Pubdate: Thu, 28 Jul 2016
Source: Westword (Denver, CO)
Column: Ask a Stoner
Copyright: 2016 Village Voice Media
Contact: http://www.westword.com/feedback/EmailAnEmployee?department=letters
Website: http://www.westword.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1616
Author: Herbert Fuego

DEAR STONER: WHICH IS BETTER FOR CBD EXTRACTION - HEMP OR FLOWER?

Dear Stoner: I want to try my hand at making CBD-extracted products. 
Is it better to use hemp or real marijuana for it?

C-Mac

Dear Mac: It depends on your experience with marijuana and 
cannabinoid extraction. Most cannabidiol (CBD) users and 
product-makers use industrial hemp, because it's easier to grow 
legally and naturally higher in CBD cannabinoids than most flowering 
marijuana plants, which generally have more THC. If you want to start 
creating personal CBD products in Colorado, all you have to do is 
make sure your hemp plants or oils have less than 0.3 percent THC, 
and you can make all the CBD-infused balms, lotions and foods you 
like - as long as your home-extraction methods don't involve butane 
or any other explosive solvent.

While industrial hemp is the easier option, many CBD users and 
advocates believe in using CBD-heavy pot strains and oils for 
treatment. According to the nonprofit Project CBD, flowering strains 
such as Spectrum 12, Pennywise and the famous Charlotte's Web pack 
more CBD than hemp does, and you'll use a lot less plant matter when 
making oil with them. The group also says that hemp lacks certain 
terpenes and secondary cannabinoids found in CBD-heavy marijuana buds 
that help your body absorb it most effectively. Although 
high-CBD-strain seeds and clones are harder to find than traditional 
strains, most medical dispensaries carry at least one variety.

Dear Stoner: Is there more THC and other cannabis oils in roaches 
than in regular buds or an unsmoked joint?

Boris

Dear Boris: As I advised the guy who asked about hiding a bud inside 
a metal pipe and smoking to cover it in "smoke resin," stay away from 
the black stuff! That sticky, smelly tar has THC and THC-A (which 
only affects you if it's activated by heat), but not enough to make 
up for what it does to your lungs and tastebuds. Still, I'd be lying 
if I said my friends and I never rolled a generation joint of the 
brown, hardened pot from old roaches. Those days are long behind me, 
though, and I don't wish them on anyone else.

Growing up, I had a buddy named Chris who never had weed or the 
inclination to buy any, but that didn't stop him from trying to bum 
hits or ask for a nug every time it was sparked. We all got tired of 
it and started giving him roaches only, and he got so comfortable 
with his scrounging role that he started wearing a roach clip on his 
hat. He's still known as Roach Clip Chris, and it all started with 
that slippery slope of cheapness. Be careful.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom