All About THC

THC is something that you probably heard about because of the effects it gives you when you smoke weed. However, this is something that offers a lot of benefits, and this is something that is one of the most prevalent cannabinoids out there. While it isn’t seen in hemp plants sometimes, this is something that is still really potent, and s responsible for the sensation of feeling high, and is why it’s not legal in a lot of places. 

Typically, the properties of this are usually used for recreational reasons, but this is something that also has medicinal benefits too, and this works together with CBD in order to create what’s called the entourage effect, which is synergy between the flavonoids, cannabinoids, and terpenes, which help to modulate and control the different properties of this. There are also therapeutic benefits of THC that are studied, and something that will help with the extensive knowledge, e and is something that offers plenty of vital reactions and functions to this, making It systematic to study. 

Synthesis 

This is something that works with the cannabinoids in the body and their receptors.  This works with the terpene phenols, which share similar compounds, which are called terpenes along with phenols. The origin of these cannabinoids is found through olivetolic acid, a phenol, and also a compound named geranyl pyrophosphate, which after it reacts with CBGA, it then creates the precursor to the chemical THC, and other chemicals too. 

Tis was first found by Yechiel Gaoni and Dr. Raphael Mehoulan in Israel back in 1964. This was discovered in Lebanese Hash.  THCA is basically created from the THCA enzyme synthase along with CBGA, which is something that’s also found in CBCA, CBDA, and THCA, and this is basically converted through synthases, and then, it creates THCA.  When it’s heated up, it’s then turned into a not an acid, so it loses the A, and it loses that carboxyl attached to this, which is what gives it this psychoactive element. This is also found when certain temperatures are hit during some periods of time. this is also why when you smoke it, it make you feel high, but not when you say,, eat a piece of cannabis. 

There are also compounds called delta-8, which is basically a similar type of isomer to delta-9. It also has the same formula, but there is a small change to this in the positioning of this, especially in where the double bond occurs, and this means that it has certain kinds of other properties, especially psychoactive results. 

Why does cannabis create THC though? Well, this is considered a means of defense against those that try to harm it, and also protects it from the UVB rays of the sun, and also protects itself from microbes, especially bacteria. It may also be used as well to protect itself from other fungi too, although the UVB and pest protection are the common reasons. 

The UVB explanation is definitely a plausible one since it does grow well in places that get a ton of sun, and when it hits that high point, it does need some protection, so the trichomes will secret the substances needed. 

It does cause a lot of different benefits to the body though. For example, it can help with altering the cerebral cortex and memory, help stimulate appetite, help with the brain stem and control vomiting and pain, and so much more. it also offers euphoric feelings as well, and it can be something that a lot of people do enjoy with this compound, and the benefits it has too.

How to Avoid Cannabis Plant Stretching

Cannabis plant stretching is basically the growing vertically of cannabis plants during the early flowering stages, which is seen in a lot of sativa and sativa dominant hybrid plants. This is something that usually is seen during your third or the fourth week, and some may even grow a bit longer. 

This is something a lot of cultivars try to avoid all the time, since this can definitely cause issues with growing in certain media, but also makes the plants spindly and tall, reduces production, and they will then outgrow the area, and their buds will start to be airy in terms of growth, so it’ll spoil all of the plants that are there, and also will not create a good, even canopy, and you won’t be able to get the most efficient growth possible. 

It's a nightmare when this happens, and you’ll then have to adjust your entire space for flowering to accommodate all of this, and it may cause a harvest, but it’s usually worthless. How do you fix this though? How do you keep this reasonable, especially during those first few weeks, so that they don’t do that. 

First, consider genetics. 

You want to choose ones that are good for your space to grow.  Indica plants will not stretch as much, with the exception of the OG Kush, which is a stretchy cultivar, since this is something that has specific genetics to this. 

