This actually fits with one of my favorite things that would come from legalization, that thereâs more consumer control over what kind of marijuana people are getting. As it is now in states where itâs not legal, folks who need medicinal marijuana, who would really prefer the strains with the more medicinal value, have to buy from street dealers who are really more in the business of peddling the products that are more popular amongst recreational smokers. So the folks that really want/need medicine are having to buy what the guy they know has on hand thatâs not the best product for their purposes. If you can set up a real store out in the open, folks can go to whatever stores carry what they want, and shops can have more opportunity to offer more options. If youâre a street dealer, youâre also kind of stuck with whatever your connection can clandestinely come up with and offer to you. You donât have the opportunity to take advantage of being able to buy exactly whatever you want to be able to offer all the time. Both medicinal customers and customers who are in it for the fun of it being able to go into a store and pick out exactly what they need is great, especially for the medicinal customers.
And folks where itâs legal have an opportunity to know exactly what kind of weed theyâre getting. They can know more certainly what kind it is, what the dosages of each active ingredient are, etc. Itâs not just whatever the guy you know has on hand. It allows the consumer a more precise control over what theyâre buying and ingesting.
I forsee the next big trend in recreational marijuana,though, being a lot more on offer in lighter THC versions. As more people experiment or use it only occasionally when itâs legal, there could be a whole big audience who doesnât want the super duper high potency stuff. Folks who might wanna get a little relaxation, get a little giggly, but donât want to be totally heavily stoned.
They donât say how much they tested or what kind it was, and I looked for the presentation by Andy LaFrate and could not find it, but this is a bit on the fear mongering side. I can walk into a shop and ask to see the lab results and choose based on that. You typically wonât find the very high CBD strains unless you are buying medical, because as mentioned they are better suited for medical. But one can definitely find strains that have 20% CBD and 0.5% THC, like Charlotteâs Web, specifically bred by Colorado breeders to treat seizures.
Edit: I just checked and thereâs a shop 15 minutes from downtown Denver that has a recreational strain that is 4-5% THC and 14-15% CBD.
CBD (cannabidiol) can offset the unpleasant effects that THC can induce in some users such as paranoia and anxiety. They should offer plenty of varieties with strong CBD levels as well.
WTF is CBD?
(I know, but where I live, we have NFI whatâs in our weed)
Cannabidiol - one of the two main active cannabinoids. Itâs apparently of interest for medicinal purposes; Iâm not sure if itâs more effective than THC for some medicinal purposes, or just equally effective but leaves people otherwise more functional.
It doesnât produce a high, or at least not nearly as much of one as THC, and it binds to the same cannabinoid receptors as THC, so it actually reduces the effective high from the THC thatâs in the weed, by making those receptors unavailable to it - if a two people consume the same amount of THC, one by consuming a high-CBD variety and the other a low-CBD variety, the former person will get less high despite consuming more weed, and as much THC.
CBD is whatâs missing from skunk (similar to this) makes the user susceptible (at an heightened percentage) to psychosis.
Keep testing for user safety.
Keep things out in the open for conversation.
Keep things above board for study.
Stop making criminals.
This is great. I would love to have a consumer protection agency checking my weed for contaminants.
Unfortunately, I am far from my native land, living among savages on the wrong coast.
Yup. Thereâs a strain at a recreational shop that I go to in Seattle that has something like 20%CBD. The one I decided on getting is in the area of 22-26% THC though. For the first time, I actually got âtoo highâ. Not like bad things happen. Just, way more than I expected, and woke up in the morning realizing that I fell asleep in my PC chair and my back is really sore.
The retail outlet I visit in CO has one option for low THC high CBD, currently⌠the strain called âACDCâ. (this is Organic Alternatives in Fort Collins).
The person I talked to there this week said they plan on introducing two or more new varities in the coming months that fit this demand. There is demand for it in the retail sector, so there will be product supplied to fill the need. The medical sector is way ahead of things in this regard, though for certain.
A couple of years ago I smoked with a friend for a couple of weeks, it was my first time in years. The varieties we tried had way, way more THC than what I used in my younger years. It felt very clean, less buzzy, and very strong. Sometimes more like a hallucinogen than what I was expecting. And sometimes quite jittery. Even though I donât need medical marijuana, if I was able to obtain cannabis easily I would get some with more CBD. The hash I used to enjoy had lots of both. It just generally leaves me feeling a lot better.
I ran into this sort of problem a while ago, in a way. A dollop of restaurant-grade dish detergent splashed into my eye at work. Despite immediately flushing it with massive amounts of water and literally drowning it in Visine, my eye would not stop burning. Matter of fact, the Visine made it burn worse for the first minute after application.
Now, I donât do coke, but I know âa guy,â and his rep was that his stuff was good. So I asked him about maybe getting some so I could make a tincture to numb out my damned eye. However, he was at the mercy of an illegal supply chain.
âYou canât get medical grade?â
âI am not an MD, Iâm a coke dealer. My stuff is great, but you canât put it in your eye, Noah. This is extracted by barefoot Mestizos stomping it out of the leaves in a vat with kerosene. Even after, by the time I get it, someoneâs cut it with something. Not as bad as most guysâ, but still. And they donât really disclose what the cut is.â
My eye went back to normal, eventually.
You could afford to buy coke, but not to go to the optometrist or optician? Also, thereâs no way to do an L&I claim in Georgia?
I wasnât going to buy an ounce, I was going to get like a fraction of a gram. Iâve never been to an optical professional, maybe they do appointments for less than $50, but I donât like hospitals, or strangers generally, these days. but anyway, it was an oddball inquiry I thought of since heâs a guy I see socially and just ran it by him when I saw him.
I was just ribbing you, man. Interesting idea though. I remembered that back in the bad old days they used to use cocaine as a topical anesthetic and bleeding-reducer (Iâm not sure what the actual term is?) for stuff like getting stitches, and having teeth pulled.
ya, I remember seeing reprints of the old print ads for cocaine patent medicines is what made me think of it, actually.
Note, BTW, that those with a medical interest in cannabidiol (CBD) preparations with no THC can order a variety of FDA-approved forms - tinctures, tablets,. capsules, gums, topical salves, etc. - either from Amazon or directly from manufacturers.
CBD-only extracts are classified as âhemp oilâ and are legal as a nutritional supplements in all 50 states of the US.
Just search for âcannabidiolâ.
[quote=âredstarr, post:3, topic:54680â]
And folks where itâs legal have an opportunity to know exactly what kind of weed theyâre getting. They can know more certainly what kind it is, what the dosages of each active ingredient are, etc.[/quote]
In theory. At the moment, thereâs not much oversight, and the claimed amounts of THC have a tendency to vary substantially from actual (usually higher, because theyâre cutting the stuff thin, but occasionally lower, so you take what you thought was a reasonable amount and get way more fucked up than you planned for.)
But youâre right, itâs a big step in the right direction. Legalization makes it at least possible to solve these issues, even if they havenât been solved yet.
