Cannabis Tinctures are an excellent choice for medicating with our Mother Medicine (Cannabis) sacrament, no matter your age and Especially if you want to avoid ingesting smoke from burning material. Tinctures additionally offer more beneficial medication from the plant opposed to "burning a bowl" so to speak... in fact, properly made cannabis tinctures contain all 80 of the essential cannabinoids  opposed to the dangerous and even proven deadly parmacutical alternative Marinol, which only contains one... sorta... synthetic THC.

 

  Until cannabis was banned in the United States back in 1937, cannabis tinctures were the primary type of cannabis medicines used and renoun by the masses of our ancestors.

 

  Tincture is an extraction of active cannabinoids from plant material. Cannabis contains many chemicals that can either upset the stomach or taste nasty. One of the goals of extraction is to secure the cannabinoids while leaving out as many of the terpenes and chlorophylls as possible.

 

  Usually, a tincture dose is delivered orally, either with a medicine dropper or a teaspoon. A rule of thumb on dose is that patients receive benefit from 3-4 drops to a couple of full droppers depending upon the potency of the tincture and the patient’s own unique requirements among other factors.

 

  Tinctures are essentially made of either alcohol, oil or glycerin extractions using the flowers and trim leaves of our beloved plant cannabis. Tinctures are easy to make and very inexpensive.  Some of the cannabinoids such as cannibidiol (CBD) actually reduce the psychoactive effects of THC while increasing the overall efficacy of the preparation.

 

  The best way to use tinctures is under the tongue. Doseage control is easily achieved by the number of drops a patient places under the tongue where the medicine is rapidly absorbed into the arterial system and is quickly transported to the brain and body. All a patient needs to use is a few drops, and wait for the desired medical effects which usually onset within about 20 minutes. Usually, our dose suggestion is an eye dropper full three times per day for most our patients and members.

 

  Usually, a tincture dose is delivered either with a medicine dropper or a teaspoon. A rule of thumb on dose is that patients receive benefit from 3-4 drops to a couple of full droppers depending upon the potency of the tincture and the patient’s own unique requirements among other factors.

 

  Tinctures can be flavored for better taste., commonly done with people who use alcohol extraction. Honey is an ideal base option for tinctures, but, for those suffering from diabetes or blood sugar issues often times use either an agave, vegetable glycerin or oil bases such as sesame seed oil for example. Many also use olive oil and then use it on their food and such, and then of course, a cannabutter for food use also.

 

  Alcohol based tinctures average some 75% ethanol, so there is little worry of bacterial or other biological contamination. Those who wish to avoid alcohol can instead use their tincture as a base for making a concentrated elixir, or to simply use another base such as honey , glycerin or oil.

 

  Absorption by the arterial blood supply under the tongue is completed in seconds. One trick is to not swallow the dose as, if swallowed, absorption will be in the GI tract.

 

 Many patients add their tincture to a cup of tea or cranberry juice for easy delivery, but when tincture is used in a beverage, the absorption will be slower than if absorbed under the tongue directly. While tincture absorbed in an empty stomach is accomplished in minutes, conversion in the liver remains, as does the difficulty in titrating dose.

 

  Both heat and light adversely effect cannabinoids and should be avoided or minimized.

Tincture should be stored in airtight dark glass containers kept at room temperature or below. Avoid plastic containers. The ethanol in the tincture may solubilize some of the free vinyls in the plastic. They are best stored in dark bottles in the refrigerator.