Choose ones with a shorter  veg period 

This may seem obvious, but if you want to make sure that your plants don’t stretch, you’ll want to choose one that has a veg period that’s a little bit longer.  Those that have an 18/6 schedule, and then moved to a 12/12, it will start to flower.  You want to go for shorter vegetative periods, since this offers more room int eh ten to go upwards, so that you don’t have to worry about the plant stretching as much. 

Think about Temperature 

Usually, most growers will use HPS lamps when flowering, since they are a part of the warm light levels of colors, which means that they’re more red, and they mimic autumnal light colors in order to help with flowering. 

However, this does also induce the action of stretching in many cannabis cultivars. You should try to continue to use metal halide kinds of lamps to help with vegetative growth over the next couple weeks of flowering. You should try to go for blue light spectrums, to help with better internode spaces, and also to reduce stretching while also keeping the plants at logical height levels. Usually, after a few weeks of the 12/12 types of lighting, you want to then change the MH to HPS in order to continue the correct flowering. You can also use LED lamps of a variable spectrum to save you a bit of headache as well. 

Look at temperatures 

Finally, you want to make sure that you are not giving them too cold of a temperature.  You want to try to make sure that the growing temperature isn’t too much between daytime and nighttime. This is because it will cause the plant to create gibberellin, which means that it will stretch a lot more. 

Usually, research says that the stretching takes place mostly in the first couple hours of the morning, so if you reduce the temperature a little bit for a few hours during daybreak, and also reduce it just a little bit at night, it can help with this. It can also be fixed with cold dump to help keep things cold and stop the stretch. 

Does Marijuana Cause Dehydration?

When you smoke it, sometimes you feel a “dry mouth” or cottonmouth as they call it after you have cannabis. This is something that is oftentimes questioned, especially since some people may wonder if well, marijuana does create dehydration. Marijuana helps with a lot of conditions, but you might wonder about the thirst aspects too. 

What is Thirst 

Thirst is when you feel a sort of dryness, and it’s caused by losing or using up the fluid that’s intake, and once you have it, there isn’t’ enough water or various fluids to operate and utilize normal functions. While it’s usually something temporary, it can have some dangerous implications. 

Dazed, dizziness, and other side effects can happen, including a feeling of confusion, darker urine, memory issues, constipation, issues focusing, tooth decay, digestive issues, and malnutrition in some cases too. Usually, thirst is basically a sign that you need to drink stuff sooner than later, and if you’re experiencing dry mouth, it may not be a result from thirst, but instead marijuana usage. 

Marijuana Hangovers and Flus 

There is one sort of feeling that happens, where you get almost “hungover” after using marijuana, similar to alcohol hangovers. According to a study done in 1985 based on various marijuana users that said they had dry mouth, lethargy, issues with alertness, redness in the eyes, issues learning, and memory which was impaired. While dry mouth wasn’t a dehydration indication, it’s a symptom form marijuana. 

When you have THC, the salivary glands immediately react, and they stop the production of saliva.  It however is also a minor sort of diuretic, so it may cause diarrhea, which also might lead to dehydration. 

Cannabinoid Hyperemesis Syndrome 

This is a rare condition that happens after you consume marijuana. This does cause dehydration but also vomiting and nausea cyclic episodes, and also it may cause you to vomit and also have hot bathing a lot. While there is no cause for this, it’s mostly supposed it’s from interactions of the cannabis within the digestive tract. 

This is usually someone who uses this for the long-term, and sometimes up to five times a day. This is something that happens when you use marijuana too much, which makes your brain receptors begin to not respond to cannabis in the same way. Infections, anemia, drugs, urinary problems, and electrolyte imbalances may also attribute to this, along with pancreas and liver enzyme imbalances which might happen too. 

Don’t Be Afraid to Drink water 

Even if you take medical cannabis or don’t, you should be drinking water frequently, since water is vital for good wellness and health. The problem is, a lot of people don’t have enough water, and this causes your blood to become viscous, and it actually does increase the chances of forming various clots. 

