As Cannabis becomes more and more recognized as a valid way to treat symptoms of a wide range of debilitating diseases and issues, people have been looking for the healthiest way to add it to their lives. Cannabis oils have come out from this evolution of consumption as one of the more healthy ways to consume cannabis. With the ability to consume it in THC or CBD form (or a mix of the two) inside a gel cap there is no need to expose your lungs to smoke. These concentrated oils are made in a way that it is now possible to properly control dosage with a variety of different strains to match to your specific needs for managing your symptoms. Whether that be pain, stress, depression, glaucoma , appetite issues or any number of medical issues that pot can help you with, Cannabis oils are one of the best ways to treat them.
How Cannabis Oil is Made
The chemical process used to extract the Cannabis Oil from the marijuana plant has a few different methods. By far the most common is a process called Butane Hash Oil extraction or BHO extraction for short. This process uses butane gas in a liquid form to separate the THC, CBD and compounds known as Terpenes and flavonoids that give Marijuana its distinct flavour and smell. After the plant material is screened out and the remaining mixture is just a concentration of Oils and butane, a purging process is conducted. This purging removes the butane so only the Cannabis Oil remains.
Another method is known as CO2 Supercritical extraction. This method used high pressure and very low temperatures to condense Carbon Dioxide gas into a liquid which is then pushed through the plant material to separate the oils for extraction. Purging with this method is a bit simpler than the BHO method as all that is needed is to bring the pressure and temperate back to room levels.
Finally there is a newish process called Rosin extraction that is surprisingly simple. Using just high pressure press and heat, this method is said to be the best at preserving all the extra compounds like Terpenes. With the additional benefit of added chemical to purge afterwards this is being touted as the healthy option to chemical extraction processes. Keep your eye on Rosin as it gains more popularity as it’s sure to become the new standard for health concisions Cannabis Oil enthusiasts.
Medical Uses for Cannabis Oil
Due to the restrictions on Cannabis there has been limited professional research on the uses for Cannabis flowers and Cannabis Oil. From what research that has been done there has been mixed results for serious conditions like Multiple Sclerosis but for issues such as chronic pain and Muscle spasms there have been some encouraging results. Outside the scientific community there have been plenty of individual anecdotal reports of Cannabis being used to great success but that should always be taken with a healthy dose of scepticism. Most of those reports are true in that they have found relief but it is very hard to determine if Cannabis was the cause of it without proper double blind testing and larger sample sizes. One thing one should always remember when thinking about Cannabis for medical treatments is that one should never go against their doctors instructions and cannabis should only be used to supplement other treatments. There is no evidence to suggest that it is a cure for Cancer or other serious conditions. That being said just because there is no evidence now doesn’t mean it doesn’t have more benefits, with more and more countries allowing medical cannabis, more research will be done which is to everyone’s benefit.