- Ramesh C. Gupta, Ajay Srivastava, Rajiv Lall and Anita Sinha, Osteoarthritis Biomarkers, Biomarkers in Toxicology, 10.1016/B978-0-12-814655-2.00052-9, (929-943), (2019).
- Charles D. Ciccone, Medical Marijuana: Just the Beginning of a Long, Strange Trip?, Physical Therapy, 97, 2, (239), (2017).
- Stephanie A. Kleine and Steven C. Budsberg, Synovial membrane receptors as therapeutic targets: A review of receptor localization, structure, and function, Journal of Orthopaedic Research, 35, 8, (1589-1605), (2017).
- Shannon, S., & Opila-Lehman, J. (2015). Cannabidiol oil for decreasing addictive use of marijuana: a case report. Integrative Medicine: A Clinician’s Journal, 14(6), 31.
- Hunter, David J. “Viscosupplementation for osteoarthritis of the knee.” New England Journal of Medicine 372, no. 11 (2015): 1040-1047
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ADMINISTERING MEDICAL MARIJUANA ORALLY OR RECTALLY
Within the fast-growing medical cannabis movement, people have developed several methods of consuming cannabis. A lot of patients use various preparations of cannabis to relieve symptoms and to improve quality of life.
Marijuana doctors can recommend taking compound through inhaling vapors, swallowing or drinking capsules, taking liquid extracts, ingestion or applying them topically to the skin. Each method has a unique medicinal effect, even though you use the same marijuana strain. Also, there is no perfect delivery method. They all have their drawbacks, advantages, and clinical utility in some situations.
This article discusses the differences between the some ways of administration (rectal and orally). It will help patients to decide the most appropriate method in each case.
- Efficiency rate
- Rectal administration
Taking medical marijuana via the rectum has an efficiency rate of 50% to 70%. Also, it produces foreseen effects any time you use rectal repositories. Further, it takes only 10 to 15 minutes to experience any effect. The effects can last for about 4 to 8 hours.
- Oral administration
Those who consume medical marijuana orally say they feel the effects within 30 minutes. The most significant effect occurs in about one hour mark, and total effects can last for about 6 hours. But it depends on various factors including:
- The amount of marijuana consumed
- Your tolerance level
- The ratio of cannabinoids it contains and more.
- Health benefit
- Oral administration
The compound in medical marijuana is absorbed most quickly when placed under the tongue. It’s consumed orally with infused lozenges, mints, and breath strips.
According to research, scientists found out that oral doses of marijuana can help insomniacs sleep faster. There is more: Recent studies imply that it may also improve breathing and lessen sleep interruptions.
Other health benefits include reducing nerve pain, sciatic nerve pain, and pain related to multiple sclerosis.
- Rectal administration
Also, those who can’t or prefer not to swallow or inhale cannabis use rectal suppositories. Cannabis suppositories can help treat conditions in the lower back and pain in the pelvis. It quickly eases your pain, but it depends on the cannabinoid content.
- Psychoactive effects
- Rectal administration
Marijuana doctors and some patients say rectal administration is less-psychoactive compared to other forms of administration. This is because it bypasses the liver. When given rectally, it goes into the bloodstream via the cell walls and into the body directly.
- Oral administration
Orally administered marijuana produced extraordinary central depressant side-effects and high effect.
When taken orally, it goes to the liver through digestion. Oral administration takes a while longest because of the digestive process. It takes time to reach the brain. When it does, the compound interacts with your nerve receptors, causing intoxication and euphoria.
There is still a lot of uncertainty about medical marijuana. So before taking marijuana via any of these methods of administration, contact a Florida marijuana doctor today. Also, ensure that you use products of excellent quality and that come from a place with quality control.
Smoking Vs Edibles: An Overview of Using Medical Marijuana
Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), a potent psychoactive drug that stimulates cannabinoid receptors in the brain, delivers the popular euphoric feeling experienced from using marijuana (cannabis).
THC is a very resilient drug hence can be processed and manipulated into various forms and still produce the same effects in the user. Recent legislation allowing for legal use of cannabis has led to the explosive growth in the use marijuana and marijuana products, particularly in Florida and other states. Florida cultivates medical marijuana through DOH approved treatment centers in a regulated, controlled, and secured environment. Licensed Florida marijuana doctors administer medical cannabis to their patients under utmost care.
People who smoke a fat joint find it extremely relaxing. The rolling process is particularly meditative, as it sparks some amazing conversations as one sits back with friends puffing. However, there are growing concerns over inhaling the byproducts of combustion that may be toxic or even carcinogenic. For this reason, many smokers are transitioning to edibles due to the total lack of combustion and inhalation of potentially harmful byproducts says tampa marijuana doctors.
When it comes to edibles however, the type of food that is medicated mainly influences just how healthy the product will be to the user’s body. Majority of them are hardly the most nutritious foods in the world e.g. brownies, sweets, ice cream, coffee, cookies and biscuits. Still, other options of using healthier snacks or meals with cannabinoids such as sandwiches, wine, curry, guacamole, sweet potato fries, or adding cannabutter to healthy salad dressings are available.
The question then remains which one would you rather? To answer that, let’s look at the effects that each method of using marijuana has on the body.
Absorption
Anybody who has experienced both smoking and eating cannabis edible is well aware of the difference in strength involved. Edibles take longer to take root, but when they do, the effects seem much stronger and stay longer. Smoking on the other hand takes effects almost immediately, but the euphoric effects wane faster.
This is because of how the cannabinoids are absorbed by the body. When smoked, THC directly enters the blood stream and into the brain. However, when eaten, they first go through the liver which metabolizes THC, making it very efficient at crossing the blood brain barrier (BBB) resulting in far more intense and stronger high.
Duration of High
When smoking weed, the effects can be felt almost immediately depending on the strain and how much you just smoked. This results in immediate euphoria, relaxation, energy, or even creative thoughts. However, these effects can then begin to wane off in the next hour or so.
Edibles on the other hand require longer processing by the body before the effects kick in; this ranges between 30 minutes and 2 hours. However, upon the onset of the effects, they last up to several hours. It is possible to overdo it, as there is no clear gauge to measure just how much THC you have taken. 2 or 3 more medicated treats to hasten the high you are looking for can turn into borderline psychedelic experience that you were not mentally prepared for.