In recent years, the ever-growing body of research into the potential therapeutic benefits of cannabis has inspired people of all walks to consider using the plant as an alternative to addictive substances with potentially unpleasant side effects.
Some swear by it, stating that it has helped them reduce their use of painkillers, sleep aids, and other medications.
However, certain people looking to cannabis as an alternative treatment have lifestyles that may prevent them from using a psychoactive substance every time they need relief, and others may simply prefer to have only the therapeutic effects of their cannabis with little to no high involvement. In those instances, it may be best a look at microdosing marijuana.
But what is microdosing, how do you do it, and what are its potential benefits?
What Is Microdosing?
Microdosing is consuming a tiny dose of a substance to take advantage of its benefits without causing any impairment or high.
The concept is more closely associated with psychedelic substances like psilocybin. However, microdosing THC has recently become more popular, with users looking for the unique relief cannabis offers without the high.
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The Benefits of Microdosing Marijuana
Some cannabis users enjoy the plant primarily for its euphoric psychoactive effects, which is why recreational use is so popular today. However, there is a large contingency of people whose use of cannabis revolves mainly around the relief it offers them.
For that group, it’s not always ideal that their alternative relief comes with the side effect of intoxication, so they look to microdosing weed.
That relief comes in various forms, and there is research to support the wealth of anecdotal evidence regarding it. Some of the most common therapeutic uses of cannabis include the following:
Pain Management and Relief
Chronic pain is far more than just a physical condition; the psychological and emotional toll that being constantly debilitated by pain can be just as detrimental to the quality of life as the debilitation itself.
And when that pain is bad enough, the primary means of relief is addictive prescription painkillers, which offer their potential path to physical, psychological, and emotional debilitation.
According to research, microdosing marijuana may relieve chronic discomfort and help users avoid or reduce dependence on addictive opioids. A study published in May 2020 found that low doses of THC “produced a dose-dependent and safe analgesic effect in patients with neuropathic pain/complex-regional pain syndrome (CRPS).”
Another study published in March 2021 found that medicinal cannabis helped significantly reduce the use of opioids for sufferers of chronic discomfort in terms of both frequency of use and average dosage.
Anxiety and Stress Reduction
Next to chronic discomfort management, the benefit most commonly cited by those who use cannabis for its therapeutic effects is stress relief. Both stress and anxiety are conditions that don’t always outwardly present in an obvious way. Yet, both can do incredible damage to someone’s quality of life and physical health.
Other means of addressing these issues, such as benzodiazepines, can be dangerous and addictive, so many people have turned to cannabis as an alternative remedy.
Research shows that microdosing cannabis may be the optimal means of using the plant to reduce stress and relieve feelings of anxiousness. A 2017 study by the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Chicago found that very low doses of THC effectively reduce stress, while the quantity enough to induce a high could potentially have the opposite effect.
Improved Focus and Creativity
Cannabis has long been associated with creativity and the arts, with everyone from The Beatles to Pablo Picasso to many incredibly successful CEOs and entrepreneurs extolling its virtues, supporting legalization, or both throughout the years.
The anecdotal evidence suggests that weed’s perception-altering attributes lend themselves to unique and creative thinking, and its stress-relieving properties can help to enhance focus.
Creativity is, of course, a difficult thing to measure. Still, it is known that both dopamine and the frontal lobes of the brain are heavily involved in outside-the-box thinking, and cannabis is connected with both dopamine release and increased blood flow to the front lobes.
Mood and Depression Management
Much like stress and anxiety, depression and mood dysregulation can be near-invisible conditions, yet they can be just as debilitating as something more immediately apparent.
Various medications exist to treat these issues, but they come with widely varying and case-specific efficacies and a range of potentially unpleasant side effects. For this reason, some sufferers have begun to microdose THC as an alternative.
Various studies into the scientific veracity of the claim that cannabis can help regulate mood have been conducted, a fair number of which have returned positive results.
