You will not get very high eating green buds from a cannabis plant as there is very little THC in the cannabis plant and THCA, which is present, is “non-psychoactive”…it will not get you “high”.
This organic group, carboxylic acid, must be removed from the cannabinoid before it will be effective as THC or CBD.
Mild heat, (240° F or 116° C ), and drying for 40 minutes will release the carboxylic acid molecule as CO2 and H2O resulting in the THC we desire from the plant. This process is known as “decarboxylation”
When you smoke (Not recommended ! Toxic and carcinogenic chemicals found in tobacco smoke such as polyaromatic hydrocarbons, aromatic omines and N-hetrocyclics are also found in cannabis smoke.) or vaporize marijuana the cannabinoids are decarboxylated by the heat of that process. In order to use cannabis in any other form, however, the plant material must first be decarboxylated or it will not be effective.
Heat the plant material at 240°F or 116°C for 40 minutes to convert the cannabinoids to their desired form. These temperatures and times are relative…a lower temperature can be used for a longer time or a higher temperature can be used for a shorter time. Too high a temperature for too long a time, however, risks converting the THC to CBN !
Lately there are several claims on the Internet extolling the benefits of eating raw cannabis, with reports of the carboxylic acid in raw cannabis being the new “super food” to provide unparalleled health benefits. However, scientific reports to back these claims are noticeably lacking so, again, don’t believe everything you read on the Internet !
I have uploaded a video to YouTube to explain decarboxylation:
Marijuana can be used by INHALATION, INGESTION, ABSORPTION and “possibly” with SUPPOSITORIES
INHALATION, smoking or vaporizing, allows the cannabinoids, terpenes and chemicals in marijuana to pass directly through the lung tissue and into the blood stream so it is the most rapid delivery system. The effects may be felt within a very few minutes.
INGESTION, eating or drinking, allows the cannabinoids to pass first through the stomach, then through the lining of the intestines into the blood and then through the liver. The effects of the cannabis are felt much more slowly with ingestion….sometimes as long as 2 hours later. The effects last much longer than with inhalation……up to 6 – 12 hours compared to about 3 hours with inhalation.
The “high” from ingestion is also different than that of inhalation. When THC passes through the liver some of it is changed to “11-hydroxy-THC” which produces a different type of high than does the Δ9 THC we are used to when inhaled.
It is vital, when ingesting cannabis, to wait at least two hours to judge the effect before consuming any more as ingesting cannabis takes much longer to take effect than does inhaling !
I have a YouTube video that explains how Inhalation and Digestion differ in the body.
TINCTURES are produced by dissolving decarboxylated cannabis in alcohol or vegetable glycerin and are applied by placing drops under the tongue (sublingual) or adding to a drink. The effects, using the sublingual method, are usually felt within 15 – 45 minutes and will normally last 3 – 4 hours or more. Tinctures were the most common method of using marijuana in medicine and were widely available in drug stores before cannabis became illegal. Tinctures are ideal for children using CBD or for patients who don’t want to smoke or vaporize and need a faster result than occurs with ingestion through the digestive system. The sublingual method, placing drops under the tongue, can also result in a stronger effect than does inhaling so always start with a low dosage…2 or 3 drops.
Licensed Producers sell both THC and CBD oils that may be used sublingually.
ABSORPTION creams, lotions, salves and balms, are rubbed into the skin to treat pain and inflammation. The cannabinoids in these infused products are absorbed by the CB2, and some CB1, receptors in the skin and you will not get you “high” with absorption through the skin. Topicals do not enter the bloodstream to travel to the brain as they are quickly absorbed by the receptors in the skin, so you will not get “high”. (However, do not lick your fingers, or let a pet lick your fingers, after applying cannabis infused topicals as THC will enter the bloodstream when ingested.)
