How to Vape Dried Cannabis?
This guide has been developed to help patients understand how to vape medical cannabis that has been prescribed for use by their clinician in the form of dried cannabis. Make sure to always follow the directions given by your clinician. Store dried cannabis in its original container, in a cool dry place.
What is vaping and why do it?
Vaping dried cannabis involves heating the flower of the plant to release the active compounds into a vapor, which is then breathed in using a vape device. Vaped cannabis is potentially useful in those that require a quicker onset and subsequent reduction of effects.
Dried Cannabis
Medical cannabis for vaping is safely grown, dried and prepared for use in accordance with regulatory standards. Dried cannabis comes in various forms (granulate, the flower bud of the plant ground up) and flos (the flower bud of the plant you need to prepare yourself). Dried cannabis contains a wide range of chemicals from the plant, but most are standardised for their tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD) content.
Each medication varies in relation to the other chemicals contained in the plant, namely cannabinoids, flavonoids, and terpenes.
Which Vaporiser and What Temperature Should It Be Heated To?
Finding the right device for you makes a big impact to the success when learning how to vape. Some vapes are expensive, so it is worth finding a trusted brand and investing money wisely.
Storz & Bickel Gmbh & Co. produce the only battery-powered medical herbal hot air generator to be certified for medical use. The company’s Mighty Medic, Mighty+ Medic and Volcano Medic 2 vaporisers are the first and only medical-grade vaporisers to be approved in the UK.
Given the findings of past clinical and verification studies, and the subsequent UK approval of Storz & Bickel Gmbh & Co.’s vaporising devices, Curaleaf Clinic exclusively recommends the use of medical-grade vaporisers for the administration of medical cannabis flower.
More information on these vaporisers can be found here.
Flos or dried flower bud needs to be prepared before inserting into the device. How it must be prepared will differ between devices. Check the device instructions on how best to prepare the cannabis.
Dried cannabis should be heated to 180°C (max 220°C), this ensures the most efficient way to produce the cannabis vapor without burning the cannabis. Dried cannabis should not be tightly packed into the device as this stops air from drawing through the cannabis to carry the oils. The effect of the temperature on the cannabis and the symptoms to be treated varies between devices and medicine used. Adjustment of the temperatures will be required to find the best temperature to release the oils and treat the target symptoms. Follow the vape device instructions on adjusting the temperature.
Care should be taken to ensure the vapor does not turn brown as this would indicate the cannabis is burning, which is more likely at higher temperatures. Burning cannabis can produce potentially harmful chemicals as found when smoking tobacco. Where patients have been smoking cannabis and switch to vaping, they may find their requirements reduce as mixing with tobacco causes continual burn of the cannabis and loss of product.
Administration
Start with a small quantity of dried cannabis as prescribed, take your time and start with a low number of inhalations. Slowly increase the inhalations and then later the quantity as prescribed, this reduces the likelihood of side-effects and enables you to find the most effective dose to treat your symptoms.
Even if you’ve been smoking cannabis for a long time and are moving to vape for the first time you should follow these steps. Vaping is an efficient way of inhaling medical cannabis, and you could still experience side-effects if you use the same amount vaping as you did when smoking cannabis. Starting with small amounts will help prevent side-effects.
Vaped cannabis is useful when instant relief of symptoms is required as is it absorbed into the blood stream quicker than other routes.
Vaping dried cannabis causes the chemicals in the plant to rapidly rise in the blood stream and rapidly fall. A large quantity of cannabis with too many inhalations on the first ever dose can be overwhelming, leading to unwanted effects.
First try inhaling the cannabis at night, as initially it can increase sleepiness.
You may find it helpful to keep a diary of the affects you experience to help discussions with the prescriber. Adjustments to the product choice, doses or administration can all be considered to find the right regimen.
Please note that smoking of medical cannabis, rather than vaporisation as prescribed invalidates your prescription and is considered illegal by the Home Office.
Day1
Start the dried cannabis as prescribed by your clinician at night immediately before bed. Put the smallest amount in the vaporiser as indicated in the instructions of your vaporiser (usually around 0.1g). Once heated to the required temperature take one small inhalation. No more inhalations should be taken.
Day 2-4
Slowly increase the number of inhalations from the dose in the device. Take care to not inhale the vapour if it turns brown.
Day 5-7
When first starting therapy, it is helpful to be in a safe calm environment and to have someone else around to support the patient and observe for unwanted effects.
If you haven’t suffered any adverse effects and you have inhaled the whole vapor from the small amount you have put in the device, increase the amount you have put in the chamber (typically 0.2g or as suggested by your device instructions). Start with one inhalation and slowly build up the number of inhalations you take from the dose.
Increasing the dose
Increase the dose by the amount recommended by your clinician. If you’ve never used dried cannabis the first month will be to allow your body to get used to the increase in THC and finding the right dose to tackle your symptoms.
As your body gets used to the dose via the vaporiser, experienced users will quickly find they can use the dose when they need to combat their symptoms. Once new users are used to the dose, they should attempt to use the vaporiser in the day when they need for their symptoms. Care should be taken to ensure that they are in a safe environment in case they experience side-effects.
Side-effects
Feeling ‘spaced out’ or ‘high’ is not an aim of treatment with medical cannabis. Feeling anxious, agitated to having visual disturbances are unwanted effects that may be experienced, contact your clinician if you experience these as you may need to make changes to your treatment such as lowering the dose or slowing down the increase in dose.
Dried cannabis used to treat medical conditions do not have marketing authorisation (known as ‘unlicensed’) and so do not come with a patient information leaflet. Your pharmacist or clinician can provide you with a leaflet about your treatment.
Most side-effects are mild and go away on their own e.g. headache, nausea, feeling sleepy, diarrhoea or constipation.
Other side-effects such as effects on the liver or the heart are rare. Tell your clinician if you experience fast pulse, palpitations, itchy skin, pain in the tummy or yellowing of the eyes or skin.
What if I miss a dose?
If you remember within a few hours take the dose. Do not double dose to make up for missed doses. Skilled users become familiar with when and how to miss doses and by listening to the symptoms and the effects of treatment on their condition they will quickly be able to get a balance. Missing a few doses of cannabis will not cause any harm as it takes the body hours or weeks to remove cannabis from the system. Withdrawal or worsening of symptoms on stopping cannabis may occur with sufficiently high doses. Your prescriber will discuss this with you if appropriate.
This information was kindly produced with the help of patients of Curaleaf Clinic, particularly Dannielle O’Brien.
For further advice contact your pharmacist or clinician on [email protected]