From time to time, I make medicine for other medical cannabis patients who are too sick to make it for themselves.
As a medical cannabis patient in Canada, you have the option of having a standard medical cannabis license.
This permits you to legally buy dried herb or pre-made oils through a government sanctioned, corporate producer.
Alternatively, you can apply for a growing licence (for yourself) and grow your own cannabis. Then you can make your own medicine directly from the herb that you grew yourself.
There are 3 main reasons why people want to grow their own plants. They include wanting to have:
control over what their medicine has come in contact with, as it is growing;
control of the potency of their medicine (currently the government sanctioned producers are only permitted (by law) to make infused oils that do not contain more than 20% concentration);
control over the cost of their medicine. (Currently the higher potency dried herb sells for $15 a gram and it can be grown for less than a $1 a gram by an experienced grower.)
Lets make some cannabis plant medicine shall we ...
Step One:
Decarboyxlate 30 grams or 1 ounce of the CBD strain of your choice.
I am infusing a CBD strain called Treasure Island into a coconut oil blend.
The coconut oil is made up of 65% medium chain triglyceride coconut oil and 35% long chain triglyceride coconut oil.
Treasure Island is a Sativa that clocks in at 17.55% CBD and .65% THC.
This renders Treasure Island, non-psychoactive. It’s efficient for managing inflammation and pain when full cognitive function of the person is required.
Decarboxylation can be accomplished by using either a covered casserole dish in your oven or, by pressure cooking the cannabis in a sealed stainless steel container, inside a pressure cooker.
In order to effectively decarboxylate CBD, the cannabis must be heated to 295 degrees F for 75 minutes. Then cooled (while the herb is still covered) until the container can safely be handled.
In the photo (above) you can see the stainless steel container that I use inside my pressure cooker.
In the photo (below) you can see what the decarbed cannabis looks like after it has been pressure cooked.
The decarbed cannabis becomes a toasted golden colour. The bud in the photo (below) in the top glass container has been decarbed and ground. It shows the colour contrast between decarbed cannabis and cannabis, that although dried and cured, is still considered raw and inactivated.
If raw cannabis is vaped or smoked, the herb is being decarbed and activated as it’s being heated by a vapourizer or, as it is being smoked once it’s lit on fire.
Step Two:
Add the unground, but decarbed cannabis to the canister of a Magical Butter Machine.
There’s an immersion blender feature as part of the Magical Butter Machine. It will Stir the Pot and keep the infusion at the correct temperature for the correct amount of time.
The canister will hold up to a litre of liquid and has the strength to infuse up to 2 ounces (or 60 grams) of cannabis at a time.
The machine is pretty much fool-proof to operate.
In the photo (above) you can see that the inside of the canister is marked with a minimum and maximum fill line. This is directly related to the amount of fluid that the machine can safely accommodate.
Step Three:
Add 500 ml of the coconut oil blend.
Step Four:
Add one tbsp of sunflower lecithin.
Sunflower lecithin is another fat source in which the active medicinal compounds contained within the herb, can bind to. It’s an emulsifier and will keep the herb blended into the coconut oil.
Step Five:
Secure the lid on the machine and set the temperature to 130 degrees F for 8 hours.
Step Six:
Filtre the cannabis pulp out of the oil using a fine mesh strainer.
There will be hardly any recognizable bud material left. Instead, the left-over cannabis will resemble wet sand in both appearance and texture. You can see this in the photo (below).
Step Seven:
Store the cannabis infused coconut oil in an amber glass bottle.
Once I filtre the cannabis pulp out of the infused coconut oil, I then used a funnel to transfer the finished oil into an amber glass bottle for longer term storage.
The finished oil will last indefinitely as long as it is stored in a dark cupboard, away from direct sunlight. It will also last longer if the contents of the bottle do not become cross-contaminated by double dipping. I always make sure that I used a clean glass dropper or spoon when I dispense the oil.
It is realistic to re-capture about 450 ml of finished cannabis infused oil from the 500 ml (or 16 fl. oz) that was originally used. Expect to lose some of the oil in your plant material.
The cannabis pulp can be used directly in a recipe straight away or it can be frozen until needed.
I welcome your comments and I invite you to follow me on my journey...we will always be infusing something and helping where we can. ;)
Rebecca