Weed Forms- Because People Don’t Just “Smoke” Weed.

There are many ways to consume weed/ marijuana/ cannabis. The automatic assumption of “smoking” should be removed from thought. Marijuana patients, stoners, weed lovers, and potheads (I’m sure the names created by society go beyond this), enjoy a wide range of choices and methods to consume weed.

Again, I say “weed is medicine- like it or not”. Weed is treatment for many things, and again- can be consumed in many forms. Don’t believe me? I understand; maybe the National Institute on Drug Abuse can be believed:

“scientific study of the chemicals in marijuana, called cannabinoids, has led to two FDA-approved medications that contain cannabinoid chemicals in pill form.”

People that consume weed both medically and recreationally are receiving medicinal benefits no matter what. This has been happening for over 3000 years. Mother Earth in all of her glory, grew a plant that would heal and shield. Remember, weed wasn’t illegal until the 70’s (in the United States), in an effort to control, destroy, and break black families.

What Does a Weed Store/ Marijuana Store/ Cannabis Store Look Like?

Today, in certain states (because if we were great like Canada, we would be legal as a country), we enjoy the luxury of walking into a store and shopping for cannabis. Yes- weed stores. Wonder what they look like? Take a stroll with me.

Picture it, Oregon, summer 2019. You are walking through the streets of a small downtown city when suddenly, you set your eyes on a cannabis store. You walk in and find yourself in shock! Well, there are sales associates, organized merchandise, and informative information everywhere. Heck- they even have the recreational merchandise separate from the medicinal merchandise.

The sales associate greets you, checks your I.D, and asks how he/she may assist. There’s a section with everything sativa- separated by form: flower, topical, edible, and ingestible. There’s another section labeled “Indica” with the same set up as sativa. The sales associate is so much more available to you than any Walgreens associate ever has been; any Pharmacist for that matter.

The sales associate helps you with your purchase, places it in a bag, provides you with safety and other informative content, and thanks you for coming in. You walk out with legal weed- having received more information and service than any liquor store you’ve ever visited. You walk out of the weed store the same way you walk out of Wal-Mart, Walgreens, and Target. Not the base-ment, not the garage, not an alley, nothing unprofessional like you may have imagined.

Now- lets get into weed forms!

Weed Form: Flower/ Bud/ Grass

This is the most popular form of weed consumption. Weed flower is consumed by grinding the flower and then rolling in a joint/blunt, or using a bong, or a pipe.

Weed Form: Vape Pens

Vaping and smoking are not the same thing. Vaping produces no smoke and little to no scent. Vape pens use cannabis/weed concentrates like oil/ distillate- which is pulled from the flower.

Weed Form: Ingestibles

Consuming weed as an ingestible means using oil tinctures, capsules, serum, and spray. This is the most common method of use for marijuana patients. A solvent is used to separate the oil from the plant and then infused with a fatty/ carrier oil, like coconut oil.

Weed Form: Edibles/ Drinks

Consuming weed by way of an edible is one of the strongest methods. I’ll answer this here: the flower itself is not crumbled up into the brownie or cookie. Like above, the oil is separated from the plant. The oil is what is used in the food/ drinks. Weed consumption in this form means that the liver is metabolizing the marijuana, resulting in the marijuana converting into usable forms by the body.

Weed Form: Topicals

Topicals are cannabis infused lotions, balms, and creams used to treat pain/soreness/ inflammation. Using topicals means that weed is being consumed by way of the skin- meaning, topicals cannot make anyone “high”.

Meet People That Consume Weed for More Reasons Than Getting High

The assumption that people consume weed solely to be high and lazy is ridiculous. It is 2019 and we have way too much information. I asked a few others (answers below include the Author) about their chosen weed form, why that is their preferred form, and what it helps treat. Let’s hear from them:

Author: “I consume marijuana in multiple forms for various reasons. Marijuana healed me and continues to heal me. I suffered from severe migraines, 2+ a week each lasting 1+ days. I was barely living a life. Sativa in flower/bud form changed that!”

Matthew S.: “Indica and sativa depending on what I’m trying to accomplish. I often call sativa flower my “cleanin’ weed” and it tends to help me knock out physical activity but I looooove Indica flower during times when I need to slow my mind down and reduce inhibition when I want to write a bunch”.

David H.: “My form is fruity sativa for energy/focus in a social setting but oil for pain and stress”.

Anonymous, 1: “I enjoy flower/bud in CBD form. It’s my go to for anxiety, stress, and body pain. I suffer from an invisible disability and nothing relieves my pain like smoking/vaping CBD”.

Anonymous, 2: “I consume marijuana recreationally and do it to manage stress and anxiety from school pressures. I believe that hemp and marijuana are amazing!”

A few names and faces you know: