SweetSue's Cannabis Oil Study Hall

Here are a few links to organizations that have some good information:

Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research

Part of the University of California at San Diego, their mission is to conduct high quality scientific studies intended to ascertain the general medical safety and efficacy of cannabis and cannabis products and examine alternative forms of cannabis administration. Some good reports, and an Oct 2015 paper on the medical use of cannabinoids. That one costs $30 to read. I haven't ponied up the cash for it yet.... but I might.

American Cannabis Nurses Association

Mission Statement: To advance excellence in cannabis nursing practice through advocacy, collaboration, education, research and policy development. Some more good resources.

Patients Out of Time

A news feed and resource information. They are also sponsoring the 10th Annual Clinical Conference on Cannabis Therapeutics next month in Baltimore. Looks like some good speakers and just down the road from me. I might go.

DC Center for Rational Prescribing

Part of the website for the Washington DC Dept. of Health, currently showing a three part series on medicinal cannabis issues. Looks to be worth a look.

International Associations for Cannabinoid Medicines

Lots of good international information on cannabis medicine, science, laws and politics, etc.

The Medical Cannabis Institute

They look to mainly produce courses for medical professionals and caregivers. The info offered looks good... anyone ever take any of the classes?

Society of Cannabis Clinicians

The best for last. Lots of good free resources and videos. Cajun said most of the presenters from the Green Flower Summit belong to this organization. A great source of information.

Anybody have any others that should be added to the list?
 
Sue,
Deadlines on 'have to do's and getting a soil mix going over on another thread of yours has limited me to skimming posts here from the beginning.


Good morning Canyon. Welcome. :Love: I'm really glad to see you here. You frequently cause me to see things from a different perspective. This is a project that'll benefit from that.

Well, full disclosure, I do like to play Devil's advocate along with the different perspective part.

Everything is looking sharp!

Best

 
Here are a few links to organizations that have some good information:

Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research

Part of the University of California at San Diego, their mission is to conduct high quality scientific studies intended to ascertain the general medical safety and efficacy of cannabis and cannabis products and examine alternative forms of cannabis administration. Some good reports, and an Oct 2015 paper on the medical use of cannabinoids. That one costs $30 to read. I haven't ponied up the cash for it yet.... but I might.

American Cannabis Nurses Association

Mission Statement: To advance excellence in cannabis nursing practice through advocacy, collaboration, education, research and policy development. Some more good resources.

Patients Out of Time

A news feed and resource information. They are also sponsoring the 10th Annual Clinical Conference on Cannabis Therapeutics next month in Baltimore. Looks like some good speakers and just down the road from me. I might go.

DC Center for Rational Prescribing

Part of the website for the Washington DC Dept. of Health, currently showing a three part series on medicinal cannabis issues. Looks to be worth a look.

International Associations for Cannabinoid Medicines

Lots of good international information on cannabis medicine, science, laws and politics, etc.

The Medical Cannabis Institute

They look to mainly produce courses for medical professionals and caregivers. The info offered looks good... anyone ever take any of the classes?

Society of Cannabis Clinicians

The best for last. Lots of good free resources and videos. Cajun said most of the presenters from the Green Flower Summit belong to this organization. A great source of information.

Anybody have any others that should be added to the list?

Thank you for this invaluable list SlowToke. Let me add

Bud Buddies -UK

They advise patients and caregivers on making CCO as well as supply patients that can't get access to oil but need it desperately. The website is a wealth of information on the medicinal uses of CCO, among other things
 
SlowToke, thank you for the incredible kick-start to my brain this morning. I'll need to do some background study and watch that again, maybe two more times, :laughtwo: but I'm beginning to follow them more and more, which is good news for the project, isn't it? LOL!

Great share. The more we understand about what the body does with this marvelous medication the better our likelihood of finding ways to fine-tune dosing and possibly conserve the oil while getting desired therapeutic effects.

Good Lord, I'm beginning to think like a medical professional. :laughtwo:
 
What's the easiest way I can find to make good-quality oil in my kitchen?

Some possibilities:

1. First off, the thread by 420 Motoco

How To Make Concentrated Cannabis Oil

2.
Lab Rat's instructions for SCET, a slow, cold ethanol extraction.

Most people out there do the QWET or Quick Wash Ethanol method which yields about 3-4 grams of oil per ounce or around 13% to 14% extraction yield. The total cannabinoid content of an ounce is about 5-5.5 grams of oil, anything above that is just chlorophyll and plant waxes.

