Substantial Number of Military Vets Use Cannabis to Teat PTSD


A study published in the American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy, and e-published ahead of print by the National Institute of Health, has found that a substantial number of military veterans use cannabis to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), with many finding relief from the condition’s primary symptoms.

“When inhaled or delivered orally or transdermally, cannabinoids (the psychoactive components of unrefined marijuana and various derivative products) activate endogenous cannabinoid receptors, modulating neurotransmitter release and producing a wide range of central nervous system effects, including increased pleasure and alteration of memory processes”, states the study’s abstract. “Those effects provide a pharmacologic rationale for the use of cannabinoids to manage the three core PTSD symptom clusters: reexperiencing, avoidance and numbing, and hyperarousal.”

According to researchers; “Cross-sectional studies have found a direct correlation between more severe PTSD symptomatology and increased motivation to use cannabis for coping purposes, especially among patients with difficulties in emotional regulation or stress tolerance. Data from 4 small studies suggested that cannabinoid use was associated with global improvements in PTSD symptoms or amelioration of specific PTSD symptoms such as insomnia and nightmares. Large well-designed controlled trials are needed in order to better delineate the potential role of cannabinoids as an adjunct or alternative to conventional approaches to PTSD management.”

The study concludes; “While further research into cannabinoid treatment effects on PTSD symptoms is required, the evaluated evidence indicates that substantial numbers of military veterans with PTSD use cannabis or derivative products to control PTSD symptoms, with some patients reporting benefits in terms of reduced anxiety and insomnia and improved coping ability.”

More Great Reading from: The Joint Blog

MMJ Edible RECIPE Medicated Chocolate Mouse

Recipe by Payton Curry from marijuanarecipes.com

Nothing says I love you more than chocolate laced with weed ladies and gentlemen. You’d be wise to keep this in mind as Valentine’s Day approaches. Anyhow this is an easy recipe to follow and has a high rate of return in my home kitchen. Take the time to infuse your cream and you will be happy with the results. I like to layer soaked lady fingers with this mousse and garnish it all with chocolate covered espresso beans. Enjoy!
 
Medicated Chocolate Mousse Ingredients:
4 large egg yolks
4 Tbsp HoneyBuzz (see recipe below)
2 Cups CannaMilk (see recipe below)
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
Tip: Whip the egg white in a chilled bowl cleaned with a bit of vinegar before chilling. Chill the whip also!


Method:
In a medium saucepan, whisk together egg yolks, two tablespoons HoneyBuzz, and 3/4 cup infused heavy cream. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring until mixture coats back of spoon, 4 to 4 minutes (do not boil). Remove from heat; whisk in melted chocolate and vanilla. Strain into a bowl; chill until cool. With an electric mixer, beat remaining 1 1/4 cups heavy cream with remaining 2 tablespoons HoneyBuzz until stiff peaks form. Stir 1/3 of whipped cream into cooled custard mixture, then gently fold in the rest with a rubber spatula.

HoneyBuzz Recipe
  Honey Buzz Ingredients:
2 Cups Organic honey
14 g Cannabis Decarb’d (Instructions located here)
1 Cup water


Method:
 Place Kief into your crock pot and turn on HIGH. Once the kief is fragrant pour in some water and bring it all to a nice simmer. Pour in your honey and allow it to cook for 3-5 hours.

CannaMilk Recipe
  
 CannaMilk Ingredients:
1 cup/250ml Whole Milk or Cream
1/8oz or 3.5g of finely ground cannabis
Weed grinder


Method:
Be sure to grind your weed very fine. It will work better this way. Add the milk and cannabis to a pan at a medium heat. Bring the contents to a boil and simmer it for an hour. Remember to stir and be careful because milk can easily overflow if there’s too much heat. Let the CannaMilk cool the strain the milk through cheese cloth and store it in an airtight container. Make sure to keep the CannaMilk refrigerated and use it before the expiration date on the carton.

Payton Curry, the Culinary Cannabis Chef at Northsight Capital—who oversee WeedDepot.com and MarijuanaRecipes.com—is a modern-day apothecary combining his skills for cooking with a desire to teach people about the benefits of medicinal marijuana and how to prepare their own treatments. The talented Culinary Institute of America graduate also owns Brat Haüs in Scottsdale, AZ and Cannabis Curryosity Consulting.

via: Stuff Stoners Like

Tips for Transplanting Marijuana Plants


When it’s time to transplant into larger containers, your choice of container size, container setup, and your transplant method are all important factors. Each can impact the success of your transplant. Since I have have quite a bit of experience with this, I thought I’d share a few tips to help you successfully transplant your young marijuana plants. Some of these tips are common sense while others may be new even for experienced growers.

1. Pot size selection

A great rule of thumb is to choose a new pot that is at least double the size of the old one. Avoid potting up into a huge pot, If you place a 6-pack sized root ball into a 5 gallon pot you’ll have to keep 5 gallons of soil moist which at first the roots won’t reach. This is a waste of water and plant food. Larger pots will also require greater spacing which for indoor growing means more lights and wasted electricity.

