Medical marijuana is now legal in your state. You’ve decided that it was about time you gave alternative medicine a try, and so you become a licensed medical marijuana patient. You visit your first dispensary and are instantly blown away by the sheer number of products available to you to help with healing your ailments.
You try out a few products and then over a few weeks try out different marijuana strains from different marijuana dispensaries. After strenuously searching high and low, albeit feeling great along the way, you finally land that perfect strain - a weird one called Gumball.
That damn Gumball makes you feel blissful with a sort of euphoric ecstasy while soothing you to sleep on nights your mind couldn’t seem to let go of the day. Everywhere Gumball is sold, you buy it. It didn’t matter if it was a half gram or a half ounce, you had to have it when available.
One night you’re sitting in your smoking area and settling down for a nice medicated smoke session alone before bed. You take out your rolled up Gumball, place the filtered end into your mouth and, with the feeling of incoming relief on the horizon, light the opposite end. A few puffs in and you are usually set, but that didn’t happen this time. You take a few more well past your usual amount and before you know it, the bud is done.
What in the hell just happened and why don’t you feel relieved?!
What about the relief on the horizon waiting on you to get there?!
Unfortunately, your body has built up a THC tolerance to your favorite strain. Like most drugs that alter the brain, dependency becomes a major factor that can turn your easy-going bud into a complete bust as your number of available tetrahydrocannabinol receptors are reduced, resulting in a higher THC tolerance. Not a good thing.
But before you reach for even more Gumball and do something drastic - and possibly illegal, consider these five options:
No. 1 - Shelf It.
Place your bud into a glass jar and onto a cool and dark, high-up shelf, in a closet if you can. The low light and cooler surroundings will prolong the life of your bud while it is not in use. Keep the bud sealed while it remains on the shelf, and if you have the money to, buy a new and different herb. After about two to four weeks, revisit the shelved strain. If you still feel no effects, try salvaging your bud by mixing it with a new strain before stuffing your joint.
No. 2 - Find a New Favorite Strain.
You spent so much time trying to locate that perfect strain and now you have to get rid of it?! Yes. Yes, you do. At least for a little while. Discovering and temporarily using a new strain among the hundreds available today can be fun and well worth the search if you come out with something even better than your old faithful one. Expanding your palate not only decreases the likelihood of you needing to battle THC tolerance over and over again, but now you can have multiple old faithful strains you can count on instead of just the one and you get to try some uniquely tasteful buds.
Related article: Top 10 Cool Tips for Storage of your medical marijuana.
No. 3 - The Consumption Switch-Up.
Even before the Arizona Supreme Court overturned the conviction and sentencing of Mr. Rodney Jones, a licensed medical marijuana patient for possession of hashish, medical marijuana patients in legal states have always appreciated the free reign over the different consumption options available at their fingertips. Marijuana extracts are a wonderful alternative to smoking the buds alone, especially if you need to be more discreet about your medicating. Give the edibles and tinctures a try. Or if you want to still go big and go strong, check out dabbable concentrates.
No. 4 - Don’t Consume. Rub it on.
The purchase of topicals or even the creation of your own medicated topical is yet another great alternative to smoking cannabis flower. Topicals are wonderful for chronic pain sufferers. Many cannabis producers are finding new and innovative ways to infuse cannabis into a variety of products to help medicate those unable to consume weed in the traditional way. My favorite product in the topicals category are the THC and CBD bath bombs that dissolve like an ordinary bath bomb in a tub of water and allow for full body absorption.
No. 5 - Stop Using Altogether.
I list this last because it is literally the last thing any medical marijuana patient may want to hear upon finally finding something to help ease pain and uncomfortable mental symptoms, however this may be your best bet if trying all other strains seem to not have much of an effect on you. Give your brain some time to reset those cannabinoid receptors so you can feel better faster with a smaller dosage of cannabis.
No matter the option you choose, when you do decide to give your favorite strain a hit again, start off low and slow with the amount and frequency of usage. If you start out again with too much too often, you’ll just end back up where you were before reading this article.
Now go check out this other great article while you explore different strains and maybe give a look at Sativa, Indica, Hybrid: WTF to have a better understanding of how different categories of flower can impact your experience.
Until next time, Kool Kats!
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