The "SCET" method or Slow Cold Ethanol will output maximum cannabinoid content while keeping the chlorophyll and plant waxes locked away in a frozen state. Extraction yield will be 17% to 19% while your oil should look more translucent like maple syrup.

This method improves upon the one posted by 420 Motoco on his main thread so I will not cover the entire extraction:

How To Make Concentrated Cannabis Oil

I do a couple of quick blasts in a food processor, it helps break up the buds and lowers the amount of ethanol needed to cover the product.

Set the freezer at the lowest temperature. Stick all your ethanol and product in the freezer for at least 12 hours. Once your ethanol reaches the coldest temperature your freezer can provide you are done, its not going to get colder by waiting any longer but you do want your product to freeze so 12 hours should be fine.

Mix your product with your ethanol in a jar with a lid and give it a good shake, put back in the freezer for 12 hours. After 12 hours shake again and put back in the freezer for another 12 hours, shake one last time and strain to get the big stuff out.

Strain through a coffee filter, for high amounts you want to do it through several filters at the same time to avoid warming up your ethanol. At those extremely low temperatures things will get stuck in the filter which would be liquid at room temperature. This is commonly referred to as "winterizing" or filtering while cold.

Evaporate the ethanol and decarb as per Motoco's instructions.

3. This is how easy it can be to make oil. I don't condone everything she does in this video, there are a couple necessary tweaks to dramatically improve the quality and bioavailability of the CCO, (see below) but this gives you insight into how easy it can be.

Suggested improvements:

- Freeze the decarbed and ground buds, the cup, the fork and the solvent overnight at the lowest temp you can get in your freezer.
- Do 3 quick washes for 3 minutes each. Timing is critical.
- After you strain the wash, freeze it for 24 hours before proceeding with boiling the solvent off.

Adding the winterizing steps cleans out waxes and undesirables from the end product. The critical timing of the washes is to keep from extracting chlorophyll. Your oil will be golden instead of black. Work swiftly, but carefully.

Although it's not a concentrated oil, PsyCro's olive oil extraction is a valuable oil in its own right. Made with fresh plant material it maintains the terpenes and many other compounds lost in the making of concentrated cannabis oil.

4. PsyCro's Olive Oil Extraction Method

PsyCro has a preference for this method of making a cannabis oil concentration because he believes there is more therapeutic value in using fresh plant material. His beliefs are well founded, since science proved in 1995 that myrcene, the predominant monoterpene found in cannabis, degrades by 30% in the first week of drying and drops off to an abysmal 16% of the original composition after three months of drying. Using olive oil allowed him to retain all of this valuable terpene in his oil. We're just learning of the importance of terpenes and their synergistic dance with cannabinoids. It's worth noting that as the bud material dries and cures the sesquiterpenes intensify, which suggests that the medicinal values of oil made with dried buds will have a different effect than this method.

I've done a compilation of his technique. I've taken some license with my write up, but limited that to common sense pointers like covering the resting oil with a cloth to keep out foreign matter. The original post can be found here:

Olive Oil Extract Update

The significant research material that drove his decision to use fresh plant material

His Technique:

Use fresh plant material. The olive oil makes it possible to retain everything of medicinal value regardless of water content.

1. Ingredients:

Use a ratio of 400 grams of top-quality fresh buds to a liter of the best cold press olive oil you can get. Use an immersion blender to grind up the plant material as you add it. This method worked well for him to get this much fresh bud incorporated into the oil.

2. Cooking:

Temperature: 105 degrees Celsius (221 degrees Fahrenheit)

Use a double boiler. Water in the bottom pot won't get up to temperature so use sunflower oil for this purpose. A cooking thermometer will keep you attuned to temperature fluctuations. Stir ever five minutes or so. Although you will get fluctuations, they won't be a concern. Keep it as close as you can.

Your chief concern is that fresh bud has a fair quality of water content, so it's going to take a while to get the temperature up as the water evaporates. Use a low flame and just wait it out.

When you hit 100 degrees Celsius (212 degrees Fahrenheit) begin your countdown. Your baseline is 105 degrees Celsius (221 degrees Fahrenheit) for two hours. You'll get a feel for it in time. Keep stirring every five minutes or so throughout the process.