2. Assess root ball condition

If your plant has become overly root bound in its old pot, consider breaking up the root ball a little. Gently pull it apart just enough to break the shape of the old pot. Some roots will be damaged but in the long run it will help the roots break out of the old pot shape and aid in root expansion.

3. Avoid Stress

Be sure not to transplant in direct sunlight. Roots don’t like direct light or exposure to dry conditions. Transplant in the early morning or better yet the evening. If possible, allow freshly transplanted plants to remain in their old environment for a day or two before moving them into new conditions.
4. Stake plants
If the plants are tall and delicate, or have a hard time standing on their own, stake them with bamboo and secure with at least 2 plant ties. This helps prevent them from being overturned if jostled. As the plant develops, be sure to remove these ties or they will become tight and even girdle the plant.

5. Rapid potting trick

If you have a lot of plants to transplant consider pre-filling the new containers with fresh planting mix. Use an empty pot, that is the same size as your old pots as a spacer to create a perfectly sized socket for the root ball to fit into. Simply stage the filled, new pots off to one side and remove the ‘spacer’ just prior to the actual transplanting action. This trick can save a lot of time and minimizes air and light exposure which reduces plant stress (see tip 3). Pots can even be filled and staged days before the actual transplant.

6. Do not overly pack the soil

The first time you water the plants the soil settles and natural compacts. this is the ideal amount of compaction for most soils. If you under pack the pots, they might settle to be only half full. If pots are over compacted, the new roots will have to work harder to branch out. Compacting the soil just right takes a little practice and varies with soil moisture content and texture.

7. Always water immediately following transplant

The first watering helps settle the soil around the root ball and collapses any voids that may have formed inside the container, it also helps the young plant cope with transplant stress. Use a watering wand with a gentle diffuser to avoid upsetting the soil and root ball.

8. Post-transplant shock reduction

The only thing plants need after transplant is water. That being said, there are many products that claim to reduce transplant shock. To list a few; Superthrive, Liquinox b1, and Dyna Gro KLN. They all contain a plant growth regulator (PGR) called naphthylacetic acid (NAA). This PGR is also found in many cloning solutions. NAA is very powerful and actually forces the plant to abandon vegetative growth and focus only on root development. If any of these items are used, be sure to follow the labels instructions. Don’t use too much.

9. Post transplant Fertilizer

I don’t recommend use of liquid fertilizer for the first 2 watering. Fresh soil typically contains everything the plant needs for at least 3 weeks. There are of course exceptions to this. Some lower end soils may be nutritionally void, while other mixes are intentionally made this way, i.e. Promix HP, Sunshine #2, and other Peat/perlite blends. These mixes can be amended with dry organic additives, or supplemented with ¼-½ strength liquid fertilizer. Other growers recommend ¼-½ strength bloom food at this time because the additional phosphorus and potassium can aid in root development.

10. Listen to Music

This might seem like an odd one but transplanting can be both stressful and monotonous. Some good tunes will get you in a rhythm, help you relax and make the time go by a lot quicker.

via: Marijuana Growers Headquarters

The Difference between Sativa and Indica


Most stoners have heard about sativa and indica, but far fewer understand the differences between these two very different kinds of cannabis.

First let’s take a look at the more popular cannabis sativa:

Sativa offers a “headier high”, stimulating mental focus, imagination and creativity.
 
Great for daytime smoking because it doesn’t knock you out like an indica heavy strain.
 
It can be used to help treat mental and behavioral disorders such as ADHD and depression.
 
Sativa heavy strains give you a powerful case of the munchies, making them great for anyone who has trouble eating.
 
The high from cannabis sativa is very uplifting and stimulating.
 
Sativa strains contain a higher THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) to CBD (cannabidiol) ratio, making sativa the more psychoactive of the two strains.

Now let’s look at cannabis indica:

Indica is more of a body high, thought to put you “in da couch”.
 
Great for nighttime smoke sessions because it acts as a great sleep aid.
 
There are many medical uses for cannabis indica because it helps relieve chronic pain and relaxes muscles.
 
Indica strains contain a higher CBD to THC ratio, making indica less psychoactive (the feeling of being “high”) than sativa strains. 

The CBD in indica can be extracted and used for its anti-epileptic and anti-anxiety effects without impairing the user’s mental state.

Spot the Difference

 

Knowing how each strain effects the body is a great start, but spotting the difference between the two strains can make you look like a pot pro in front of your buds.

Sativa plants grow tall and thin, some plants reaching upwards of 20 feet.
You can spot a sativa bud by looking for thinner bud structure and long slender leaves.


Indica plants are a much shorter and denser plant, making the preferred choice for indoor growers.

You can spot an indica bud by looking for tight, dense bud structure and short broad leaves.


Hybrids:

Many strains today are a mix between a sativa and indica, giving you the best of both worlds. Hybrids are usually classified as either sativa or indica dominant, giving the user an idea of what kind of high to expect.

