E-cannabis

I recently quit smoking tobacco in favor of e-cigs. I also rediscovered my love for weed. I have purchased the e-cig cartridges filled with hash oil from the dispensaries. I am wondering if there is a way to safely thin hash oil for use in a standard e-cig cartridge.

—Mark

First, congrats on getting off of the tobacco leaf. Well done. Second, are you trying to mix the hash oil with the nicotine juice, like a sort of e-spliff? Or are you looking for a hash pen? If you are trying to mix, good luck. I have no idea if that is even possible. If you are looking for a refillable vapor pen, there are plenty on the market. Dab OTG (www.dabotg.com) makes a nice one. Most of the vapor pens sold by medical-cannabis dispensaries have disposable cartridges. I like the convenience, but I feel like marijuana users could be more sensitive to the whole “zero-waste” vibe. I am sure you will be able to find a pen that suits your needs. Have a good one, and welcome back to weed.

I keep hearing all this talk about CBD. Can you tell me more about it?

—Candi

Cannabidiol, or CBD, is one of the hundreds of chemical compounds found in the marijuana plant. CBD is nonpsychoactive, meaning it doesn’t get you “high” like THC does. In fact, CBD acts as a sort of THC inhibitor, keeping you from getting too stoned. CBD has been shown to help people with anxiety and has been very effective as an anti-seizure medication, particularly for children with Dravet syndrome, which is a severe form of epilepsy.

CBD has been very much in the news lately. Dr. Sanjay Gupta has discussed it on his cable specials. There have been stories about parents of children with Dravet syndrome moving to Colorado so they can help their children without being arrested, and some Southern states are looking into passing medical-marijuana laws allowing people to use cannabis that is high in CBD, but not in THC.

As a person who believes that any kind of cannabis should be legal, I am a bit befuddled by states that want to allow high-CBD strains and nothing else. But as a person who understands politics and government, I see any legislation making any form of cannabis more legal as a step in the right direction. When California passed Proposition 215 way back in 1996, the hard-core activists were a little upset that weed was made legal only for some people, and the prohibitionists warned that medical-marijuana legalization was a “gateway law” to full legalization. I am happy to report that, in this instance, the prohibitionists were right. Cannabis will be fully legal in the United States soon. Step by step, inch by inch.