This is not intended as advice, medical, legal or otherwise, and is to be used solely for educational purposes. See Program Agreement for further disclaimers and release of liability.
Dear People,
Countless numbers of people have found enormous pain relief, safely, using cannabis. We hear about others who have successfully healed their cancers. To my and the entire industry’s knowledge, no one has ever died from using just cannabis. They might have had a terrible, not-soon-forgotten emergency room experience. But they haven’t died. Before the 1920’s-30’s, it was regularly prescribed in small amounts for pain and nervous disorders by family physicians. In the 30’s it became demonized by the Rockefellers and the nascent pharmaceutical industry, eventually making cannabis so illegal and propagandized as evil, people were jailed for the rest of their lifetimes just for having the tiniest amount in their possession. However, it must be used responsibly and with mindful purpose. Some cancers it might aggravate instead of heal. Some people have allergic reactions of various types using cannabis.
So, you see all the disclaimers scattered around my cannabis topics. I hear you. Many are in so much pain, are desperate for relief, and have been around the medical establishments’ merry-go-round so many times that the disclaimers no longer matter. But here on this site, please know that in any of my cannabis topics as you review them and might start doubting again, hold your despair at bay a bit. I want to let you know that even if cannabis also ends up being not for you, this site is loaded with tons of alternatives that so many others have successfully used to reduce their pains WITHOUT any cannabis at all, or with just the slightest amount one time a day. I so encourage you to continue to explore the rest. Perhaps you too will be one of those truly free from all the drugs! Please give yourself a chance.
GO SLOW, GO LOW
Here is a bit of summary many others have used of how to explore if cannabis medicine is for you, pulled from several of the topic articles in the Cannabis category.
Most people find the most success in following these steps below IN ORDER whether they are consuming THC-rich marijuana products or CBD-rich hemp products.
Read through the cannabis dangers and side effects and vape pen dangers.
Note if you have any reason to just stop right there, such as hormonally triggered breast cancer, hashimotos or thyroid endocrine disorder, heart disease, respiratory or lung adverse conditions. There are studies pro and con estrogen imbalance. I would err on the safe side and use other means to help reduce pain.
If you are on any Pharma meds of any kind, but especially any mental meds or pain meds, keep on them for now. Do not change anything with your current meds. But realize cannabis often enhances the drug’s effects, makes it more efficient needing less of the Pharma drug, of any Pharma drug whether or not there is any “drug combination alerts”. Always talk to your doctor and let them know what you are doing.
Many, many people are able to gradually and greatly reduce or stop their Pharma pain meds or mental meds completely using correct cannabis medicine.
But go to this site and check if cannabis might have any interactions with something you are taking.
Decide if you want to go forward or not. You can check with your doctor, but unless they are a cannabis expert physician, they won’t know what to tell you. But talk to them anyway!
If you decide to go forward with your cannabis experiment, NEXT choose two full days PER WEEK when you will totally abstain from any cannabis intake at all. People will use other means of pain reduction if at all possible.
If most people don’t take this planned tolerance break EVERY WEEK, of at least one day, but better two days completely off, your body over time could stop positively giving you pain relief at your minimal dose. You could start needing more and more for relief. You could trigger addictions.
And then, if no breaks were taken and after NEEDING a tolerance break because the medicine is no longer working as it did, it would be two weeks to a month off every cannabis everything for most people to re-set their cannabinoid system to again be able to minimally be able to use cannabis medicine again.
So choose your two days you will use to take off. They should be the two days that are the most stress-free of your week.
NOW: You are going to visit your local dispensary. See here on how to find your shop and how to call them and then drive and visit in person.
When you are happy with your dispensary choice, you will buy the following, and NEVER SPEND MORE THAN $100 your first purchase!
- One mini pre-roll “joint” (1/2 gram if they have it, otherwise one gram is good) of the THC-rich marijuana flower, ask for a pre-roll filled with FLOWER BUD (not trim materials) if they have it, about 15% THC $10-$12.
- One ounce, or one small bottle (they come in different sizes) oil base dropper tincture of 1:1 CBD:THC medicine with the least unflavored ingredients possible, olive oil base instead of MCT if they have it ($50-80). “Mary’s 1:1 Remedy Tincture” is one brand. It uses safflower oil which you don’t want to take all the time, but this brand is common and if you can find this, many have used it for the tests and for awhile. This brand and type has 100 or 300 mg THC in the entire bottle. Try to get the bottle with only 100 mg THC in the entire bottle. For the first tests, the 300 mg size is usually too strong. If you take their recommended 0.25 dropper of the 100 mg strength (half the half dropper), the first dose of experimenting would be close to what most people do at first, about 1.6 mg THC to start is just fine.