Many people report significant pain relief using these cannabis salves on muscles and tendons and on the temples for treating migraines. Cannabis salves are much more effective if applied every 4 – 6 hours at first and massaged well into the affected area. Over time they do not need to be applied as often.
You can make your own salves and lotions. Below is a video with instructions:
SUPPOSITORIES are a fairly recent method of absorbing cannabinoids but more research is needed to prove this method as being effective.
“Scientifically”, it is doubtful that cannabinoids are fully absorbed through the lining of the rectum because they are oil-based, (cannabinoids are not water soluble), and the lining of the rectum does not absorb oil efficiently….only about 3%, according to some research. As with anecdotal claims of cannabis treating cancer, however, there are many anecdotal claims that cannabis suppositories do work and that they do not get you stoned. This would be a great advantage for patients who can not inhale or ingest cannabis and do not want the “high” sensation.
Those who use cannabis suppositories claim that they feel the effect in their body but not in their head….they do not get “stoned” or “high”. However, this could be due to the fact that the THC is not being absorbed through the lining of the rectum and, therefore, there would be no “high”. If that is the case then, unfortunately, the patient may not be getting the benefit of the all the other cannabinoids, either.
If there is no benefit for patients from a suppository, then they may as well just stick it up their ass ! (Sorry, I just couldn’t resist that old joke.)
Certainly, as is stated in this article, more study is needed to determine the effectiveness of cannabis suppositories.
The most common method of using marijuana is SMOKING. This, however, is certainly not the best option if using marijuana as medicine!
Burning anything, including cannabis, creates harmful chemicals known as “reactive oxygen species” that can damage the mouth, throat and lungs. Cannabis may begin to burn around 230º C but the beneficial cannabinoids are released at much lower temperatures so there is no need to burn cannabis to get the effects of the cannabinoids. In fact, the unnecessary higher heat may even destroy some of them. When you burn something, that combustion releases toxins and carcinogens, and they’re released regardless of the source of combustion. Toxic and carcinogenic chemicals found in tobacco smoke such as polyaromatic hydrocarbons, aromatic omines and N-hetrocyclics are also found in cannabis smoke.
DRY FLOWER VAPORIZATION is a much safer and more effective way of inhaling cannabis.
Good dry flower vaporizers allow you to set the temperature to a level that will boil off or vaporize the beneficial cannabinoids and terpenes without reaching the temperature where the dried cannabis will ignite.
The diagram below shows the temperatures at which each of the cannabinoids are believed to be released…..
As you can see, Delta 9 THC and CBD are released at a much lower temperature (155 – 165 dgrees C) than occurs with smoking (230 degrees C) and the beneficial terpenes vaporize at even lower temperatures. Heating cannabis to combustion at 230 degrees C may, in fact, reduce some of the benefits of medical marijuana.
Vaporizing results in a different kind of “high” than does smoking so some people who are use to smoking may have trouble adjusting at first. It is well worth switching though, both for your health and to gain more benefit from the cannabinoids….not to mention it tastes much better! When you burn marijuana you do not get all the flavors of the terpenes, mainly just a taste of burning dried plant matter. The tastes of various strains of cannabis are very enjoyable when vaporizing….much like the distinct flavors of individual fine wines. So, if you are using marijuana regularly as medicine, it is much more enjoyable to VAPORIZE!
As an added bonus vaporizing, rather than smoking, uses less cannabis and so, over time, will save you money…. enough, possibly, to pay for the cost of the vaporizer. A regular joint contains about 0.5 grams of dried bud whereas an Arizer Solo or Arizer Air vaporizer holds about 0.25 grams of the same bud. That amount is normally enough to satisfy most people for a few hours. This also explains why some users think smoking is more effective…..they are using twice as much marijuana ! If they were to try a Volcano Vaporizer with the same amount of bud they would find it much more effective than smoking a joint.
Besides, the odor from a vaporizer is barely detectable if the vaporizer is maintained well with regular cleaning….you don’t have to go outside to use it.
