Approaches for reducing cannabis dependency and tolerance......

lwien

Well-Known Member
The following was just posted up at CRC (CornerStone Research Collective), one of the prominent dispensaries in SoCal who is very active in the medical communities as a service to their members. Some may find this useful, so I thought I'd post it up here as well.

It's very rare that a dispensary owner would encourage his members to purchase and use less but they've been presenting this philosophy since day one and is "one" of the primary reasons why I've successfully been able to keep my tolerance at such a low level.

Now I just gotta talk them into doing a food drive like what Beez reported in another thread, 'cause THAT was awesome.
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If you've used cannabis medicinally for some time, it's possible to develop cannabis dependency and unwanted tolerance issues. This can be of concern to members and their families. While cannabis is relatively nontoxic, too much and too often can become an issue, in part because of the plant's low toxicity. If you're concerned about these issues, please contact us. Talk to your physician, too.

According to the International Association for Cannabinoid Medicines(IACM), tolerance to some effects of cannabis have been noted. Tolerance means, that the effects of cannabis decrease over time.

Development of tolerance includes developing a tolerance to cannabis' psychoactive effects, its cognitive and coordination impairment, effects on the heart and circulation, effects on the hormonal system, internal eye pressure, and anti-vomiting effects. Some of these tolerances, such as fewer occurrences of rapid heartbeat, are usually welcomed by members, while others are not.

CRC's approach to tolerance issues is to encourage patients to minimize their dosage. Counterintuitively, it appears that tolerance may actually be avoided, reduced or even eliminated by reducing dosage. The folk wisdom that you can avoid tolerance by switching strains of cannabis seems to be partially effective, but typically only results in increased dosage and ongoing problems with tolerance. Our rule of thumb at CRC is: Always use the least amount of cannabis required to relieve the symptoms, then wait at least ninety minutes before dosing again.

According to the IACM, cannabis does pose potential for addiction. This is usually not a problem when using cannabis as a short-term therapy, but can be of concern when cannabis is being used to treat chronic conditions. While withdrawal symptoms of cannabis dependency are considered mild by medical experts, these symptoms are not always perceived as mild by patients trying to halt their cannabis use. Most patients can stop using cannabis without noticeable withdrawal symptoms. Other patients may notice increased anxiety, restlessness, insomnia after discontinuing cannabis use. In some patients, physical withdrawal symptoms such as increased salivation and diarrhea may occur.

As for dependency and withdrawal issues, there is emerging research that indicates that the cannabinoid called cannabidiol or CBD might help reduce symptoms of cannabis or THC withdrawal. We definitely recommend the "cold turkey" approach for the majority of patients, since the withdrawal symptoms for most patients are unnoticeable.

For those patients for whom the withdrawal syndrome is more pronounced, you may wish to switching to a high-CBD med, such as Harlequin or H2 for a few days, before discontinuing cannabis use.

One other strategy is to first honestly assess how much cannabis you're using over a ten-day period. Clean out your medicinal supply and replace it with a new ten day supply (or keep enough of your favorite strain(s) for five days). Make certain that half of your total supply is a high-CBD strain of at least 2:1 CBD to THC, such as Harlequin or H2 (the higher the CBD, the lower the THC... the better). Check projectcbd.org for other high-CBD strains and their expected CBD/THC ratio.

So, now you've got two weeks of meds, half of which are high-CBD. Get a calculator and a scale. Divide the total amount of meds by 10. So if, you've got ten grams, the answer would be one-gram. Your answer will be your daily allotment. You're going to blend the high-THC strain and the high-CBD strain together, slowly increasing the ratio of high-CBD cannabis while reducing the amount of high-THC cannabis that you use over ten days.

So, day one would be .9g of high-THC blended with .1g of high-CBD. Day two is .8g of high-THC blended with .2g of high-CBD. By day five you're using a 50/50 blend. By day ten, you're using a 10% of a high-THC strain blended with 90% of a high CBD strain. On day 11, stop. If you're still experiencing withdrawal symptoms, only use a high-CBD strain for a few days, then stop. It's unlikely that you'll notice any withdrawal symptoms, whatsoever.

We're blessed at CRC with having a smart and responsible membership. We want their usage of cannabis to be just as smart and responsible. Remember, do the medicine; don't let the medicine do you.
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Affiliate: International Cannabinoid Research Society
Member - International Association for Cannabinoid Medicines
Supporter: ASA, PAN, GLACA & MPP, Patients Out of Time
 
lwien,

JDSupreme

Head of Pot
Very, very, interesting.

Any day now when I don't have to go to a weed dealer and overpay. *sigh*

Fucking Pennsylvania.
 
JDSupreme,

Elluzion

Vapeosaurus Rex
where is he getting 2 weeks from 10 days?

VERRY helpful information. thank you very much!
 
Elluzion,

Blackthoven

Shaolin Master
lwien said:
While cannabis is relatively nontoxic, too much and too often can become an issue, in part because of the plant's low toxicity.

So... too much cannabis is not a good thing :/, what are the negative effects associated with over-use? Is that just referring to tolerance?
 
Blackthoven,

Gunky

Well-Known Member
One thing that helps me get the most out of meds is taking them on an empty stomach. It's amazing how much the effect is increased. OK getting good and hungry is not for everybody, but fasting helps for me.
 
Gunky,

lwien

Well-Known Member
Blackthoven said:
lwien said:
While cannabis is relatively nontoxic, too much and too often can become an issue, in part because of the plant's low toxicity.

So... too much cannabis is not a good thing :/, what are the negative effects associated with over-use? Is that just referring to tolerance?

In this context, I believe he is referring to tolerance as well as dosing for relief of specific ailments due to the fact that if one goes over the dosage needed for relief, it could actually amplify what it is you are trying to treat.
 
lwien,
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