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agoodwinsmithSo, in the bright new future of the Trudeau the Younger's hep liberal regime, Cannabis was slated to be legalized for recreational sale for Canada Day (01 July) of 2018. Bahaha.
So, the earliest it might happen is now August or so. Summerish for sure. It might still be 2018. In the meantime each province has framed its legislation for sale (https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/safety/public-safety/cannabis/legalization and https://www.bcldbcannabisupdates.com/). They are ready for the money grab, so that's alright.
What this has done is allow for increased punishment of "abuse" and several new definitions of abuse. Basically, if you have it in your house and your kids find it - you are in so much shit you will never get out (https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/safety/public-safety/cannabis).
So, as you know, I wanted to try my hand at growing marijuana in an old-fashioned pitiful THC counts way - but while I can grow up to four plants myself, if I grow them outside, they have to be in a place where they can't been seen from public places. There is not even one tiny spot in my yard that cannot be seen from some public place somewhere - you don't even need to stand on tippy-toes. Poot. Then I am wondering: no one owns the airspace above their property - if the neighbourhood kids are dorking about with a drone, does that mean my plants carefully hidden behind trellises are still publically viewable? Don't know, but considering the new climate of zero tolerance for corrupting youth (think of the *children*), I suspect someone would take me to court to argue yes.
Okay, so I am not going to horse around with plants. Fine. I don't like gardening anyway. Yes, okay, I like looking at pretty gardens, and I appreciate them, but I don't wanna do any of the gritty stuff.
I never wanted to smoke the cannabis, since lungs and whatnot, but just as I'm getting bummed about the horticultural project, mwahahaha, Banyen Books were having a sale on their cannabis books - so I bought a bunch of cook books! Woo! It's less exciting than I thought, since basically one uses one's dried cannabis to infuse butter or oil, or some other fat-based liquid (THC is fat-soluble and collects in the fats of your body - more on that in a bit) such as cream, and then you bake/cook your normal thing with the infused fat. Okay - that sounds like one could make a tasty shortbread - or even mac'n'cheese if one felt that way. I could become *really* famous for my vegetarian chili. :)
The tricky part with edibles is that since one eats it, it needs to be digested before it is felt - which can be 60 to 90 minutes after the first bite. And then the effects last longer. So this means that the project to have a carefully crafted dinner each course of which is delicately infused with different cannabis means that not only should you have a sleep over - but maybe for a week.
So, then I was wondering what to actually bake/cook that could be safely shareable at a party. Obviously it needs to be an early appetizer, like a spice coated nut, and it needs to be skimpy. In fact - it might be better to give people little individually wrapped favours of something like cannabis shortbread so they can take them home and enjoy them in safety (keeping in mind the whole issue of allowing them to fall into the hands of people under the age of 19).
So then I began to wonder why I haven't seen any campaigns about how much consumption will lead to impairment. How little leads to impairment for how long? I mean: we "know" about alcohol (https://www.cbabc.org/For-the-Public/Dial-A-Law/Scripts/Automobiles/190) - in BC it 0.05 - which is 50 milligram in 100 milliliters of blood, and all mediated by breathalyzers, and the ad campaigns were one drink for women, two drinks for men.
We (Canada) have apparently piloted a roadside swabbing device for saliva (https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/rsrcs/pblctns/rl-fld-drg-scrnng-dvc-plt/index-en.aspx). "Oral Fluid" - ew. :) However, an important takeaway is that there are more false positives in colder weather. How excellent for Canada. :)
But that study didn't indicate what was being screened for - how much?
So I hunted around and found the Lower-Risk Cannabis Use Guidelines which sounds very cosy, and has been adopted by several Canadian agencies (https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/full/10.2105/AJPH.2017.303818), and which basically says: abstinence (which is stupidly idealistic at best), but eventually unbends enough to say that you shouldn't operate machinery (hello motor vehicle) until at least six hours after use.
But there weren't any numbers. So I kept digging until I found this incantation: ng/mL.
It took me a while to find, but that stands for nanograms per milliliters. The two numbers bandied about are 2ng and 5ng, and that's for 2 or 5 nanograms of THC metabolite per 100 milliliters of blood. These are numbers common to areas that are doing roadside screening for impairment. [Edited: apparently this is per single milliliter.]
But of course, there are problems. This is the best overview: http://www.globaldrugpolicy.org/Issues/Vol%2010%20Issue%203/Articles/Why%20a%205%20ng%20limit%20is%20bad%20public%20policy%20092616.pdf
Important bits - THC is fat soluble and not water soluble, so unlike alcohol, which stays mostly smoothly dispersed across all water venues in the body, it escapes from the blood stream into the fat bits (which includes the brain) as quickly as possible. Therefore, no matter what the measure in the blood or spit, there is no correlation to how much is in the brain. One can measure "safe" and be impaired.