3. Separation

Cover and cool the oil overnight. The next day, after the oil has completely cooled to room temperature, process the oil and bud material as completely as you can. PsyCro used his vita-mix, but any food processor or blender should suffice. The idea is to get the plant material completely broken down.

Pour the entire mix into a glass pitcher and cover lightly to keep out dust and bugs. Let it settle until the finely-ground bud settles to the bottom. Pour the oil off into whatever container you plan to store it in. I'd think a glass corked kitchen bottle would be a good choice here.

To get the most oil out of the plant material PsyCro used the following method:
* Strain leftover material through cheesecloth or gauze.
* Tie it up and throw it into a pot of hot water.
* Mix thoroughly, then strain into another pot.
* Repeat two to three times.
* Separate the oil from the water. I'd think the best way to do this would be to boil the water off, but use whatever method works for you.

4. Consumption/Dosing:

The oil is simply swallowed. You can swish it around in your mouth for faster action.

1.5 ml was the daily dose PsyCro used as his standard. Remember that it takes approximately 1 gram of cannabis (figuring that 400 grams wet is equivalent to 100 grams dry) to produce 10 ml of the infused oil. Increase dose as tolerances build. It makes sense to break the daily dose up into 4 doses, one every 6 hours.

PsyCro's mother-in-law was taking 15 ml to treat her pancreatic cancer. Over a three month period her inoperable tumor shrunk from 5cm to 2cm and markers dropped from a high of 900 down to 80. In his thread (see the link above) he mentions others he helped with a supply of oil.

Have a meal about 30 minutes before ingesting . Alternatively, ingest a tablespoonful of coconut oil or some other fat 30-40 minutes before dosing to occupy the liver and increase the bioavaibility of the medicated oil.

From the Cancer Protocol thread:

The bioavailability of cannabinoids is lower when taken on an empty stomach or more accurately an empty liver. Oils are metabolised mostly in the liver and by eating fat 30 minutes before administering cannabis oil the liver will be otherwise occupied when the medicine starts to circulate. A tablespoon of coconut oil is widely considered to be a healthy and effective option. Other supplements can be taken with or mixed into this coconut oil.

There's much more valuable information on giving your body the best chance for bioavaibility in the first two posts of the cancer protocol thread, so I'll include a link here:

A Base Treatment Regimen For Cancer

This is a powerful edible oil. Use with caution.

Four different ways to process oil.

Some of us have been using a water or essential oil distiller for production, in an attempt to reclaim part of the solvent and help defray costs. At some point we'll get some good photo documentation of that process.
 
What steps can I take to aid with demethylation?

Phenolic oils can help demethylate the receptors. As an added bonus, the terpene myrcene is reputed to assist THC in crossing the blood/brain barrier.


Essential Oils Capsules

Use Size 0 capsules, fill with 5 drops of the essential oil (detailed below) topped up with Virgin Olive Oil. Take one of each of the following twice per day. Drink plenty of water/liquid with them.

5 drops of essential oregano oil topped up with virgin olive oil
* The oregano oil is very potent. Wash your hands after use. It's normal to get a heat sensation after taking it. Oregano is a strong anti-fungal.

5 Drops of essential lemon oil topped up with virgin olive oil

5 Drops of essential Clove oil topped up with virgin olive oil


 
Hi there our sweet sue! Thought I would pop in a say hello on your new thread! Thanks again for all you. And posting your research! :circle-of-love: Jen

Hey Jen, sorry, I missed this. Welcome to the thread. Enjoy your visit. Hope your trip's going well. :Love:
 
What steps can I take to aid with demethylation?

Phenolic oils can help demethylate the receptors. As an added bonus, the terpene myrcene is reputed to assist THC in crossing the blood/brain barrier.

Morning, Sue!

Concerning myrcene, under what conditions would we want to cross the BBB? A Brain tumor? I am thinking for illness outside of the brain we wouldn't want to cross the BBB. And which essential oils have myrcene? Can you clarify? I think I'm missing something.

:thanks:
 
What steps can I take to aid with demethylation?

Phenolic oils can help demethylate the receptors. As an added bonus, the terpene myrcene is reputed to assist THC in crossing the blood/brain barrier.


Essential Oils Capsules

Use Size 0 capsules, fill with 5 drops of the essential oil (detailed below) topped up with Virgin Olive Oil. Take one of each of the following twice per day. Drink plenty of water/liquid with them.