If you live in California, look for the Papa & Barkley’s brand. Though they use MCT oil, they use really clean ingredients. Remember that federally marijuana cannabis is illegal. The organic certification is a federal program. Papa & Barkley THC products cannot be certified organic but they have emailed me they use top shelf, organic ingredients. Their droppers have measures on the dropper glass and are easy to dose. TAKE ONLY HALF of the 0.25ml recommendation. That will give you about 4mg THC. The 0.25ml will give you about 8mg THC and most newbies will experience dizziness and euphoria with that much.
- Two transdermal “microdose-cut-up-possible” patches of 1:1 CBD:THC of the same brand and quantity of cannabinoids, 20 mg is a good choice but the strength available will depend on the state you are in. IF YOU CAN ONLY buy 10 mg patches, BUY quantity of THREE patches. One of these you will cut into 4 equal pieces if its the 20 mg THC, or cut into two equal pieces if you got 10 mg each patches (about $10 each for $20-30).
Next, choose a weekend to start your experiments when you are not driving, operating equipment, care giving a child or elder, none of anything needing you to be alert and aware.
For this weekend start, you will be testing the inhalation products first which to start is your “pre-roll”.
AND ONLY DO THIS EXPERIMENT IF you have ZERO respiratory or lung conditions!
DO THIS smoking EXPERIMENT OUTSIDE or your home will get a little stinky!
I suggest you sit in a chair to do this experiment. Some people might start feeling dizzy.
Have a lighter and ashtray something immediately available. You will be lighting the end and gently – gently – gently sucking in a tiny – tiny inhale of smoke into your lungs– and then snuffing out the end of the joint so it doesn’t burn down.
AND most people then HOLD the smoke in for as long as they can before exhaling.
Immediately snuff out the joint, you want to save it for another puff and otherwise it will keep burning up.
Wait 5 minutes and note down any symptoms of cannabis or pain relief.
If you feel zero pain relief from one puff after 5 minutes, light the joint again and take in a similar, tiny inhale of smoke and hold it in until you can’t and exhale.
Now wait 20 minutes. And take notes. Many people at this point might shortly be dizzy so sit down.
But now most people wait at least 2 hours before inhaling another similar puff.
Inhaling, for most people, even if unpleasant, will be the fastest gauge to see if cannabis can actually reduce the pain.
After the first two 5 and 20 minute wait puffs, people will then be taking about one puff per dose, but now spread out every 2-4 hours and noting their symptoms and cannabis side effects.
For the Saturday start, you will only be inhaling and not consuming any other cannabis of any kind.
ONLY TAKE ANOTHER puff later if your pain returns. If it takes 4 hours for your pain to return, wait for that to take another puff.
You are doing an inhaling experiment, not because this might be your preferred way to pain relief, but you are seeing if cannabis is even right for you. Smoking/inhaling it in, for most people, is the fastest, most direct way to tell if cannabis might be a help.
From inhaling, most people will also feel the side effects of dizziness and euphoria really fast too.
But also, the side effects– and the relief, will end soon enough.
Saturday morning, while you are doing your inhaling experiment, ALSO you will EXTERNALLY on your skin, be testing the oil based product with a drop on your inner elbow or wrist a few times during Saturday to see if you are allergic to that. Do NOT ingest any tincture on Saturday.
For the Sunday after, no smoking, no inhaling of your cannabis. Note symptoms that come back, etc.
But towards that Sunday evening, two hours before sleep, you will be testing the oil based medicine by ingesting it if you are all clear on your skin allergy test.
For Sunday night and for the whole week following the weekend, most people expect to only consume their cannabis dose in the evenings, about 2 hours before sleep for maybe up to two full weeks as the body for most adjusts to the cannabinoids and reduces any cannabis side effects like dizziness or euphoria. You will only be using the oil based medicine for this full week or more.
The majority of new cannabis users follow the How to Dose THC directions by using a few drops under the tongue, holding it in the mouth for a few minutes and swallowing, about 1/4th dropper, only 2 mg or so every 24 hours for the first 3 days, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday nights.
Hold the drops in your mouth about 5 minutes and then swallow.
Then people feel successful by slowly over days adding another few drops, 0.25 dropper to that first dose for Wed., Thur, Fri. evening and even into the weekend. They MAX use the 1 ML amount (a dropper full is about 1/2 dropper when you squeeze and fill normally), some tinctures have a measure on the dropper.
