Will you let everyone out of prison for using cannabis medicinally? Will you stop destroying lives yet? All we want to be is well. All we want is for our children to be well and to live happy and productive lives. And yet the federal government continues to stand in the way of truth...and health.
Washington State legalized cannabis last time. And now it appears that the worst fears of patients everywhere are about to be realized. Some want to gut the medical cannabis law and hurt patients in the process. After reading various articles, I've come to the conclusion that the recreational outlets are concerned about losing out to dispensaries, which is odd because dispensaries are reserved for patients, not the general public. Again, it's about money and not about the patient. Many of us were concerned about I-502 and voiced those concerns at the time. Oregon and Washington tend to follow each other at times so I hope we're more sensible here. It looks like we will be because already cities such as Medford have tried to ban dispensaries which were just legalized. The state's attorneys issued a letter telling them that they can't do this, so there's that. We'll take encouragement wherever we can find it, I suppose.
Everywhere you look now, articles are springing up about the efficacy of cannabis in the treatment of all sorts of conditions. Whether you vape, smoke, use concentrates, or use raw cannabis in smoothies for example, cannabis will help everything. And no, I'm not high. It really WILL help everything. Ideally, cannabis should be consumed raw, either in smoothies, or if you like the taste, just eat it as is. There is no altered state associated with this and it's enormously healthful. I use it daily in my smoothies along with hemp hearts and hemp milk as well.
Vaping is recommended over smoking, but smoking cannabis isn't the same as smoking cigarettes, and actually protects your lungs in the process. I know that sounds counter-productive, but apparently research shows this to be true. Of course the current histrionics surround the so-called e-cigs. Vape pens for oil are essentially the same thing..we just put oil in them to medicate with. The best table-top vaporizer is the Volcano. There are some others as well, but most pens actually burn the cannabis instead of vaporizing, which is fine as long as you know that. Some conditions respond well to inhalation versus ingestion, so you figure out what works best and then do it.
Concentrates are another category. I don't really include medibles in this, however. Technically food is medicine, but that's another subject. By concentrates, I mean oil, tincture, and capsules. Oil is also known as Rick Simpson Oil, or RSO. This is the sludgy stuff that takes a whole bunch of dried bud to make a tiny amount of oil. Pictures of my latest oil are below. I use it for RA and it works well. Tincture is typically made with alcohol or glycerine. I prefer the glycerine version as I don't drink alcohol. Patients either put some under their tongue or in tea to medicate. I prefer tea. The capsules are made by infusing cannabis bud into coconut oil. You can either strain the infusion or not (I don't) and then when it cools enough you put them into capsules. I use the Cap-m-Quik system which includes trays. Filling them is messy. There's no getting around it. But they work. Take a weekend to titrate when you're not going anywhere. Probably should do that with every new batch of whatever you make.
In any event, people should take a close look at cannabis. It's not what people have been led to believe. All this time, we've had a safe treatment available that the government has denied us. We need to either grow it and make our own medicine, or we need to have dispensaries who will produce the same product we make in our kitchens. Big Pharma needs to stay out of it unless it can do the same. It's the entire plant that heals..not some derivation of. The best part is the lack of side effects that many drugs give. Imagine removing a growth with oil that when gone leaves behind new healthy skin. Imagine that instead of surgery that leaves scarring and God knows what else! As they say, been there, done that, so I know it's true.
No matter how you end up medicating, the important part is that you do it. And when you do, you'll join a remarkable family. And we're all here to help show you the way!
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| starting cup after reduction |
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| reducing more |
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| when bubble are gone, it's done! |
Amazon or Cap-m-Quik have capsules and trays for coconut bud capsules. I use a rice cooker to prepare the oil and then a coffee warmer to boil out what's left of the alcohol.
