I have started a medicine making exploration with cannabis root and plan to document it here, so others can learn with me. Cannabis is a profoundly helpful plant that can be invoked for support. Most of the cannabis folks that I know already have established deep relationships with this plant, which I always feel is essential to partnering with plants. Despite having close relationships with her, not many folks know how to work with her roots. This is unfortunate given all parts of most plants can be supportive and bring their own special quality to medicines - I am a huge advocate for whole plant medicines....and almost never like isolates. There's something missing from them....well...there's a lot missing from them. They feel like an autopsy done upon a plant and once again, another situation where man thinks he knows better than nature, because the tools and machines he made said so. (I won't get started on that long rant!).
My husband is a cannabis grower and is exceptionally good at what he does. He grows only organic no til living soil. This means he isn't adding bottled or processed nutrients (even organic ones) to his soil, but instead plants cover crops, calls upon beneficial insects and worms to create beautiful healthy soil in which his plants thrive. This is the first step to any type of growing - good soil. I know that his soil is good and so I know that roots from his plants are good to bring into medicine - cannabis can tend to leach heavy metals from soil (she's really really good at that)., and because such, the soil needs to be as healthy and clean as possible.
Years ago I read about how to turn roots into medicine. It was a rather involved process and one I never got around to. Recently, an issue I have been having with my toe and feet, has brought this medicine back into my awareness, and this feels like the perfect time to actually move forward with it, given I know so many herbalists and cannabis folks that I can turn to to ask questions and offer support and guidance. I did just that and got a wealth of information to sit with. Some of it contradicted other parts....and thats ok. Everyone has their own methods and information - which is what makes plant medicine work so fascinating and connecting. I gratefully accepted the guidance, processed it a bit, and came up with my own place to begin.
I first dug up the roots from both indoor and outdoor cannabis plants. I soaked and washed and scrubbed them clean. I then broke them into smaller pieces (this was tough with the bigger ones). I probably could have dried and ground into powder, which I will do with future roots I collect, because you can create various types of medicines with cannabis roots.
I then weighed them out and placed them in a crock pot. 1 ounce of roots for every 2 cups of water. With cannabis roots, the decoction process needs to take place first, as many of the constitutes are water soluble. Some are only alcohol soluble and some are soluble by using chloroform (a thing I learned from a friend of mine).....since I have no chloroform and have no desire to bring that substance into my work, I am going with a variation of the method I learned which will utilize water and oil.
They are now sitting in a crock pot - I certianly could have decocted over a stove, but then I run the risk of getting distracted and burning them. A crock pot on high works very well. I will decoct for several hours or as long as it takes for it to be reduced by 1/4.
Then I will be onto the next part of the process.......stay tuned.
PSSSTTTTT What I am doing here is creating a salve........but several steps to take to get there when working with cannabis magic.
Oh and a little tidbit. I learned that the roots and stalks are incredibly high in CBG, which is often referred to as the mother of all cannabinoids.
Do you know what other plant is rich in CBG? Helichrysum - from the sunflower family. Now you know something new that perhaps you didn't know before.