in the vendor before buying. Unlike in local dispensaries where consumers can view and smell the flower or concentrates before purchase, online dispensaries work based on a different model, one of trust and reputation.

There’s a huge amount of money available in the modern legalized cannabis industry, and bad players can take advantage by preying on the vulnerable and technologically illiterate consumers. Although in the minority, some may sell products that may not be properly tested while other unscrupulous outfits may not fulfill orders once placed.

The Danger of Tainted Products
Every experienced cannabis consumer knows that the quality of the cannabis purchased is of utmost importance. This not only applies to the end experience, but also to the health of the consumer.

Health Canada put in place a series of regulations by which vendors must comply. Examples include removing residual levels of pesticides and fertilizers in cannabis flower and the purging of solvent like butane to safe levels in concentrates.

When such regulations aren’t followed, the tainted product can be damaging to the health of consumers who may never know they contain levels over the legal limit.

Cannabis is a powerful medicinal plant, and when consumed in its full and untainted form it can provide medicinal patients with incredible therapeutic benefits. When consumers knowingly purchase their cannabis from a highly-regarded online dispensary, they can rest assured that they do not contribute to existing toxicity levels in the body by consuming cannabis products high in questionable compounds.

The Advantages of Online Dispensaries
As e-commerce becomes more integrated into modern society, it is slowly redefining our purchasing habits. Whether for those living in rural locations far from a local dispensary, or those living in larger cities where traffic and parking are problematic, online dispensaries offer several benefits.

Convenience

Where traffic, parking, and busy streets are an issue facing those who wish to purchase at local dispensaries, online dispensaries provide ultimate convenience. With a few simple mouse clicks, you needn’t venture out your front door to renew your stash.

Enhanced Selection

Online dispensaries offer much more varied and abundant supplies of cannabis that provides consumers with a range of choice often unmatched elsewhere. Where local dispensaries can only handle limited products, online dispensaries have increased flexibility in how they source their product and get it to the end consumer.

Regular Discounts and Unbeatable Prices

With frequent offers direct to the inbox of consumers, almost all online dispensaries offer numerous and generous discounts on different ranges of products.

Due to their wider reach and increased traffic, they can source in bulk and offer consumers competitive prices thanks to healthy online competition.

Online Dispensaries Meet the Needs of Those with Severe Conditions

Many of those afflicted with debilitating conditions benefit greatly from online dispensaries. Safe in the comfort of their own homes, online dispensaries provide them with a method of purchasing their cannabis without aggravating any underlying conditions or burdening them with the inconvenience of travel.

Buy Weed Online in Canada
Buying cheap weed online in Canada is safe, legal, and super convenient. At Low Price Bud, our involvement with the cannabis community reaches back to over 15 years. As one of the top-rated dispensaries, we know what we’re doing, and we provide cannabis consumers with high-quality cannabis products from coast to coast, all at the click of a mouse.

For those looking to buy weed online in Canada, feel free to browse our extensive range of flowers, edibles, CBD products, and abundant concentrates. True to our name, we sell premium weed at premium prices, and with the click of a mouse, we’ll ship it directly to your front door!

So what’s the best way to keep your stash potent, fresh, and tasty? How do you keep Pink Kush just as juicy as when you bought it? First and foremost, get rid of all the plastic bags. Even if your cannabis delivery came in a vacuum-sealed bag, you want to store it properly once it arrives.

Replace your storage container, adjust temperatures, and keep a careful eye on humidity levels with these 10 tips.

Glass Containers: One of the easiest and most affordable cannabis storage options is a simple mason jar. These are non-permeable and airtight (meaning they don’t let in oxygen or moisture inside).
Metal Tins: Another excellent option for your fresh online bud delivery is a metal tin. While often more expensive than a mason jar, they are just as airtight, plus offer better protection from UV rays. As only one example among many, the CVault is a sealable metal tin with humidity control incorporated into the design. But, so long as the metal lid effectively seals, any old metal tin will work.
Cannabis Humidors: If you’ve got the passion for premium flower, you’ll want to invest in a storage case explicitly for flower. Cannabis humidors, inspired by cigar humidors, are climate controlled, secure, and always beautifully designed. If you are a cannabis connoisseur, a cannabis humidor is a premium receptacle to preserve quality.
Ditch All Plastics: Moral of the story is you want to ditch all plastic containers for good. Plastic is porous, meaning that it will leech oxygen into the container over time. The problems with oxygen degradation are especially apparent with Ziplock bags or small weed baggies. Some plastics may also contain toxic chemicals that can lead to adverse health risks. Over time, the plastic can, and will, break down damaging the flavor and increasing the risk of mold and mildew.
Cool Temperatures: Cannabinoids like THC and CBD break down when exposed to heat. You want to keep your weed out of direct sunlight and away from exposure to heat sources. For example, don’t keep your cannabis in a cabinet above your stovetop. Although the degradation process is slow, over time, heat will decrease the potency.
Dark Places (Always): Did you know that sunlight also destroys the valuable compounds in cannabis? Just like heat can transform THC and CBD into less intoxicating cannabinoids, so too can UV light. The best storage containers are opaque, like a metal tin or dark glass jar. Keep your weed in the back of a cupboard, and away from sunlight.
Avoid Freezers and Refrigerators: For many years it was normal to put any excess cannabis in the freezer for long term storage. Logically, it seemed to make sense. We put our food in the freezer to preserve the freshness, why can’t we put our bud in there two. But if you’ve ever looked at a freezer burnt bag of pees, you’ll know that over time the freezer changes the moisture content of the original product. The climate in the freezer forces the moisture content out of the perfectly cured bud. Once thawed, this can mean disastrous effects for the flavor and smokability. It will also create an ideal environment for mold, mildew, and other pathogens.
Initial Inspection: Always perform an initial inspection on all mail order marijuana you buy in the USA. The weed you pull out of storage is ultimately only as good as the weed you put in. Use your five senses to assess the quality of the bud in your order. Does it smell or look moldy? Is it too damp or too brittle? If you suspect the flower may be compromised or is too wet, toss it!
Take Control of Humidity: Stoners used to suggest some pretty strange methods for adjusting the humidity levels of a bag of weed. Even today, someone might tell you to tuck a crust of bread or an orange peel into your fresh bought bud. These outdated ideas are just asking for a bag of a moldy flower. Instead, buy a pack of cannabis-specific Boveda 2-Way Humidity Control packs. These are non-toxic and dialed into the ideal moisture level for cannabis. If your stash is too damp or too dry, these automatically adjust to reach a relative humidity of 58 or 62 percent.
Keep Your Stash Safe, and Tasty
Ultimately cannabis storage is not just about secrecy anymore. The main goal for cannabis connoisseurs is maintaining that fresh and tasty flower, for days and weeks to come. But if you are just getting into the big wide world of top-shelf flower, do yourself a favor and pay attention to where you store it. So remember, keep it in an airtight, glass, or metal container and a cool dark place.

Porcine pseudorabies (PR) is an acute infectious disease of pigs caused by porcine pseudorabies virus (PRV). PRV belongs to the herpesviridae family, the alphaherpesviridae subfamily, and the genus porcine herpesvirus, which is a linear DNA virus. PRV can cause vomiting, high fever and neurological symptoms in piglets, high mortality, reproductive failure in sows, and latent infection in adult pigs after high fever symptoms are tolerated. Because PR spreads quickly and is harmful, OIE lists it as a disease that must be reported. PRV has the characteristics of latent infection. After the virus infects the host through the oral, nasal and respiratory tract, it can be latent in the peripheral nervous system, and no new virus particles are produced at this time. When changes in external conditions cause animal stress, PRV will be activated to cause the host to excrete toxins, infect pigs and even cause PR outbreaks. The feature of latent infection is the main reason why PRV is difficult to eliminate.

Virus Structure

PRV virus is round or oval in shape, and is composed of double-stranded DNA, 20-hedral nucleocapsid, envelope, and lipid bilayer membrane from inside to outside. The icosahedral nucleocapsid consists of 162 capsomers, including 150 hexons and 12 pentons, with a capsid diameter of about 110nm-150nm. The envelope is located between the capsule and the capsid and is composed of a double layer of proteins, and the inner and outer component proteins are different. The envelope is located in the outermost layer of the virion and consists of 11 glycoproteins and 4 non-glycoproteins. The envelope plays an important role in the process of PRV infection of host cells. The diameter of the mature virus particles in the cytoplasm is 150-180 nm, and there are radially arranged fibers about 8-10 nm long on the surface of the capsule.