About three-quarters of Americans are dehydrated chronically, which means that you’re more likely to get blood clots. You should have anywhere from 11-15 cups of water. Remember, water gets lost every single day with sweating bowel movements, and even your digestive system, so you should always make sure that you drink water, and try to attain those levels., 

If you notice that you’re thirsty, you should drink water right away. If you’re someone who gets thirsty a lot when smoking a bowl, definitely keep some water on hand, and also make sure that you talk to your doctor to ensure that everything that you expect is happening, and also is there for you to get the most out of this. It’s also a good way to make sure you avoid dehydration whenever you consume cannabis.

Extraction Methods for CBD Oil

 There are different ways that CBD oil gets used to be added as an extraction, and there are different factors that determine this, usually, the effectiveness, and the safety of this. In this, you’ll learn about the different methods of extraction, along with some of the safety things to concern whenever you choose a certain method.

CO2

This is one of the most common, and usually, it uses solid, liquids, and gasses in order to help with this. CO2 when you have it in the natural state, is very good at handling low temperatures, and super high pressure, creating a liquid that hits a state that’s supercritical. This causes the fluid to get heated up a little bit, increasing the pressure so that it causes supercritical mixtures of CO2 to be there.

This, of course, then causes a chamber to dissolve the oils that are there and other flavors from cannabis that are there. This chamber gets further maintained at pressures that are low enough to offer a liquefied type of state for this. This causes it to be supercritical, then gets pumped to vessels that are separated, offering temperature and pressure to move into different layers that are there, and then, you put the mixture into yet another chamber to revert the CO2 back, and this leaves just the oil, and the CBD that you want from this.

Winterization 

There is also winterization, which basically separates out the compounds not wanted, and usually, this involves getting rid of the lipids, the fats, and all of the other excess that’s there.

It’s then put into an alcohol, stirred in a vigorous manner, and then, thrown into a freezer for the night. Then, the next day they take out the mixture, put this into a funnel, and then, it’s put onto a filter paper to get rid of the compounds, and then, after filtering, the heat gets applied. It takes a few uses before the oil is created.

Liquid Solvent

This is one that works similar to how CO2 does, and it utilizes butane, ethanol, isopropyl, and also hexane in order to get rid of the flavor and the oils and leave behind just cannabis.

This is cheaper than other means, but this also comes with the downside of the solvents making them bitter, since there are impurities such as chlorophyll there that get nasty. There are also different adjustments that are there, in order to reduce the occurrence of this as well.

Steam

Finally, we’ve got steam. This is where the plant gets separated directly from where the cannabis is, through the use of steam. It begins with the plant being put into a flash made of glass, and there is an inlet that connects to other containers that are there, filling this up with water. It’s under the plant flash, and then, there’s an outlet with a condenser there.

The water boils, the steam gets into there, separating out the vapors that are usually there. They get condensed into tubes and usually it becomes oil and water together.

It’s further distilled and collected, extracting this oil from the water. This is the least efficient, and usually it doesn’t give the exact CBD that’s extracted. It also requires a lot more plants than other types.

Then of course if the steam becomes too hot, it’s not good in the properties of such. These are the main extraction methods, and while some are used more often than others, a lot are used to help with extracting cannabis to create the solvents you can use right now!

The Best Strains for Rheumatoid Arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease which is chronic, in that it involves the immune system attacking some of the normal areas of tissue within the body, which causes swollen, inflamed, and joints which are painful. Doctors are able to promote different drugs that are anti-rhematic, along with NSAIDS and other drugs to help with reducing inflammation, along with surgery as the main kinds of treatment. But cannabis has bee found to help with this disorder. 

Why it helps 

This is something that doe naturally help because it’s anti-inflammatory, has different terpenes and cannabinoids within it, and it does offer antioxidants and analgesic properties that definitely work together in order to give cannabis the chance to treat different problems in the body. 

Two of the biggest compounds that are found here are THC and CBD, and this is great for reducing the release and production of the inflammatory aspects of this, modulating your immunity, and the cannabinoids do activate your receptors especially the synovium in those patients with this. 