There are dozens of different dry flower vaporizers on the market. A good place to shop for vaporizers online is Toronto Vaporizer but, if you are registered with a Licensed Producer, you can purchase vaporizers from them at very reasonable prices. Vaporizers come in both portable hand-held models and desktop models. My favorite models are the Arizer Air (for portability), the Arizer Solo II, (Arizer vaporizers are made in Canada), the Mighty and, “the Mercedes-Benz of vaporizers”, the Volcano Vaporizer made in Germany. The Mighty and the Volcano allow vaporization of concentrates as well as dried flower.
(I am not receiving any remuneration for mentioning these vaporizers….I just happen to like them and I do recommend them !)
IF YOU WANT TO USE OIL VAPE PENS, BUY ONLY LAB TESTED OIL VAPE CARTRIDGES FROM HEALTH CANADA APPROVED LICENSED DEALERS.
DO NOT USE OIL VAPE PENS FROM UNLICENSED DEALERS ! THEY MAY CONTAIN SOLVENTS THAT CAN CAUSE SERIOUS LUNG PROBLEMS AND EVEN DEATH !!
One advantage to inhaling cannabis is that you will be able to judge the effect it is having on you almost immediately. You’ll know right away if it is a little too strong.
With ingestion the effect may not be felt for anywhere from 30 minutes to two hours and by then it’s too late to realize you should have eaten less. Again, your mantra should always be, “Start low and go slow”
The most efficient way to vaporize cannabis is to start at 180ºC until the exhaled vapor diminishes, then increase the temperature to 190ºC. Finally, after the exhaled vapor diminishes again, you might increase the temperature to 200ºC. This will ensure that all the beneficial cannabinoids have been vaporized completely and the plant material will not have reached the ignition point.
INGESTION
To control medical problems, however, ingestion is often preferable to inhalation as the effects last much longer than with inhalation…..often 6 to 10 hours. If you are controlling pain with cannabis then that extra length of time might get you through the night and allow you to get a better rest.
With the initial legalization of cannabis in Canada on Oct 17th, 2018 cannabis edibles were not to be available in retail outlets until a year later, on Oct 17, 2019. This second stage of legalization is commonly refered to as “Legalization 2.0“.
Under both the ACMPR and legal recreational use you are permitted to produce your own cannabis derivatives at home and you can make your own edibles quite easily. I have provided some recipes further down this page. Just remember that ingesting cannabis results in a much stronger effect than does inhalation. When you ingest cannabis it can take up to two hours to take affect and can last from 6 to 10 hours, or longer. Always START LOW AND GO SLOW !!
There are many ways to ingest cannabis…..cookies, brownies, cup cakes, chocolates, beverages, oils….basically anything you can swallow.
You’ll want to extract the cannabinoids from the cannabis before you use it in baking or preparing any edibles because the chlorophyll in the plant matter can be quite bitter and unpleasant.
Cannabinoids are not water soluble so, in order to extract them, you will normally use oil or alcohol.
Extracting cannabinoids into butter is the most common method and the resulting butter is called Cannabutter. It can be used in place of regular butter in your baking. The extraction process must use heat to decarboxylate the cannabis so the THC ACID in the raw cannabis buds are transformed to THC.
Edibles will be much more effective, however, if decarboxylation is carried out on the plant material before baking. Heat the plant material at 240°F or 116°C for 40 minutes. The cooking time during baking, alone, may not be enough to fully decarboxylate the cannabis in your baking.
**These temperatures and times are relative…a lower temperature can be used for a longer time or a higher temperature can be used for a shorter time. Too high a temperature for too long a time, however, risks converting the THC to CBN !
The most common, and least expensive, method used to decarboxylate cannabis is to grind the plant material and spread it out on a baking sheet, cover with tin foil or a turkey bag and place in a pre-heated oven at 240 degrees F (116 C) for 40 minutes. Care must be taken to not heat the plant material at too high a temperature, or for too long, as there is a risk of converting the THC to CBN. Oven temperatures can vary throughout the process and, so may not always be accurate. Also, this method is very odorous ….your neighbors will certainly know !
Below is a video showing how to decarboxylate cannabis in an oven.
A safer, and more accurate method, would be to use the SOUS VIDE method with “The Anova Precision Cooker” to keep water in a pot at a constant temperature of 200° F or 94° C. Place the cannabis in a vacuum sealed bag and heat for 1 hour and 40 minutes. This Website explains the process…..and I have uploaded my own video to YouTube to explain how to use Sous Vide to decarboxylate cannabis. You can view that video HERE:
If you plan to primarily use edibles for your medication then it might be worth investing in a Decarboxylation Machine. The ARDENT NOVA PRECISION DECARBOXYLATOR , made in the USA, claims to produce perfectly decarboxylated cannabis and they do provide lab test results on their website. Unfortunately, with the current value of the Canadian dollar, the cost may be prohibitive. You might have to be doing a great deal of decarboxylating to make it pay.
I have included instructions to make cannabutter using a crock pot Here.
However, I would recommend the Sous Vide method with an Anova Precision Cooker for making cannabutter over the crock pot method.
SOUS VIDE is also a much easier, and more efficient, way to make cannabutter than is using a crock pot.
I have uploaded a video to YouTube to explain how to make cannabutter using Sous Vide. You can view that video HERE:
There is an excellent machine available to make cannabutter, “The Magical Butter Machine“, if you want an easy method to make cannabutter…and have the extra money to buy one. This is a great machine and I highly recommend it ! (However, it won’t also cook your meat, fish and vegetables like Sous Vide can.)
Coconut Oil is a good alternative for Vegan diets and is also a better oil to use as it has the highest saturated fat content allowing more cannabinoids to be extracted from the cannabis. I have a YouTube video to explain how to make cannabis infused coconut oil below:
Coconut oil can be used in recipes in place of butter.
A recipe for “Curry and Cardamom Cannabis Cookies” is HERE and a new favorite recipe for my wife’s “Ginger, Spice and Everything Nice Cannabis Cookies” is HERE. (They are REALLY good ….but be sure to not eat too much !)
Gummy Bears are very popular way of ingesting cannabis. Below is a video to show how to make them:
Once again, “START LOW AND GO SLOW” when eating these cookies until you have determined their strength. Start with 1/2 cookie, or even 1/4 or less, the first time you try it and wait up to 2 hours, or even longer, to judge the effect. The next day you can eat a larger amount if the first amount did not produce enough of the effect you want.
It is very difficult to determine the strength of cannabis edibles….it is, basically, a matter of “trial and error”. Unfortunately, “error” with edible doses can be very uncomfortable.
I have created a spreadsheet to help determine the dose of your home made edibles but you will need a spreadsheet program in order to view it and you can download it HERE . I may eventually convert this to a program that will not require a spreadsheet…please check back.
You may even want to try the traditional drink from Northern India, BHANG, but be very careful with how much you drink !
This can be a very strong drink so, as always, START LOW AND GO SLOW ! Take a very small amount the first time you try it in order to judge the effect before increasing the amount the next time !! The effects of this drink can last much longer than do most other methods of consuming cannabis.
Most Licensed Producers offer Cannabis OIL as well as dried cannabis buds in various strengths and ratios of THC and CBD. Some oils are almost pure CBD.
Larger Licensed Producers use supercritical fluid CO2 extraction technology to extract oil from cannabis. They include a decarboxylation step to heat the cannabis. This ensures that the medicinal compounds contained in the cannabis oils become biologically active.
These oils normally come with a syringe to measure an exact dosage. You can add this oil to juice, or any other liquid, and use it in place of cooking oil in baking. You can even apply the oil directly to store-bought cookies or any other edible. The sublingual method of placing drops under the tongue may also be used for administering this oil with a dropper.