Some people just don’t care about what strain they are smoking, as long as it does the job. Others can benefit from understanding the key differences between the two cannabis families and shape their high accordingly.

More Good Stuff from: The 420 Times

Marijuana vs Loneliness


Timothy Deckman & Nathan DeWall from the University of Kentucky, Lexington and their colleagues conducted a series of four studies. Using a large database, they found that lonely people who used marijuana had higher feelings of self-worth and rated their mental health as better than lonely people who did not use marijuana. Further, lonely marijuana users were less likely to suffer from episodes of major depression (as diagnosed by clinicians) than lonely non-marijuana users.

Going further, the researchers then tracked high-school students for three years. After establishing baselines for loneliness and marijuana use, they found that lonely students who did not use marijuana were significantly more depressed two years later than lonely students who did use marijuana. In other words, marijuana buffered the effects of loneliness and limited the extent to which it (and other loneliness-related variables) led to clinical depression.

In a fourth experimental study, researchers induced feelings of rejection in participants by using a rigged computer game that excluded them from a social interaction (a paradigm that has been used many times in studies of rejection). They found that active marijuana users reported less emotional pain as a result of the social exclusion experiment than participants who did not use marijuana, or who used it infrequently (these were college kids…).

In summarizing their work the researchers concluded, “After four studies, we found that marijuana buffered the lonely from: negative self-ratings of self-worth and mental health, depression over time, and even distress following exclusion.”

Treating Symptoms vs. Fixing the Problem

The researchers emphasize they are not condoning the use of marijuana and point out that there are many negative consequences of marijuana use. They hope only to offer insight into why marijuana is the most widely-used illicit drug in the United States and, to that end, they suggest people might be using the drug to better manage feelings of rejection and loneliness.

Their caution is well founded.

To truly emerge from loneliness, a person has to create new social connections and/or to deepen their emotional bonds with existing people in their lives. Deepening existing connections is important because of the subjective nature of loneliness. For example, many people in long-term relationships are extremely lonely despite living with a significant other. (Read Are You Married but Lonely?)

But this is where marijuana might actually be problematic for lonely people: One of the negative consequences of frequent marijuana use is its tendency to induce lethargy in some people and to hamper motivation. As a result, marijuana might dampen the pain of social/emotional isolation on the one hand but reduce a person’s motivation to take action that could alleviate their isolation on the other.

Therefore, marijuana should by no means be considered a cure for loneliness but it might certainly provide significant symptom relief for those who do not have the option, for a variety of reasons, to take actions that could enhance their social or emotional bonds. Others should be cautioned that using marijuana for symptom relief might have a detrimental effect when it comes to conceiving and taking steps to remedy their isolation.

More at: Psychology Today

Some Great Uses for Cannabis Infused Coconut Oil


The health benefits of both cannabis and coconut oil are remarkable. Coconut oil has a very high saturated fat content for a plant-derived oil, making it an ideal candidate for cannabis infusion that can create incredibly versatile product with all the benefits of both. Cannabis coconut oil can be applied in so many different ways and part of the fun is experimenting and finding out what works for you. Here are seven ways to incorporate cannabis coconut oil into your life, and you can check out our easy recipe for cannabis coconut oil here.

1. Relieve muscle aches

When cannabis is infused into the right substance, it can be absorbed through the skin when applied topically. Apply cannabis coconut oil on sore muscles or feet and it will work quickly to reduce aches and pains.

2. Replace ingredients in a recipe

Coconut oil can replace butter or other cooking oils in your favorite recipes by simply replacing the amount of oil that the recipe with coconut oil instead. You can also get creative and just add the infused oil to anything you think could be interesting – a spoonful in an otherwise unmedicated dish will definitely be the cherry on top.

3. Soothe a sunburn

While the healthiest thing to do is avoid sunburns all together, it’s summertime and sun happens. Coconut oil infused with cannabis is a great way to help a sunburn heal and minimize skin peeling in the following days.

4. Medicate a massage

Use cannabis-infused coconut oil as massage oil for a whole new level of relaxation. Make sure to find a masseuse or friend who is also a fan of 420 as the cannabis will be absorbed through the skin (unless gloves are used).

5. Make coco-capsules

The amount and quality of fat in coconut oil means that it becomes quite saturated with cannabis when infused. Empty capsules can be filled with the liquid oil by using a dropper.

6. Have a cup of canna-coffee

You can use coconut oil as a creamer by blending it the oil with hot coffee. Just stirring the oil into the coffee won’t achieve the creamy texture and frothy top – you’ll need a blender to create that smooth effect. It’s almost like a latte, but with none of the milk and much more marijuana. Just combine a cup or two of coffee, a spoonful of cannabis coconut oil in a blender, pulse until frothy, then enjoy immediately.

7. Moisturize your skin

Do you deal with chapped lips, hands or feet? Cannabis-infused coconut oil is great for helping the healing process, as well as alleviating the discomfort of dry skin. Apply directly to the afflicted area or use preventatively to avoid dryness in the first place.

via: Cannabis Now Magazine

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