CBD is not intoxicating, but it does work better than aspirin in terms of the anti-inflammatory power of such. This is something that’s definitely hundred times more anti-inflammatory compared to aspirin, and usually, those with arthritis like the hybrid or the indica strains to help with this. 

The terpenes are something that synergize with your cannabinoids to make this entourage effect, so they work together to create a better, more rewarding impact within your body. some of the terpenes have anti-inflammatory aspects to this, such as linalool, myrcene, pinene, caryophyllene, and limonene for example. 

The best strains 

While the best strains to help with this do vary, this work swell when smoked, vaped for quick efforts and edibles, to offer long-term results. One of the best for managing symptoms to start is white widow, since this is indica-dominant, and is more balanced with CBD and THC, so it offers your body a chance to synergize all of this, create the entourage effect, and then manage chronic pain in those who have rheumatoid arthritis. It also has pinene and other terpenes, which help with the effect. 

There is also white berry, which is something that’s indica and sativa hybrid, and it helps with reducing the chronic pain and inflammatory in some inflammatory conditions. It also contains pinene and myrcene, which is one of the reasons why it’s one of the best strains to help with this condition. 

Sour diesel is another one, since this one has a very high THC and very low CBD, so you will get high. This is one that’s good for chronic pain reduction though, as it does work pretty well with it. 

Then you’ve got jack Herer, which is one that has a higher THC content, and it’s a hybrid kind of strain. This is good for those who need to have pain relief and fast. It also contains a lot of different terpenes that kill pain as well, including caryophyllene, and myrcene to also begin with this. 

Finally, we’ve got harlequin, which is a sativa strain that’s very popular, since it’s got a pretty balanced amount of CBD to THC, and it’s also great for helping with inflammation, chronic pain, and rheumatoid arthritis. 

The THC definitely means that  you will get a good high, but it won’t be strong. It’s a lot more mild in terms of psychoactive effects, but it’s a good strain if you want to use it for medical needs, as it does just that to help you with treating the condition. These strains are all good for rheumatoid arthritis.

Injecting Marijuana

You’ve probably heard the “injecting marijuana” joke before from people, especially those who don’t consume cannabis. There’s a ton of ways to use this, but intravenous is not a popular way, and it’s dangerous. No, don’t inject marijuana. You don’t inject weed. While some of the oil products do have syringes to this, this is something that involves putting this underneath your tongue, or as an oil to vaporize. 

Injecting Marijuana History 

This is an idea that came from people who joke about the idea that once you have cannabis, you’re going to have all sorts of drugs, and it’s for those that use cannabis, or don’t know how to use it. But this was actually a thing. 

Back in the 1970s and the 1980s, there were people who would put the cannabis flower into a broth, filter this, and then inject this into their bloodstream. 

They would get super sick, high, have vomiting, pain, and even had issues with their heart.  Of course word got out, and people stopped doing this.  While it is satire, it’s actually something that can be quite dangerous. But IV administration of the use of THC is something that can be done, but it’s a very uncommon practice. However, they usually don’t address the current administration of cannabis, and you really should not inject pure THC whenever you need to utilize medical cannabis. 

The Danger Of This 

One study did look at the possibility of injecting 22 people who were healthy with THC, that previously used cannabis. After about three days of use, it was found that the injection of this directly did cause schizophrenia symptoms, including your perception being altered, the cognitive functions decreasing, and majorly increasing the cortisol levels. While nobody who has a brain cell injects THC, this was of course, one of those studies that started the whole scary stories of  injecting weed, creating the schizophrenia that you see in people. 

Right now, more research is needed, especially to understand how pure THC can create behavior that’s psychotic in those who have these disorders. 

So, what you should know about this, is that no, you should not inject it. If you think about it, the body does naturally let this seep in, but the problem is, if you’re doing pure THC directly, it’s too much too fast. It does elevate the heart rate already, which can put you at risk for cardiac arrest in a few cases. 