Alternatively, apparently the half-life of marijuana in the body is 67 days (!!!) (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3842229/), and according to that demonizing article, some people can actually have a negative ng/mL measure.
So.
Piffle.
I was looking for some reasonable guidelines for consumption that would allow me to enjoy without becoming a danger to others - and I have mostly found that THC can be in your system for the rest of eternity, so there is no way beyond personal report (I feel fine!) to scientifically establish impairment. This is not acceptable.
No baked goods for my guests, then. Poot.
So, the earliest it might happen is now August or so. Summerish for sure. It might still be 2018. In the meantime each province has framed its legislation for sale (https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/safety/public-safety/cannabis/legalization and https://www.bcldbcannabisupdates.com/). They are ready for the money grab, so that's alright.
What this has done is allow for increased punishment of "abuse" and several new definitions of abuse. Basically, if you have it in your house and your kids find it - you are in so much shit you will never get out (https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/safety/public-safety/cannabis).
So, as you know, I wanted to try my hand at growing marijuana in an old-fashioned pitiful THC counts way - but while I can grow up to four plants myself, if I grow them outside, they have to be in a place where they can't been seen from public places. There is not even one tiny spot in my yard that cannot be seen from some public place somewhere - you don't even need to stand on tippy-toes. Poot. Then I am wondering: no one owns the airspace above their property - if the neighbourhood kids are dorking about with a drone, does that mean my plants carefully hidden behind trellises are still publically viewable? Don't know, but considering the new climate of zero tolerance for corrupting youth (think of the *children*), I suspect someone would take me to court to argue yes.
Okay, so I am not going to horse around with plants. Fine. I don't like gardening anyway. Yes, okay, I like looking at pretty gardens, and I appreciate them, but I don't wanna do any of the gritty stuff.
I never wanted to smoke the cannabis, since lungs and whatnot, but just as I'm getting bummed about the horticultural project, mwahahaha, Banyen Books were having a sale on their cannabis books - so I bought a bunch of cook books! Woo! It's less exciting than I thought, since basically one uses one's dried cannabis to infuse butter or oil, or some other fat-based liquid (THC is fat-soluble and collects in the fats of your body - more on that in a bit) such as cream, and then you bake/cook your normal thing with the infused fat. Okay - that sounds like one could make a tasty shortbread - or even mac'n'cheese if one felt that way. I could become *really* famous for my vegetarian chili. :)
The tricky part with edibles is that since one eats it, it needs to be digested before it is felt - which can be 60 to 90 minutes after the first bite. And then the effects last longer. So this means that the project to have a carefully crafted dinner each course of which is delicately infused with different cannabis means that not only should you have a sleep over - but maybe for a week.
So, then I was wondering what to actually bake/cook that could be safely shareable at a party. Obviously it needs to be an early appetizer, like a spice coated nut, and it needs to be skimpy. In fact - it might be better to give people little individually wrapped favours of something like cannabis shortbread so they can take them home and enjoy them in safety (keeping in mind the whole issue of allowing them to fall into the hands of people under the age of 19).
So then I began to wonder why I haven't seen any campaigns about how much consumption will lead to impairment. How little leads to impairment for how long? I mean: we "know" about alcohol (https://www.cbabc.org/For-the-Public/Dial-A-Law/Scripts/Automobiles/190) - in BC it 0.05 - which is 50 milligram in 100 milliliters of blood, and all mediated by breathalyzers, and the ad campaigns were one drink for women, two drinks for men.
We (Canada) have apparently piloted a roadside swabbing device for saliva (https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/rsrcs/pblctns/rl-fld-drg-scrnng-dvc-plt/index-en.aspx). "Oral Fluid" - ew. :) However, an important takeaway is that there are more false positives in colder weather. How excellent for Canada. :)
But that study didn't indicate what was being screened for - how much?
So I hunted around and found the Lower-Risk Cannabis Use Guidelines which sounds very cosy, and has been adopted by several Canadian agencies (https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/full/10.2105/AJPH.2017.303818), and which basically says: abstinence (which is stupidly idealistic at best), but eventually unbends enough to say that you shouldn't operate machinery (hello motor vehicle) until at least six hours after use.
But there weren't any numbers. So I kept digging until I found this incantation: ng/mL.
