It should be noted that this article is for information purposes only and should not, under any circumstances, be accepted as legal or health advice.

Some people claim that medical marijuana has had a major beneficial effect on their lives in terms of helping with the symptoms of their illness or in reducing pain. Whilst they are typically referring to inhalation when they talk of its use, what is perhaps a little less commonly known is that marijuana can also be used in cooking.

This article does not encourage you to break the law or give you legal advice. In the USA the current legal position is extremely complicated in terms of state and federal jurisdictions and not all states permit the use of medical marijuana. Outside of the USA the position will vary by each individual country. You should familiarise yourself with the law in your own jurisdiction. It’s a smart idea to ALWAYS consult a physician before taking medical marijuana.

Culinary purposes

The internet is full of marijuana recipes (which include medical marijuana use) and whether you like the sound of any one of them is pretty much a question of your personal tastes. There are, though, a few common points that may be worth keeping in mind:

• A fairly significant percentage of the plant (typically the stalks) contains chemicals that have a distinctly unpleasant taste and which are of little or no medicinal value. You can simply not use them – although some recipes do advocate limited use with other flavours to cover the taste.

• The medicinal compounds are soluble in edible fats or alcohol, so recipes will need to build this extraction cooking process into them.

• Very high-temperature recipes may destroy the compounds.

Some people claim that the ingestion of medical marijuana is very efficient for medical situations where a slow and more continual release is required. The effects, in fact, may last far longer than those obtainable through inhalation with some sources citing evidence that the positive effects can last for up to 5 hours. This is claimed to be particularly helpful in some cases of arthritis and other forms of inflammatory or muscular illnesses that generate deep and long-lasting pain. On the downside, if sufferers experience sudden sharp attacks of pain that may relatively rapidly subside, then the time taken for the compounds to enter the system (perhaps around an hour on average) means that ingestion may not offer fast enough pain relief in the way that inhalation may.

Inhalation

The use of medical marijuana through inhalation is perhaps the ‘traditional’ method and certainly the best known. Various methods of preparation are used and the obvious advantage is the one touched on above – that the compounds are absorbed faster into the body and therefore, theoretically, deliver their analgesic or remedial properties that bit faster also.

However, this benefit has to be weighed against the fact that few people argue that inhaling the gaseous compounds of any combustion directly into your lungs is anything other than something to be avoided if possible. This may be particularly true if you have a history of asthma, respiratory illnesses/infections or simply a known vulnerability to chesty colds or bronchitis etc. Of course, if you’re in severe pain then the issues and risks associated with the undesirable side effects of inhalation may be more than outweighed by the positive analgesic benefits. That can only be a personal decision for each individual.

Medical Marijuana – Your Own Personal Choice

Both utilization methods have their advocates and detractors. Both are claimed to be of specific benefit in helping a specified range of conditions. In the final analysis, your preferences may be unique to your own circumstances. Some physicians or complementary treatment counsellors may be able to offer advice on what may be the best medical marijuana regime for you.