The best thing to do is to avoid all of that. Now, what about the cannabis syringes? Are those legit? The answer is simple: yes, because you’re not using that anywhere near your veins, and it’s not being given via IV. 

This is something that’s done through oral dispensing, placing this deep underneath the tongue, or added directly to drinks recipes, or if you want to make your dab rig that much stronger. 

These are tested by the lab and are considered safe if you decide to use them in the way that it’s intended. Otherwise, don’t use these anywhere near your veins, and don’t use them internally. 

So here’s the skinny. Don’t inject marijuana into your veins. Just don’t. While injecting weed is an ongoing meme, lots of people don’t realize the dangers of doing this, and it’s something that can put your life at risk if you’re not careful. So for the sake of your health and wellness, and for the sake of others, just use marijuana in a way that’s intended, and only use weed in the ways that it’s encouraged for you to do so, to protect your body, and to make sure that no health concerns crop up as a result of all of this either. 

Weed and Effexor

Effexor is one that’s used sometimes with cannabis and it can create bad effects if you’re not careful including issues with concentration, thinking that’s impaired issues with judgement, and issues with your motor coordination. 

What Effexor Is 

Effexor is one that’s basically a brand name for a drug that’s called venlafaxine, which is basically an antidepressant that’s basically in the SNRI class. This is similar to other types of Effexor too, including Vensir, Vencarm, and Venlablue. Being an SNRI, this is used to treat PTSD, generalized anxiety, major depression, social phobias, OCD, and sometimes chronic pain. sometimes, they may prescribe this one to use for headaches, and also for neuropathy. 

Right now, we don’t know exactly how it works to treat depression, since it’s both serotogenic, along with adrenergic in terms of the use, and this is used to help reduce muscle weakness, especially for those who have narcolepsy. This works to help block the reuptake proteins that are used in this, which leaves the more active kinds of neurotransmitters there within the synapse. 

This does help with norepinephrine and serotonin uptake. It does inhibit some uptake of dopamine, and it does work with the opioid receptors as well, which can help with the management of chronic pain in some people. 

Benefits and drawbacks of mixing

There are some benefits and drawbacks of mixing in some cases that are worth mentioning. Some people may use this to replace or reduce the reuptake of your antidepressant and the drugs associated wt. this. Cannabis is one that’s good for helping with a lot of anti-anxiety and other compounds that also are good as an SSRI as well, so it can be good for making you feel better. 

Cannabis can also help with some of the side effects that come with antidepressants, including headaches, insomnia, and appetite loss. It can also help with nausea, flu-like symptoms, along with anxiety that’s there. Sometimes, the major effects of Effexor include mania, serotonin syndrome, and suicide risk. Cannabis is a lot better for you, since the risks are far milder, and it can be much heathier for you compared to using Effexor. 

What about the risks though? Well, sometimes the risk s do increase in terms of side effects, such as sedation, nausea, loss of balance, dizziness, along with fatigue. The gradual reduction of the use of Effexor is definitely needed to prevent the discontinuation syndrome that’s there, and you have to be mindful since relapse does happen. 

If you have hypertension or heart disease, you need to especially be careful with this, as it can speed up your heart rate to levels that are not safe. So what should you do if you use both. If you notice that the side effects are bad, stop use immediately, and you should always take this nice and slow. 

This includes minor or severe side effects, and you should talk to a doctor, ask for proper medical supervision, and avoid trying to quit this cold turkey. Effexor is something that can create a bunch of serious side effects if you’re not careful, and some people struggle to quit this. If you’re going to use cannabis as a replacement for this, you should be mindful of the effects, and try to mitigate these effects in a safe and healthy manner, since that can reduce the chances of this getting bad. 

Remember that Effexor can be a serious drug to quit, and it can get pretty nasty in some cases, so be mindful of the side effects when trying to quit, and also be mindful of how it makes you feel when you try to quit something like that.