It took me a while to find, but that stands for nanograms per milliliters. The two numbers bandied about are 2ng and 5ng, and that's for 2 or 5 nanograms of THC metabolite per 100 milliliters of blood. These are numbers common to areas that are doing roadside screening for impairment. [Edited: apparently this is per single milliliter.]
But of course, there are problems. This is the best overview: http://www.globaldrugpolicy.org/Issues/Vol%2010%20Issue%203/Articles/Why%20a%205%20ng%20limit%20is%20bad%20public%20policy%20092616.pdf
Important bits - THC is fat soluble and not water soluble, so unlike alcohol, which stays mostly smoothly dispersed across all water venues in the body, it escapes from the blood stream into the fat bits (which includes the brain) as quickly as possible. Therefore, no matter what the measure in the blood or spit, there is no correlation to how much is in the brain. One can measure "safe" and be impaired.
Alternatively, apparently the half-life of marijuana in the body is 67 days (!!!) (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3842229/), and according to that demonizing article, some people can actually have a negative ng/mL measure.
So.
Piffle.
I was looking for some reasonable guidelines for consumption that would allow me to enjoy without becoming a danger to others - and I have mostly found that THC can be in your system for the rest of eternity, so there is no way beyond personal report (I feel fine!) to scientifically establish impairment. This is not acceptable.
No baked goods for my guests, then. Poot.
no subject
Date: 2018-05-24 04:45 pm (UTC)I know all this because a friend has been making lovely little chocolates. I don't smoke or eat the stuff (except when in extreme pain) but I sure do use the CBD rub-on products, they are great!
no subject
Date: 2018-05-27 03:26 am (UTC)I read about the decarboxylation - but if one is making topical analgesics, then, as you say, the important bit is/are the CBDs, which don't become psychoactive. But they do change from acid to non-acid - so maybe they too need to be decarbed to be potent? So much to learn. So much we don't know. So much we're unlikely to find out:
http://www.cbc.ca/radio/quirks/scrap-medical-weed-women-in-space-and-more-1.4636793/doctors-group-wants-to-scrap-canada-s-medical-cannabis-program-1.4636810
Now that Canada is going all twisted recreational, the medical profession wants out. On the one hand, it appears that the issue is lack of consistency in the supply available for prescription (which is a legitimate concern), but you'll note the real issue is lack of ability to patent any of the cannabis: there is no incentive for anyone to research cannabis because they can't make a Shkreli-killing on the results.
In the meantime: tell me more about the CBD rub-on products. With my heart meds I am not permitted ibuprofen, and I have been reduced from getting by with a cane to needing a walker. I need something for the knees, pronto tonto. :)
no subject
Date: 2018-05-27 05:14 am (UTC)CBD is a wonderful anti-inflamitory and pain reliever. My understanding is that some cannibis plants (strains of plant) are high in CBD, while others are high in THC. My first experience with CBD was a stick that I rubbed on one very sore elbow. I didn't rub it on the other not-quite-as-sore elbow. Half an hour later the treated elbow had no pain. Since I was at work and had -totally- forgotten I'd applied anything, I don't think it was placebo effect. The untreated elbow was still just as unhappy as ever - what I noticed was the difference between the two. Since then I've tried a number of rub on preparations. My favorites are the creams, though I have one olive oil salve that works great. When I do my knees I rub the knees and the muscles within about 6 to 8 inches. Most of the stagehands I know use some form of CBD. However the only way to really know if it helps you is to get some and try it. Just search for CBD rub cream. It is my impression that quality varies greatly between products, so try a couple.
no subject
Date: 2018-05-27 06:50 pm (UTC)Aside from no one knowing how much/little each person needs in order to feel an effect, it's the only way to allow a person to replicate an effect once the amount to achieve it is known - IYSWIM.
Aside from dispensaries not being permitted to sell such things, there is no testing to determine how much or little THC CBD or precursors there are in the shake and sugar leaves and whatnot. Only one cookbook alludes to those things as cost-saving, but with a sniff about the lack of accuracy.
Actually, after reading all the stuff about how the future legal supply will work, and whatnot, I suspect this has all been an exercise to go after the small croppers. It is excessively overthought in the "will someone think of the children" area, and completely underthought in the guidelines to responsible consumption area.
Oh well, eh?
no subject
Date: 2018-05-27 02:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-05-27 06:08 pm (UTC)I mean: I know how to evaluate a face cream for me (no lanolin, nopity nope nope nope), but not this style of analgesic. Thank you.
no subject
Date: 2018-05-27 06:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-05-27 06:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-05-27 06:52 pm (UTC)Excellent offer, and I appreciate it very much, but excessive doom awaits those who contravene federal balliwicks. Nonononono.