Ganja as Medicine
Ganja contains some powerful medicine. Understanding the different components of that medicine, how to consume them, and how they affect you will help unlock the healing power of this extraordinary plant.
The ganja plant produces more than 700 chemical compounds. The best known compound is tetrahydrocannabinol or THC, which is what makes you feel high. While most people emphasize the role of THC, there’s much more to the picture than THC. Each strain is different, in fact each harvest of each strain is different. There’s a complex relationship between all of the different chemicals in ganja that produce the different medical effects.
This complex relationship, plus the variation in potency between plants makes it hard to use and study ganja as medicine because dosage varies. Imagine if every time you took an aspirin you got a variable dose made of different ingredients. It would be really hard to predict how it would affect you!
Understanding how and where the different components of ganja are absorbed, metabolized, excreted and stored within the body is important because it helps us understand how ganja works as medicine.
Medical Absorption of Ganja
When smoked or vaped, the THC in ganja reaches peak concentration in the blood within six minutes. Amazingly, THC from smoking or vaping can be detected in the blood within seconds after inhalation. You’ve probably noticed that you’ve learned how to absorb THC better with experience by controlling how deep a breath you take, how long you hold your breath, and other factors. Interesting, holding your breath only increases THC absorption a little. It’s the deepness of the breath that really matters.
Then next way to absorb medicine from ganja is sublingual (under the tongue) or oromucosal (through the tissues of the mouth). This is like when you have a ganja candy and is actually my current method of choice. It’s not as efficient as smoking or vaping, but it saves your lungs from any damage. Place the ganja candy under your tongue – it’s faster. You’ll start to feel it in about 15 minutes. This feeling will peak in 2-4 hours.
Unfortunately, oral absorption of the medicines in ganja is slow and inconsistent, and they vary from person to person. It could take anywhere from 2 to 6 hours for the amount of THC in your blood to peak. Plus, your stomach acid breaks down some of the THC so you don’t get it, and your liver removes some of the THC from your blood.
I’ve seen more and more ganja creams and lotions come on the market. This may seem like a good idea because no one will notice them. However, this isn’t a good way to get full-body medicinal value and you’re not likely to get high. It is a good way to treat local muscle pain, skin conditions like psoriasis, and arthritis.
Whichever method you choose, about 90% of the THC that makes it into your blood will get absorbed by your body. About 1% will make it into your brain. Your liver will break down almost all of the THC and CBD that you’ve consumed.
In most cases, within 36 hours all of the THC and CBD will be excreted from your body. There are other elements of ganja that will stick around for anywhere from 10-21 days.
A Note about Dosage
It turns out that ganja has more medicinal value when you don’t use enough to get high. A Dutch scientist named Arno Hazekamp conducted experiments with ganja tea that he heated just enough to activate the THC but not boil it. Patients reported medicinal effects but didn’t get high.
There are a lot of cannabinoid acids in ganja that have medicinal value but don’t make you feel high. The theory is that smoking or vaping ganja breaks down these acids. For medicinal value, it’s better to be gentle with our beloved ganja.
Other studies have also demonstrated that high doses of ganja cause the brain to respond by lowering the number of cannabinoid receptors in the body. This makes it harder to get medicinal value or get high. We’ve probably all noticed this after periods of repeated heavy use where it starts to take more and more and we don’t get as good of an effect.
For best medicinal results, remember that less is more. Use the smallest possible dose required to meet the medicinal need. Only consume enough ganja to get a medicinal response. Stay below the threshold to get high. Every few months take a break and give your endocannabinoid system a chance to reset.
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