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The Benefits Of Cannabis Journaling And How To Get Started

Journaling is especially important to patients who are new to using cannabis but can be of great benefit to experienced users and recreational consumers also.

Because patients are using cannabis for different ailments, and because of the lack of definitive information on exactly how cannabis is to be used for their ailments, patients are left to make their own discoveries. Cannabis use is a very personal experience and one specific strain can have varying effects on different people. The best way for patients to find what works for them is to keep a close eye on what they use and how it works for all their health issues.

Keeping track of their cannabis is totally the individual’s responsibility. Because of research done in recent years, we do know more about cannabis now than in previous decades and we’re better able to determine what may work and what will not. Understanding the importance of cannabis terpenes, as well as understanding our body’s endocannabinoid system, can also help individuals choose the best cannabis products for a specific illness or condition.

Choosing our cannabis products has gone well beyond indica or sativa. Relying only on strain names is not a very accurate way to go either because of the variation between different phenotypes of the same strain, and the different grow styles of cannabis producers. There are so many strains on the cannabis market now, and almost every strain in the market is a hybrid of indica, sativa and sometimes ruderalis. Much of the medicine in cannabis has been altered and even discarded by decades of selective breeding by underground growers to attain the highest THC potency. Thankfully, this is being reversed, but this reversal has also flooded the market with so many new strains that it can make your head spin.

The things you need to keep track of when journaling cannabis can vary. There are journaling apps, booklets and pamphlets but coming up with one’s own simple system isn’t hard to do. Here are some things all patients should keep track of:

Flower (or strain specific pre-rolls)

  • Strain name
  • Effectiveness for your target – condition(s)
  • Length of relief
  • Aroma
  • Appearance (color, form, sticky, hairy, etc.)
  • Side effects (good and bad)
  • Cannabinoid content
  • Terpene content
  • Method of ingestion (smoked? vaped? Ingested?)
 

Additional items for Concentrates and Edibles:

  • Form of concentrate (keif, wax, rosin, oil, shatter, hash, etc.)
  • Methods of extraction, if extracted (Co2, BHO, PHO, Ethanol, distillate, etc.)
  • Method of ingestion (vaped? smoked? made into edible?)
  • Cannabinoid content (milligrams and/or % of cannabinoids)
  • Was the edible made from cannabis infused butter, coconut oil BHO, Co2, etc.?
AYR Illinois Dispensary does offer a Cannabis Strain Tracker for sale for both patients and adult consumers 21 years of age and older who wish to get started with journaling their experiences. Stop by and ask a budtender today about how to get one.