A very convenient way of taking oil is to put it into capsules. You can buy empty gelatin capsules at drug stores and health food stores. A “O” capsule holds about 0.5 ml of oil and a “OO” capsule holds about 0.75 ml.
Novice cannabis patients should start with 5mg or less to determine a comfortable dose. Experienced cannabis patients might start with a 10mg dose.
To determine the amount of oil to take in order to get a desired dose of THC or CBD, click HERE
WARNING!!
DO NOT EVER GIVE AN EDIBLE FORM OF MARIJUANA TO AN UNSUSPECTING PERSON !!
Those of us who use marijuana take it IF WE WANT TO and WHEN WE WANT TO.
Nobody should ever be given marijuana unaware. It’s their choice if and when to use it….not others !
It could be very frightening for someone ingesting THC unaware as well as dangerous.
Any container in which you keep your edibles should include some sort of label warning that they contain cannabis in order to prevent anyone from ingesting them unaware.
I like to place this label on my edibles…just to make everything perfectly clear…
Because the THC in marijuana gets you “stoned”, it is the same as being “impaired”.
Reflexes are affected by THC. Reaction time is slowed.
DO NOT DRIVE if you are under the influence of THC !!
Many marijuana users claim that they drive better and more carefully when they are stoned…..but why would anyone gamble that they could stop in time if they were driving stoned and a child suddenly ran out in front of their car ?
Reaction time is affected by marijuana !
Recent studies at McGill University found that there was “significant impairment on complex and novel driving-related tasks,” in young drivers, aged 18 – 24, even up to 5 hours after inhaling marijuana. Further studies would have to be carried out on older, more mature, drivers.
No one has a right to risk the safety of other people by being irresponsible with their use of marijuana !
Marijuana affects everyone differently and, at this point in time, there is no test to determine accurately if someone is impaired by cannabis.
Tests for THC in the body can not, and should not, be used to determine impairment.
THC can remain in the body and show in urine samples 3 weeks or more after the person has consumed marijuana but the “stoned” effect of the consumption of THC lasts only a short period of time after THC binds to the CB1 receptors.
THC in the kidneys and bladder is certainly not going to travel back to the CB1 receptors in the brain and get you high again !!
THC tests are, for that reason, an incorrect and unfair method of testing for drug use while driving or working on construction sites…….they do not necessarily indicate intoxication or impairment.
There will be much debate and some court challenges after legalization regarding employers banning employees from using marijuana on their own time. The fact that someone uses marijuana on their days off certainly does not mean that they will be “impaired” when returning to work !
It is ironic that these same employers do not mandate the use of prescription drugs that can cause impairment. Unfortunately, many misconceptions about marijuana use still abound.
It may be important that a reliable method of detecting any cause of impairment, including prescription drugs, be developed to help prevent accidents.
Many people are worried about “carnage” on our roads with marijuana being legal however, delaying legalization until a reliable testing device was found would not have prevented marijuana impaired driving.
Although impaired driving is always a worry, the fact is that people have been driving stoned for decades while prohibition was in effect and, as dangerous as that might be, marijuana impaired driving is not something new now that marijuana is legal !
There has not been a “huge increase” of impaired drivers as a result of marijuana legalization… just as there has not been a “huge increase” of marijuana users in general since legalization.
Most people who did not want to use marijuana before legalization will probably not want to use it now that it’s legal, either.
The biggest danger on our roads is still “Distracted Driving“…people using cell phones while driving !
(Maybe those people should be “stoned”, ….. but with rocks, not marijuana.)
Using marijuana for medicine, or for recreational use, carries with it a responsibility on the part of the user.
You are responsible for your actions when you choose to consume anything that causes impairment.
You may wonder if Medical Marijuana might help in treating your condition or even if you should use marijuana recreationally.
If that is the case, please click here to find out if you should use it.