Homemade Medical Cannabis Alternatives

By admin | August 7, 2018 | Comments 0 Comment

DIY With CBD

Making medicinal cannabis products is by no means rocket surgery. Nor does it require a doctor to prescribe anything. There are a variety of things that can be made at home with CBD extracts. Edibles, topicals, tinctures, and capsules can all be made at home. Some can be made with only CBD products. And some require actual cannabis flower also known as buds or nugs which is not available in Louisiana. With CBD products still available on the market, medicines can easily be made at home. The intent of this article is educational and I am in no way advising anyone to do anything prohibited by law.

Endoca CBD Crystals (Img Credit – Endoca.com)

Limitations

With a limited medical cannabis program in the state of Louisiana patients are limited in the options that will be available. Dispensaries will have products high in CBD and low in THC. One is psychoactive and one is not. Granted I do not want all the children in the state with severe seizures stoned out of their minds. No way, never. I am fine with 100% CBD for certain ages and maybe by certain illnesses. For adults, we should have a choice. CBD without THC and all the other cannabinoids and alkaloids is not how the cannabis plant was intended to work. It is kind of like salt for example. Unrefined sea salt is better for you than refined table salt. Having all the compounds of the plant will yield the best medicines if you will. Having fresh flower as an option would be nice too. I hope to see vape cartridges at some point even if there is no THC.

Do It Yourself

For now patients can make some of the medicines they want or need at home. Crystalized CBD can be purchased online and used for a handful of things. Hemp oil with CBD is also easy to get your hands on. Like any other DIY project you will have to get your hands on a few tools and ingredients. Let’s look at a few things we can make at home.

Foods – Anything you like to make (brownies, dips, sauces, etc) can be made with marijuana or hemp extracts. No longer is flower used for brownies. Concentrates are easier and won’t get stuck in your teeth.

Candy – Every big hobby shop carries kits and accessories to make candy in all shapes and sizes. They are affordable and the process is easy. So easy that you should get two kits. One for your cannabis based candies. And one to do with the little ones in the house sans the ganja.

Tinctures – The process for making a tincture is traditionally a slow one. It used to involve a lot of time for the concoction to be ready. Using flower this still hold true. But, using a substance such as CDB Crystals makes the process much easier. Dosage is as simple as basic math with mg/ml(cc).

Salves – Unlike the previous options, salves are for topical use. Good for aching muscles and joints to help relieve pain and inflammation.

Vaping – Making your own vape juice at home is cheaper than buying from a shop or online. The DIY process allows you to make as little or as much as you desire. And you can fine tune your product for taste and strength to your liking.

Capsules – Herbs and other supplements can be obtained in bulk and mixed at home. 5HTP, Ginseng, etc can be put into a capsule in minutes. Small capsule machines that fill 24 capsules at once can be purchased for cheap. Use caution mixing supplements.

RSO – A full cannabis extract is what I feel is the best medicine. Rick Simpson Oil, or RSO for short, can be made in an hour or less with a small rice cooker. More on this process below.

What To Do With CBD

Anything that you may like to cook can be made into a delicious cannabis dish. The most important thing to be aware of is the final dosage. More so when dealing with THC than CBD. Still, do not waste your money and over do it. Do some research and figure out a good starting dose. Since we are talking CBD I am going to say something around 50mg. This is only a reference point, not an actual dosage. Do your own testing to find your dosage. Start off low and work your way up. When cooking with cannabis, best practice is to infuse the CDB in butter. Then use the butter for your recipe. If the dish makes four (4) servings then add 200mg of CBD to the melted butter, simmer for a moment and add to the dish. Cook as you normally would and enjoy. You can also substitute coconut oil in place of the butter.

Candy And Other Confections

Candy is one of the easiest things to make. Kits are available from hobby shops for little cost and can be made in any flavor. Similar to the process of making brownies and such, for candy you will add the desired amount of CBD to the simmering candy mix. With some quality flavors you can make some great tasting candies in the kitchen. Or use grandma’s old taffy recipe if you want. The process of adding the CBD to the mix is not going change all that much.