5 drops of essential oregano oil topped up with virgin olive oil
* The oregano oil is very potent. Wash your hands after use. It's normal to get a heat sensation after taking it. Oregano is a strong anti-fungal.

5 Drops of essential lemon oil topped up with virgin olive oil

5 Drops of essential Clove oil topped up with virgin olive oil



Hi Sue,

My friends first bloods came back clear. Would you still recommend he does this?
 
Hi Sue,

My friends first bloods came back clear. Would you still recommend he does this?

I think your friend is ok without this added step. These are all suggestions for demethylation, intended to offer a variety of ways to achieve the hoped for end result of clear receptors. It's not necessary to do them all, particularly if the cancer is on the decline.
 
corrected post

psycro has informed me that he eliminated the processing step with the vita-mix or food processor, because it left the material too fine in the end and it seeped through the fabric during the final hot water processing. I've made that correction below.

4. Psycro's olive oil extraction method

psycro has a preference for this method of making a cannabis oil concentration because he believes there is more therapeutic value in using fresh plant material. His beliefs are well founded, since science proved in 1995 that myrcene, the predominant monoterpene found in cannabis, degrades by 30% in the first week of drying and drops off to an abysmal 16% of the original composition after three months of drying. Using olive oil allowed him to retain all of this valuable terpene in his oil. We're just learning of the importance of terpenes and their synergistic dance with cannabinoids. It's worth noting that as the bud material dries and cures the sesquiterpenes intensify, which suggests that the medicinal values of oil made with dried buds will have a different effect than this method.

I've done a compilation of his technique. I've taken some license with my write up, but limited that to common sense pointers like covering the resting oil with a cloth to keep out foreign matter. The original post can be found here:

olive oil extract update

the significant research material that drove his decision to use fresh plant material

his technique:

use fresh plant material. The olive oil makes it possible to retain everything of medicinal value regardless of water content.

1. Ingredients:


Use a ratio of 400 grams of top-quality fresh buds to a liter of the best cold press olive oil you can get. Use an immersion blender to grind up the plant material as you add it. This method worked well for him to get this much fresh bud incorporated into the oil.

2. Cooking:

Temperature: 105 degrees celsius (221 degrees fahrenheit)

use a double boiler. Water in the bottom pot won't get up to temperature so use sunflower oil for this purpose. A cooking thermometer will keep you attuned to temperature fluctuations. Stir ever five minutes or so. Although you will get fluctuations, they won't be a concern. Keep it as close as you can.

Your chief concern is that fresh bud has a fair quality of water content, so it's going to take a while to get the temperature up as the water evaporates. use a low flame and just wait it out.

when you hit 100 degrees celsius (212 degrees fahrenheit) begin your countdown. Your baseline is 105 degrees celsius (221 degrees fahrenheit) for two hours. You'll get a feel for it in time. Keep stirring every five minutes or so throughout the process.

3. Separation

cover and cool the oil overnight.

Pour the entire mix into a glass pitcher and cover lightly to keep out dust and bugs. Let it settle until any fine bud material settles to the bottom. Pour the oil off into whatever container you plan to store it in. I'd think a glass corked kitchen bottle would be a good choice here.

To get the most oil out of the plant material psycro used the following method:
* strain leftover material through cheesecloth or gauze.
* tie it up and throw it into a pot of hot water.
* mix thoroughly, then strain into another pot.
* repeat two to three times.
* separate the oil from the water. I'd think the best way to do this would be to boil the water off, but use whatever method works for you.

4. Consumption/dosing:

The oil is simply swallowed. You can swish it around in your mouth for faster action.

1.5 ml was the daily dose psycro used as his standard. Remember that it takes approximately 1 gram of cannabis (figuring that 400 grams wet is equivalent to 100 grams dry) to produce 10 ml of the infused oil. Increase dose as tolerances build. It makes sense to break the daily dose up into 4 doses, one every 6 hours.

Psycro's mother-in-law was taking 15 ml to treat her pancreatic cancer. Over a three month period her inoperable tumor shrunk from 5cm to 2cm and markers dropped from a high of 900 down to 80. In his thread (see the link above) he mentions others he helped with a supply of oil.