Relief from Sleep Disorders
Lack of sleep is detrimental to your daily life and can eventually take a severe toll on your physical and mental health. Reliance to pharmaceutical treatments can have several unwanted side effects, including physical addiction. Still, many claim microdosing marijuana offers an effective natural alternative to those meds, and research supports it.
A review published in 2022 looked at 38 patients suffering from various sleep conditions that were being treated by prescription sleep meds.
When switching to medicinal cannabis, nearly 40% of those patients found that they could reduce their use of pharmaceutical sleep aids or drop them entirely. Over 70% of the group reported a “subjective improvement in their sleep or related condition.”
If you have tried cannabis as a sleep aid before and didn’t get the results you were looking for, there are two things you may want to consider. One is that you may be using the wrong kind of strain. Sativas are uplifting and energizing, while Indicas are relaxing and soothing, so you’ll want to opt for an Indica strain.
The second is that you may be using too high a dose. THC microdosing makes it so the psychoactive effects are imperceptible, which means you may be less distracted by your altered perception and more capable of getting a good night’s rest.
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How to Microdose THC
If you believe microdosing weed may benefit you, there are a few things you’ll want to know to ensure that your experimentation with the practice is as effective as possible.
You may want to simply speak with a professional at CannabisRxHealth, who will be glad to show you how to microdose weed effectively, but if you’re feeling particularly independent, consider the following:
Select the Right Strain
We mentioned briefly how different cannabis strains offer different, and even opposite, effects. That is a critical distinction to know when selecting a strain for your weed microdosing journey, as you’ll want to pick the strain that offers the exact effects and benefits you’re looking for.
Indica
Indica strains are renowned for their soothing effects. It’s known to induce a state of total relaxation while relieving stress, stimulating the appetite, and priming your body and mind for a full night’s sleep. If you’re looking to microdose marijuana as a remedy for worry, sleep conditions, discomfort relief, or nausea relief, you’ll likely want to go for an Indica.
Sativa
Sativa strains can be the total opposite of Indica in many ways. They offer a stimulating, energetic, euphoric high that is said to inspire creative thinking and increase focus. If you want to THC microdose to boost your mood, reduce symptoms of depression, relieve discomfort, or relieve social anxiety, you should consider going for a Sativa.
Hybrid
Crossing a Sativa and an Indica results in what’s known as a “hybrid” strain. These strains can offer effects from both sides of the cannabis spectrum, making them an exciting option if you’re looking for some specialized relief.
Every hybrid has a slightly different ratio of Sativa to Indica, and that ratio will help you determine which effects will be more prominent when microdosing with that particular strain.
Choose Your Consumption Method
When it comes to microdosing marijuana, your method of consumption can be pretty important, as you want to ensure that your dosage remains below the threshold of being perceptibly high. While it’s possible to do that with pretty much any mode of cannabis consumption, it’s far easier with some than with others.
Flower
Cannabis flower is more potent today than ever before. However, it’s also less concentrated than most other modes of consumption, which generally offer higher concentrations of THC than can currently be achieved on a naturally grown cannabis plant. For this reason, you may want to consider flower as your mode of consumption when microdosing.
However, there are some drawbacks to this option. Perhaps the biggest is that it’s essentially impossible to accurately dose a hit of flower, meaning you’ll likely need to go through some trial and error before getting to that sweet spot.
This method is also a bit more complicated than others; it requires a pipe or papers, along with other tools, and can be limiting regarding where and when you can do it.
If you’re going to go for flower in your microdosing experiments, grab a low-THC strain to help give you a bit more control over your dosing and consider using a dry herb vaporizer to make your consumption more effortless and more accessible.
Gummies & Edibles
Consuming cannabis can be a super simple way to enjoy the effects of microdosing, and it’s also pretty delicious. If you buy your edibles from a company, they’ll come in uniform, accurate doses, making microdosing far more manageable than other methods.