The Old Ways Still Work

Tinctures have been around for a very long time. They remind me of the guy in the old west and up into the early 1900s pushing snake oil and tonics on the street. But, a correctly measured tincture is a safe way to dose accurately. They can be made with any high strength alcohol and in quantities big and small. Potency is up to the brewmaster. Just remember, the idea here is to dose with the CBD. A stronger potency is best as you do not want to end up drunk while medicating. Since we do not have to extract the CBD from any flower material the choice of alcohol to use is up to you. When doing some type of extraction process it is best to use a grain alcohol like Everclear. Use caution as it is basically rocket fuel in a bottle.

Go Ahead, Rub It In

Slaves are one of those things that have likely been around since before the spoken word. Being a topical product the base ingredient of choice is coconut butter. This can be purchased at your local grocery for a few dollars. The idea is to get the CDB to dissolve into the butter and distribute evenly. You might want to sway on the higher side of the potency scale on this one. We do not want to latter up with a gallon of coconut butter to absorb 25mg of CBD. If you doubt the ability to absorb things through the skin think about Albert Hoffman.

Healthier Clouds

Vaping products is one of the easiest things to make in my opinion. The base ingredients such as Propylene Glycol and Vegetable Glycerin can be bought from many places including Amazon. It is inexpensive and for CBD stuff a little will go a long way. You can even add flavors made for vaping to add a personal touch. Or go a step beyond and add terpenes for a more realistic cannabis vape. Liquid nicotine is also available if you want to DIY a more complete vape experience. Be careful with the nicotine solution as it can be absorbed through the skin and is toxic and possibly deadly in high doses. If you are not comfortable making vape juice you can buy vape cartridges and accessories online or at a local vape shop. The vape pen featured in the image can be found here.

Take The Pills, Forget The Helmet

Plenty of people make their own capsules for medicines and supplements. With a little bit of searching you can find other supplements such as herbs and minerals that can be used to make your own vitamins in a way. Do a ton of research before you go this route to be as safe as can be. Investigate dosages, interactions and allergies before making your first custom herbal blend. Stay with the safest yet beneficial supplements you can get your hands on. Capsules and the capsule filling machines come in a few different sizes. A size “00” capsule is pretty large and can hold just under ½ of a gram. The filling machine will fill a handful of capsules at once and pop them out ready to go. Premade capsules are available such as these from Endoca below.

The Best Medicine

Rick Simpson Oil is pretty popular in the cannabis world. Since it is a full extract I see it as having the most medicinal properties. Unfortunately, making RSO requires flower for the extraction process. I do not recommend anyone participate in any illegal activities. Cannabis flower is not legal to possess in the state of Louisiana at this time. This is only for education and hoping things change in the near future. To make RSO you will need grain alcohol such as Everclear, a small rice cooker, a mason jar, coffee filters, and a syringe of some kind to store the final product. Soak the flower in Everclear for 30 minutes to a couple of hours. The longer it soaks the more that is extracted from the flower. A couple of hours is plenty enough time. Strain out the flower material and place the liquid extract in the rice cooker. Turn the rice cooker on high to get the alcohol to start boiling off. Just before all the alcohol simmers off add just a few drops of clen distilled water. This will help keep the final product from being too thick. When the oil stops boiling fast the alcohol is 99% gone and all that’s left is the extract. Suck it up into a syringe while still warm and runny. Easiest way to administer RSO is by placing a small amount in an empty capsule.

Kitchen Closed

Louisiana’s program took a long time to get started. Especially when you consider we have had something on the books since the 1970s. The day it was announced the program was going to be extremely limited. Since then we have seen some modifications with the addition of some other illnesses that qualify. We would like to see a larger expanse to the program to include THC and smokable products. Who wants to eat a medication when they are nauseated and have no appetite? For some people, a little smoke relieves the headache and the nausea which allows them to eat a meal and take their medications. This may not work for everyone as nothing ever does.

Conclusion

For now we can work with what the state has provided after the people fought for it. All we can do is keep pushing for changes and enjoy what program we have. And until we have products available at our local dispensary we can enjoy the DIY process of making our own CBD products.