Have a meal about 30 minutes before ingesting . Alternatively, ingest a tablespoonful of coconut oil or some other fat 30-40 minutes before dosing to occupy the liver and increase the bioavaibility of the medicated oil.

From the cancer protocol thread:

the bioavailability of cannabinoids is lower when taken on an empty stomach or more accurately an empty liver. Oils are metabolised mostly in the liver and by eating fat 30 minutes before administering cannabis oil the liver will be otherwise occupied when the medicine starts to circulate. A tablespoon of coconut oil is widely considered to be a healthy and effective option. Other supplements can be taken with or mixed into this coconut oil.

there's much more valuable information on giving your body the best chance for bioavaibility in the first two posts of the cancer protocol thread

this is a powerful edible oil. Use with caution.

Four different ways to process oil.

Some of us have been using a water or essential oil distiller for production, in an attempt to reclaim part of the solvent and help defray costs. At some point we'll get some good photo documentation of that process.
 
Hi Sue,

My friends first bloods came back clear. Would you still recommend he does this?

It depends on the amount he's dosing Chewey.
If he's up to a therapeutic dose of 1g a day, he should demethylate every 2 weeks to a month.
For maintenance dosing, 1 every 3 months unless there's some rec using going on. Then, more frequently.
 
Morning, Sue!

Concerning myrcene, under what conditions would we want to cross the BBB? A Brain tumor? I am thinking for illness outside of the brain we wouldn't want to cross the BBB. And which essential oils have myrcene? Can you clarify? I think I'm missing something.

:thanks:

Let me look into this further and get back to you. You make compelling points. I can see I'll be looking more closely at essential oil makeup today. :laughtwo:

Yeah, the BBB is still something of a mystery to me. I need a deeper understanding of the way it works as well as what happens to cannabinoids when they get into the brain. I feel like there's a piece of the puzzle hidden from view yet.

I'm certain that with brain tumors this is definately something you want, but the bio bomb mix should already be doing this, wouldn't you think? There's so much to learn. This study hall is going to help a lot.
 
Part of the mystery solved. There's passage from the brain into the bloodstream in areas lacking the blood-brain barrier, so those cannabinoids being absorbed into the brain have a way into the system.

[video=youtube;e9sN9gOEdG4]
[/video]
 
Concerning myrcene, under what conditions would we want to cross the BBB? A Brain tumor? I am thinking for illness outside of the brain we wouldn't want to cross the BBB. And which essential oils have myrcene? Can you clarify? I think I'm missing something.

Let me try to clarify the gist of my question, because it goes to a bit of a larger issue I've been pondering lately concerning the cannabinoid transport mechanism. So we know from Cajun that any particular illness is dosed best as close as possible to the illness. I think the example Cajun gave was that you wouldn't try to heal your foot by dosing oro-mucosally or sub-lingually. An extreme example, for sure, but it does get to the heart of the matter. And additionally what receptors should the cannabinoids best bind to in order to heal? So this is what occurs to me.

CB1 receptors are mainly found in the CNS, and largely congregated in the brain, while CB2 receptors are spread out much more in the overall body immune system. So if we are trying to heal issues related to stress, anxiety, insomnia, PTSD, neuropathic pain, neuropsychiatric diseases, etc., you would want to dose such that the cannabinoids would easily cross the BBB and target the CNS receptors, right? Maybe? But treating diseases that occur largely in the abdominal/thoracic areas would be best dosed rectally perhaps? We know this is often the recommendation of clinicians working to heal such diseases as liver and prostate cancers, even metastatic ones that are now creating tumors in bone marrow, lymph nodes, lungs, etc. Does this mean we are targeting the CB2 receptors to heal these conditions? Or are the CB1 receptors in the brain/CNS involved as well? Which would suggest crossing the BBB would be important for all diseases.

Okay, so maybe the above is a little simplistic of an analysis, and largely the result of my musings while hiking to the nearest Starbucks during coffee break time at work. But research has reported that we now have a better understanding of the cannabinoid signaling system (Marijuana: Current Concepts, Graydanus, Graydanus, Hawver & Merrick; Front Public Health, NIH, 2013 Oct 10; 1:42), which is leading to research involving the effect of cannabis on the above mentioned diseases. I just wish I had a better understanding of the signaling system, myself, and how it interacts with the endocannabinoid system. And where in the body.

Thoughts, or any links to further sources of information?
 
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