Drink your weed!

I highly recommend considering MMJ tea instead of smoking MMJ. Why Tea?

Patients who experience back pain despite surgery and many who have never had surgery have advised me that marijuana tea has been tremendously helpful – not just to help them sleep but as a pain medicine adjunct.  You see, in degenerative disk disease of the spine, the spongy disks interposed between vertebrae experience a failure in the outer layer allowing the inside of the disk to bulge and put pressure on nerve roots that exit the spinal cord at that location. In some cases, the outer layer doesn’t fail but the disk itself shrinks, reducing the space between vertebrae which then press on the same nerve roots. In either case, compression of these nerve roots is associated with back pain which often spreads from the spine to the buttocks, legs, and feet when disks in the lower back are involved, or to the shoulder, arms, and hands when disks in the neck are at fault. This pain can proceed to numbness and muscle weakness which impairs work ability and in most cases, disrupts sleep through the continuous discomfort of lying down. These symptoms can be reduced by opiate pain relievers (morphine, hydrocodone), anti-inflammatories (ibuprofen), spasm reducers (cyclobenzaprine), antidepressants (duloxetine), vitamin supplementation (Vitamin D), topical anesthetics (Lidoderm), acupressure, massage, and hormone supplementation (androgens). Spine surgery aims to relieve nerve root pressure by restoring the normal distance between vertebrae while removing or repairing disks that have ruptured.

The vast majority of such patients are prescribed medications that are commonly used to manage of chronic back pain but which have failed to deliver satisfactory pain control. These patients have specifically identified tea made from marijuana leaves as their best medicine. When challenged, they insist that tea is superior to smoked or vaporized marijuana for relieving their pain. The recipes used for marijuana tea are not standardized, however; what I can conclude with certainty is that the temperature of the solution does not exceed 100 ◦C or 212◦F – the temperature above which the water portion of the solution simply turns to steam. So what is it about marijuana tea that has made it the favorite of such patients?

I believe cannabidiol (CBD) is the answer. This cannabinoid is emerging as the most medically intriguing molecule in marijuana. Its concentration varies by plant strain but is generally highest in the leaf, not necessarily the bud. Unlike its relative THC, CBD is much more sensitive to temperature – being chemically inactivated above 350◦F.  Thus, the high temperature required with marijuana smoking inactivates CBD, which makes smoking only a pure THC delivery system. In contrast, marijuana tea preserves CBD chemical activity. Other forms of marijuana preparation that avoid the 350◦F temperature threshold would be expected to be as effective.  Alternatives include low-temperature baked goods and room-temperature extracts (tinctures) that are absorbed orally or through the intestinal tract.

If CBD is so well-know medically to be helpful, you may be wondering how we explain the absence of a prescription medicine based on this compound? We don’t have to. Sativex® is a commercially produced marijuana extract prescribed in Canada for multiple sclerosis. So how does CBD work, where does it act in the body, and what medical problems might it help? I’ve been watching scientific literature from around the world for the answers to these questions, and the above is what I’ve found.  Please consider marijuana tea instead of smoking marijuana.  Preserving the CBD should give you the greatest benefit for your pain.

 

"If you reading this, you likely have a medical condition that will benefit from treatment with medicinal marijuana. Schedule an appointment with me to find out the potential advantages and to get evaluated for your MMJ card." - Timothy Ryschon, M.D.