Purplestickeypunch
Active Member
This is a very exciting time for me right now; I get to introduce a new patient to cannabis. The back story: The mother (whom I've never met) of one of my long time friends has been diagnosed with a few painful tumors (benign but inoperable) and has basically been told to go home and "learn to live with the pain". Now mind you she has been prescribed Percocet and Oxycontin but does not want to take them because of the side effects and the probability of addiction. The realization that the pain will be with her indefinitely has caused her to become depressed and this has in turn and understandably caused my friend to become concerned for his mother. I'm always spreading the news about new cannabis studies and what not so logically he turns to me for information regarding treating his mothers pain with cannabis. After a battery of questions ranging from addiction to driving when medicated, I came across the article below and sent it his way. Satisfied that medical cannabis is indeed legit he goes to his mom with the idea of treating her pain and (by default) depression with cannabis. Fast forward to the next day and he gets back in touch with me with the news; "mom wants to give it a try!". I'm elated to hear this. My passion for helping people combined with my love of all things cannabis has me on cloud 9. He also mentions that she is going to bring it up with her doctor and see how he feels about it. She see's her Dr. explains to him her curiosity regarding treating her pain with cannabis; his response is less than surprising to me. The Dr. tells her to give it a try and let him know how things go. Not being located in a MMJ friendly state his advice is to have her travel to one and go from there. This is not only impracticable it's also financially impossible for her. So, I offered to supply her indefinitely with clean, safe cannabis at no charge what so ever. It's a personal choice and I don't judge anyone for charging others. This brings me to my main topic of this thread. What is the best way to introduce her to cannabis? I want to avoid any negative experiences that would possibly turn her away from it before actually giving it a fair shot at becoming an effective treatment. Conventional smoking may be out of the question because as we all know coughing isn't always a pleasant experience. I personally enjoy a good bong rip caused tear inducing coughing fit from time to time, but it's not for everyone and may turn her off completely. So the next option I thought of was some sort of edible. My concern with edibles is the varying potency; I've been smoking for years and have eaten a brownie in the past that made me ill and very uncomfortable. If this were my first experience I probably would have considered myself allergic and not tried again. This is exactly what I want to avoid. I'm thinking about making hash and using the varying micron rating as a guide to ensure uniform potency. I've recently purchased a set of bubble bags ranging from 220, 120, 73 & 20 microns. Even thought I've never made any kind of hash, I'm certain I can properly produce bubble hash with minimal issues. On to the application. My plan is to keep the 72-20 micron for myself for smoking purposes and use the 219 - 120 (we'll call this A) micron for one type of edible and the 119 - 73 (and we'll call this B) for another. Now comes your part. I need some options for simple ways to orally consume either A or B. Keep in mind she has never tried cannabis and more than likely has a very low tolerance level. Whatever option is chosen and I'd like to have a few; I will be there with her to monitor her and to help stem any paranoia she may encounter and if nothing else have someone to laugh with.
Ideas so far:
- Add a minute but accurately measured amount of A or B to a cup of coffee, to allow her to start her day without adding extra calorie intake by means of a cookie or something else of that nature.
- Using X amount of either A or B to make a pound of cannabutter and allow her to vary the dose as she sees fit; teaspoon on a bagel, add it to her veggies (you see my point). I see this as a nice flexible option for her which I hope will encourage her to continue treatment. Also, it would be much appreciated if someone has a guide showing how much of A added to X amount of oil gives this rating on potency, while X amount of B added to X amount of butter gives this rating on potency and so on.
- Make some sort of hard candy or caramel/Tootsie type of treat using the same accurately measured "X of A to ___" or "X of B to ___" formula.
Ok, fellow RUI members; help me turn this lady's life around.
http://blog.norml.org/2012/08/09/scientific-review-there-is-now-clear-evidence-that-cannabinoids-are-useful-for-the-treatment-of-various-medical-conditions/