However, if you make the edibles yourself (e.g., homemade pot brownies), dosing can be unpredictable, so be wary.
Edibles will take a more extended period to kick in (about 30-60 minutes, sometimes longer), which is something to account for when microdosing. They will also last considerably longer than smoking or vaping (6-8 hours vs. about 4-5 hours with smoking or vaping), which can be a big plus, provided you plan accordingly.
Tinctures
Tinctures are essentially concentrated cannabinoids in liquid form. They come in a dropper bottle that is marked so that you can quickly determine the dosage, and that dose is generally applied by simply dropping it beneath your tongue, where it will then enter your bloodstream.
This method of consumption is a great one for microdosing, as it’s easy to get the correct dose and incredibly easy to consume. You can add this to your morning routine without much change.
You can also get creative with your tinctures and add them to a favorite recipe or drink; just remember that consuming tinctures through the digestive tract takes longer to kick in and lasts longer than dropping them beneath your tongue.
Capsules & Tablets
Capsules and tablets are another simple, straightforward way to microdose your cannabis with accurate dosage and little fuss. These products are simply a set amount of cannabinoid oil in a gel cap or pressed into a tablet.
Their dosage will be right there on the packaging for you. You can simply line them up next to your daily vitamins, and they’ll seamlessly become part of your morning routine.
Even microdose-centric capsules and tablets come in extra small doses, making your microdosing journey that much easier. However, remember that, just like with edibles, you won’t feel the effects of your capsule or tablet for about 30-60 minutes and possibly longer, and they will last about 6-8 hours or more.
Understanding Dosage and Potency
Understanding dosage and potency is crucial to strike that perfect balance between enjoying the therapeutic benefits of cannabis and avoiding the impairment of a cannabis high. To help you determine an ideal dosage, you may want to speak with a professional at Cannabis Rx Health, but you can also take note of the following:
The Proper Microdose
The generally agreed-upon standard dose of THC is about 5-10mg. That means that when you’re microdosing, you want to avoid reaching that amount until you’ve seen exactly how the low THC dose will affect you.
Start with about .5-2mg when microdosing, allow your body time to react to the dose (10-15 minutes when smoking or vaping and at least 45 minutes for edibles and capsules), and proceed from there.
With microdosing, you may have to cross the threshold once or twice to figure out where the line is, so make sure you give yourself some experimental wiggle room before trying it out in a setting where being high is undesirable or unacceptable.
And remember that all psychoactive substances affect people differently, so you may find that you need to reduce your dosage, even when only taking 1-2mg, or that you need to increase your dosage, even when taking 5mg or more. It’s all about careful trial and error and conscious observation of the THC’s effects.
Understanding Potency
Potency is only relevant when smoking or vaping your microdose. Cannabis flower and oils are labeled with their THC content or potency, which can help you determine the proper dosage. Medium potency flower is considered to be about 15–17% THC, but it can go as high as 30+%. Vapes offer far higher potency, ranging from 40% to 90% THC.
Opting for a low-THC flower strain or vape is your best bet when microdosing, as you will likely struggle to get a hit small enough to keep yourself below the threshold with the more potent products.
Get to Know the Transformative Potential of Microdosing THC with Cannabis Rx Health
Microdosing marijuana involves consuming small amounts of the plant to achieve subtle effects. This approach aims to enhance creativity, focus, and mood without the psychoactive "high" associated with larger doses.
Microdosing may offer potential benefits such as stress reduction, pain management, and improved overall well-being. However, it's crucial to approach microdosing responsibly, respecting legal regulations, individual sensitivities, and personal health considerations.
A low dose of THC that won’t get you high but still offers the various therapeutic benefits of the cannabinoid can potentially improve your quality of life immensely. To get started, consulting a medical professional is advisable. If you’d like to know more about microdosing, contact the cannabis professionals at Cannabis Rx Health today.
