You may have seen the recent news that set the 420 community abuzz (sorry, couldn’t help myself) that a French renaissance man claims to have actually trained bees to naturally manufacture a sweet psychoactive substance fittingly dubbed
“cannahoney”. Those of us not well versed in etymology or botany may take this news at face value, momentarily interested in the novelty of a hive of bees trained to produce natural marijuana edibles. Bees make honey from clover, apple blossom, and orange blossom so why not cannabis? But before the weed dispensaries start stocking the shelves full with cannahoney, it may be wise to approach the innovator’s claims with a touch of healthy skepticism.
Who is Nicolas Trainerbees?
Cannahoney is the brainchild of a man known only as Nicolas Trainerbees; a nickname he attributes to his love of nature, particularly…wait for it…training bees (not to say that training bees is the picture of nature at its most raw and primal). He’s devoted 20 years of his life to carefully programming bees to override their natural inclination to collect sugars from flowers and instead harvest sugars from fruits. Since one of Trainerbees’ many hats is that of a proponent of cannabis legalization, it only makes sense that he eventually directed his legion of bees to forego sugary fruits in favor of marijuana resin. Trainerbees has a long history with marijuana, dating back to his school days. By the age of 10, he was afflicted with a case of ADHD (before ADHD was acknowledged) deemed so severe that he was unable to continue attending public school. After dropping out, he tried marijuana and recognized its unique ability to pacify his condition. Thus Nicolas Trainerbees perfectly fits the template of a Batman supervillain: rejected by the system at an early age, obsessive development of a skill, nearly superhuman otherworldly talents, and, of course, a name that cleverly alludes to his destiny.
The Method to His Madness
Of course, Trainerbees is far from a comic supervillain but rather a man who turned his setbacks into innovations. With a focus on health, he began to connect the dots between the beneficial properties of marijuana and the glowing advantages of bee products; not just honey but also royal jelly, beeswax, propolis, and pollen. In 2006, goaded by the disbelief of friends and associates, Trainerbees began in earnest to formulate a method of combining bee products and marijuana into the health juggernaut he would eventually call cannahoney. This would be no easy feat considering marijuana plants aren’t a desirable source of nectar for bees. “Everything that passes through the body of a bee is improved," he explained. "So if the bee took the resin from cannabis it would also be very beneficial. The aim arose for me to get the bees to obtain this resin." Easier said than done.
Think About the Bees!
Trainerbees experienced a momentary setback when those aware of his experiments objected that the process of creating cannahoney may put the bees themselves at risk. While the eccentric beekeeper was convinced that working with marijuana was risk-free for his insect friends, he agreed to put his work on hold for the 2 years it took to prove that the bees were in no danger. “The bees that produce the cannahoney are not affected by cannabinoids because they do not have an endocannabinoid system,” Trainerbees pointed out. Once the research was deemed safe, the innovator hit the ground running but successes rarely arrive uncontested.
But is it Really Honey?
Trainerbees didn’t achieve his end result until 2013, when the bees first created the psychoactive propolis that would be known less accurately but more simply as cannahoney. One of the more controversial points of cannahoney is that it may not actually be classified as honey, though a layman may not really spot the nuanced differences. Since cannabis does not naturally produce nectar or syrup, the bees would not be attracted to the resin. It’s reported that Trainerbees added sugar to the cannabis resin to make it enticing to his bees. Upon consuming the resin, the bees then regurgitated it into the cells of their honeycombs as a type of propolis. As appetizing as that all sounds, it’s a similar process to how bees make honey albeit the ingredients have been changed. So while cannahoney may not be winning any prizes for the grade of its “honey”, it still may boast the title of the world’s first all-natural raw marijuana edible. In addition, propolis boasts a wealth of health benefits including antifungal, antiseptic, and antibacterial uses.
The Potential of Cannahoney
The cannahoney itself appears as a creamy substance in a wide range of colors anywhere from a pale green to a yellowish color. The color varieties owe to the fact that the bees can create their novel propolis from virtually any strain imaginable. Trainerbees attests that canahoney gives off a floral aroma with a delectably sweet taste. Of course, weed dispensaries aren’t buying products for the great taste but right now we only have Trainerbees’ word to go on when determining the psychoactive qualities and health benefits of cannahoney. Though you can already purchase cannahoney online, it remains untested. According to Trainerbees, he already has 3 customers that can vouch for cannahoney, claiming it dramatically reduced their feelings of anxiety.
So while it may not be technically honey, this may qualify as a semantic argument in the eyes of a casual shopper searching for an all-natural marijuana edible. Trainerbees obviously believes in his product with 30 of his hives now completely focused on producing cannahoney. While cannahoney has yet to be professionally analyzed, it’s easy to fall on skepticism when approaching the story of the man who turned weed into honey with the help of his trained bees. But this would not be the first challenge Nicolas Trainerbees had to overcome.