But add a bit more, another drop, and so on every few days, giving yourself the dose only one time per day, until your sleep is good, your pain reduced.
Most people will know if their gut is digesting the oil if they are sleeping better and/or experiencing pain relief with not much more than 1 ML.
If after a week, you need more than 1 ML (one dropper full (half)) per evening for your pain, AND you are not even one bit dizzy, you probably are not digesting it into your body.
If the oil product is working and by the following weekend after the first week, if you are still free of needing to drive or care give or be alert etc., you can experiment with doses of oil based medicine taken during the day titrating up both Saturday and Sunday.
Your goal is the LEAST amount of medicine needed to reduce enough of your pain to feel the relief you need WITHOUT GETTING HIGH.
Most people by the 2nd week then of experimenting, are starting to stabilize with the lowest dose and taking the same dose, same time daily, with successful results.
People then can continue to purchase and use the oil based medicine if it’s olive-oil based and clean of additives and it’s working, or they can purchase the inexpensive Recipe Tools and some marijuana and hemp flower needed to make the Recipe.
You can proceed next to making a one-ounce batch of the Recipe.
You would want to acquire the Recipe tools, and a small amount of THC-rich and CBD flower from your dispensary (and get organic CBD online):
- (Remember, you are NOT making the full amount of the Recipe, so you only need one gram, but people get the 1/8th because it’s cheaper and they have another gram if they mess up trying the first batch). One THC-rich marijuana flower packet is called “an 1/8th”, this is 3.5 oz. of plant material, ask for the “top shelf”, freshest, newest, at least 15% THC flower of “indica leaning” “relaxing” type (the strain does not matter, it might or not be whatever strain the dispensary says it is). Should cost about $35
- One CBD-rich hemp flower packet of an 1/8th (3.5 oz.) (if the dispensary has it, if not, skip this, you can order a small amount online, organic) $35
Alternately, if you need the immediate pain relief from the inhaling/smoking you did at the very beginning, and you have no respiratory or lung problems or issues, then most people invest in the medical grade dry vaporizer unit and begin to experiment using that. DO NOT SMOKE any joints, bongs etc. long term at all.
Do not begin to “dab” or experiment with concentrates and other of THC-rich products—this is a very slippery road and could lead you to addiction even if you didn’t intend it.
And as well, but AFTER you are successful or not with the oil based medicine, you can experiment with the transdermal patches. Many have found these to be their sweet spot.
Keep in mind these patches are one-time use and are expensive though to use as a daily medicine.
So if the inhaling worked, but the oil based medicine did NOT work, you could have a digestive gut issue absorbing the medicine as a tincture or oil base.
If that’s the case, the Recipe will also not work for you if your sample oil did not, and I wouldn’t recommend investing in the Recipe tools, though inexpensive, unless you are curious and want to try of course. One never knows!
Then your choices are to continue with the inhaling, but ONLY use the high quality dry vaporizer idea, or use the transdermal patches.
With the patches, to start your experiment, choose a Friday evening before a WEEKEND again, free of driving or care giving.
Cut your patch in quarters if the THC quantity in the whole patch is 20 mg or more.
Cut IN HALF if there are only 10 mg THC in the patch.
Start Friday evening, about 2 hours before sleep with one quarter/one half patch put on.
Saturday morning, after having it on for 12 hours including your night, make a note if you felt pain relief, were able to sleep, etc.
If not, in the morning of your free Saturday after the 12 hours from Friday expired, most people will try and put on two quarters of the 3 quarters left of your patch (or one new 10 mg patch) for 12 hours during Saturday day, for the rest of 24 hours. If this solved your pain, whoo-hoo! One half (two quarters) a day is all you need.
If not, on Sunday now, people will put the 2nd 20 mg patch purchased, whole, or one full patch of 10 mg with the 10 mg half left over (15 mg total), on in the morning for 12 hours and wait 24 hours. Note what happened and symptoms, pain relief etc.
If these worked, you can experiment with different brands or timing.
After a month of experiments, most people are no longer dizzy or euphoric taking and consuming their cannabis medicine that they found worked, unless they have to always take very large doses of medicine (not recommended if at all possible).
Hopefully you also began to choose real and clean foods, clean water, clean air, reduced your supplements and meds and are feeling more balanced.
It’s a process, take your time, keep notes. As you adopt more and more of the suggested other activities of daily living, your amount of cannabis medicine needed could reduce.
This experiment will NOT be one-and-done, but you will know the method to always start again and run the experiment to find any new levels and balance you need. The power is in your hands!