Gene Structure

The PRV genome is a linear double-stranded DNA with a size of about 150 kb and a G+C content of 74%. It has a long unique region (UL) of 110 kb and a short unique region (US) of 10 kb. Both ends of the US region are inserted with ends of 15 kb repeated Sequences (TRS) and Internal Repeated Sequences (IRS). Because the UL and US regions can be oriented in the same or opposite directions, there are two isomers of PRV, and both isomers are infectious. The origin of replication of the PRV genome, one located in the UL region is called OriL, and the other is called OriS, which is repeated in the IRS region; the PRV genome contains 73 genes and 67 open reading frames, which can encode 70 to 100 kinds of proteins. Including capsid protein, envelope glycoprotein and various enzymes, but half of them are non-essential proteins for PRV replication, so PRV can be used as the carrier of foreign genes.

Major Genes and Their Functions

TK Gene

The TK gene is located in the UL23 region, with a full length of 963 bp, encoding a total of 321 amino acids, and is a non-essential gene for PRV replication. The TK gene is one of the PRV virulence genes, and the thymidine kinase encoded by the TK gene is required for the replication of PRV in resting cells. The latent infection ability of the virus lacking TK gene is weakened in neural tissue, but it does not affect the immunogenicity of the virus. Therefore, the TK gene can be used as a target gene for gene deletion vaccines.

gE Gene

The gE gene is located in the US region. The full-length gene is 1740 bp and encodes 577 amino acids. It is a non-essential gene for PRV replication. The gE gene is one of the virulence genes of PRV. The gE protein can promote the fusion of PRV with cells and mediate the spread of the virus between cells. PRV lacking the gE gene can only infect the first-order trigeminal nerve and the sympathetic nerve that regulates the nasal mucosa. It cannot spread infection of second-order ganglia and sympathetic neurons.

gB Gene

The gB gene is located in the UL region, the full length of the gene is 2800 bp, encoding 913 amino acids, and it is an essential gene for PRV replication. The gB protein is involved in the fusion of the virus with the cell membrane and can also induce humoral immune responses. Similar to the three types of fusion proteins, gB protein has a trimeric fold, a dimer fusion ring, and an α-helix structure. The gB protein binds to the cell membrane in a cholesterol-dependent manner through the fusion ring.

gI Gene

The gI gene is located in the US region, the full length of the gene is 1053 bp, encoding 351 amino acids, and it is a non-essential gene for PRV replication. The gl protein is an envelope protein that facilitates the spread of viruses between cells. gI and gE usually exist in the form of a non-covalent bond complex, and the gI protein can promote the secretion of gE protein in the endoplasmic reticulum and ensure the correct glycosylation of gE protein.

gD Gene

The gD gene is located in the US region. The full-length gene is 1300 bp and encodes 402 amino acids. It is a non-essential gene for PRV replication. The gD protein is an envelope protein, which is highly conserved in PRV and has good immunogenicity. The gD gene is necessary for PRV to attach to cells. PRV lacking the gD gene cannot infect cells.

IE180 Gene

The IE180 gene is located in the IRS and TRS regions, respectively, encoding 1460 amino acids with a protein size of about 153 ku. The IE180 gene is the only immediate early gene in PRV that can be independently transcribed. The accumulation of IE180 protein can initiate the transcription of other genes of the virus. The PRV IE180 protein has a high degree of similarity with some regions of the herpes simplex virus type I (HSV-1) ICP4 protein, and the two are partially functionally complementary.

EP0 Gene

The EP0 gene is located in the UL region and can encode 1230 amino acids with a protein molecular weight of about 45 ku. It is a non-essential gene for PRV replication. EP0 gene has a transactivation effect on the early gene IE180, which can promote the expression of IE180 protein. EP0 protein can act together with IE180 protein to activate the transcription of TK gene and gG gene. Protein, importin α1, α3, and β1 are jointly regulated. The replication ability of PRV lacking the EP0 gene is reduced in cells, but it does not affect PRV virulence.

UL41 Gene

The UL41 gene is an essential gene for PRV replication. The UL41 gene encodes the host shutdown protein (vhs) with a protein molecular weight of about 40 ku. The vhs homology between PRV and HSV-1 is 38.4%. The vhs protein has ribonuclease activity both in vitro and in vivo, which can degrade the mRNA of host cells and inhibit the expression of host genes. Vhs can cleave the translation initiation factors eIF4H and eIF4B in the downstream region of IRES and enhance its ribonuclease activity. However, in PRV, vhs protein is not the only viral protein that can inhibit host gene expression. PRV lacking UL41 gene still has a significant inhibitory effect on host gene expression. At the same time, deletion of UL41 gene will also significantly reduce the replication ability and infectivity of PRV in vitro and in vivo.