If medical marijuana is legal in your state, then you likely know that some people smoke medical cannabis to help treat chronic health problems. However, if you would like to use medical cannabis to treat your chronic health problem but do not like the idea of smoking it, then you should learn about the alternative ways you can utilize this plant to treat your chronic illness.
Read on to learn two ways to utilize medical cannabis when you do not want to smoke it.
Vaporize it
One alternative way to utilize medical marijuana is to vaporize it. Medical marijuana vaporizers do not burn the plant but instead heat it to a high temperature that vaporizes the active components in cannabis flower or concentrate so they can be inhaled. Vaporization does not produce tar and other by-products of combustion that burning the plant does yet still provides quick relief of illness symptoms.
While there are several types of cannabis vaporizers available, three popular options are herb pens, oil vaporizers, and wax vaporizers. While ground cannabis flowers can be vaped in an herb pen, oil pens are better options for people who enjoy vaping cannabis oil or hash oil, and wax pens can be used to vape cannabis wax.
Cannabis wax tends to be much more potent than dried cannabis plant matter and oils, so keep this fact in mind if you opt for this vape pen style.
Consume it
Another way to treat your chronic illness with medical cannabis is to eat foods that contain this plant. You can purchase cannabis and then add it to foods you prepare at home or purchase packaged food items that already contain cannabis at your local medical cannabis dispensary. These foods are typically called cannabis edibles.
Be aware that cannabis should ideally be heated before it is consumed. Heating cannabis releases the active compounds in it that combat pain, inflammation, and other illness symptoms through a process called decarboxylation.
To ensure you reap all of the benefits of the cannabis you add to your own foods at home, bake it in an oven heated to 240 degrees F for between 20 minutes and an hour. Dried cannabis requires less decarboxylation time than fresh cannabis plants do However, when you purchase edibles at a cannabis dispensary, the makers of the cannabis edibles have already performed decarboxylation to release the active cannabis components before they added it to their foods, so you do not have to perform this step at home.
When consuming cannabis instead of smoking or vaping it, the desired effects tend to take longer to become noticeable, yet after they become apparent, they tend to last longer.
If you have been prescribed medical cannabis to treat a chronic health problem, then there are several ways to obtain the benefits of this plant without smoking it, such as by vaporizing or consuming it.
Contact a local dispensary to learn more.