Ellen Scanlon: This podcast, discusses Cannabis and is intended for audiences 21 and over.

Christine De La Rosa: If you go into our dispensary, you’ll see edibles that are like 10 milligrams. Microdosing is really just using smaller amounts over a longer period of time instead of taking one gummy for 10 milligrams at that moment. So when you’re doing microdosing, you’re looking for edibles that have about three milligrams, and then you take one of those, see how you feel. You might in a couple of hours, take another one to keep you on that really steady. It’s doing good stuff for your body, but it’s not like you’re unable to function.

Ellen Scanlon: Welcome back to How to Do the Pot. I’m Ellen Scanlon, the co-creator of the show. You just heard from Christine De La Rosa the co-founder of the People’s Dispensary, a cannabis retailer with locations in California and Oregon. Christine began in cannabis as a medical patient, using it to treat the painful symptoms of the autoimmune disease Lupus. Today, we’re going to help you better understand microdosing. We’ll hear from women who consume to feel better and to treat medical conditions. We’ll get a nurse’s practical tips for how much to take and share a tip for having your best sex with cannabis. For more on how to choose your specific microdose, check out How to Do the Pot’s episode 20. Do you get How to Do the Pot’s newsletter? You can sign up at dothepot.com and please also follow along on all our socials. And if you like How to Do the Pot, please rate and review us on Apple podcasts. It helps more people find the show.

Ellen Scanlon: There’s lots in the news these days about psychedelics. And I think some people connect microdosing with LSD psilocybin mushrooms. If you want to learn more about that, I liked Michael Pollan’s book about psychedelics called How to Change Your Mind and I’ll link to it in the show notes. But we’re just talking about microdosing cannabis today on the show. Taking small amounts of cannabis can help with things like reducing pain, helping you sleep, improve your mood, increase creativity, and treating stress. To understand micro-dosing comparisons to alcohol might help you. If you want to feel a little bit buzz, maybe you sip on a tequila on the rocks, but you know that a pint of tequila is not going to make you feel your best. It’s the same thing with weed.

Ellen Scanlon: I think of microdosing as considering how you want to feel and staying aware of the amount of cannabis that you’re bringing into your body, whether you’re eating an edible, putting an oil tincture under your tongue, or taking a few puffs from a joint or a vape. Microdosing can refer to low dose THC or low-dose THC with an equal amount or more of CBD and the formulation. Timeka Drew is the California based founder of Biko Flower. And she uses cannabis to manage symptoms of another autoimmune condition, Crohn’s disease.

Timeka Drew: Life was totally different when I was first treating myself with cannabis. I obviously, didn’t have any kids, I’m living alone so I can smoke any time, I can do whatever I want. And obviously now, having a house full of four kids working as an executive, launching a brand, constantly busy. So I’ve had to definitely rely a lot more on microdosing and having different types of products around that I can utilize that I can rely on to know I’m not going to have a chance to smoke, but I’m not feeling great. So I need to make sure to take these little 10 milligram pills, or I need to make sure to suck on these 2.5 milligram candies throughout the day. And I really love that the legal market has allowed for the development of those types of products to allow for us to be able to discreetly and easily continue to treat ourselves regardless of what’s happening in the background.

Ellen Scanlon: Edibles can have a strong mind body high, and they last a long time. So if you’re not looking for that, try a two or three milligram dose and look for edibles that also have CBD in them. Maybe you want to feel a lot lighter for an hour or two, one or two puffs from a joint with 15 to 20% THC might be a way to feel great, but smoking that whole joint could make you feel higher than you might want. Christine De La Rosa helps explain how it feels to microdose

Christine De La Rosa: The way I can explain is sort of a buzzing in your body. So you’re not super high or really high, but you’re more of a functional high where you are taking smaller doses over the course of a period of time to maintain a certain level.

Ellen Scanlon: Microdosing with just CBD, which is not intoxicating, works too. Just remember it takes at least two weeks of consistent use to feel the benefits of CBD. As word spreads about how CBD helps with stress, women are adding a little tincture to their morning ritual, a CBD chocolate in the afternoon, and maybe some CBD honey to tea after dinner to keep more balance in the body. The sense of wellbeing that it brings throughout the day is an example of microdosing. Allie Einbinder, the bass player in the pop rock band, Potty Mouth, microdoses cannabis during the day to alleviate anxiety and enhance her creativity.

Ally Einbinder: I guess I’m sort of microdosing right now on my vape pen. The vape pen cartridge is so just easy to discretely puff on and kind of control how strong of an inhale you get, especially when there are the different heat settings. And yeah, it’s not going to put you out like an edible or anything like that.

Ellen Scanlon: Sandra Guynes, who’s also known as the Kush nurse is a California based nurse with 15 years of experience who helps patients manage their health conditions with cannabis.

Sandra Guynes: People think that cannabis is going to be like this magic thing and you’re going to have it, and then that’s it. You’re good to go. So they have an idea that if you’re smoking or consuming cannabis more than once a day, now you’re like an addict, but it’s not. Because when you think about it, the window of your medication really lies in the method that you use. You’re going to use cannabis almost many times a day, as you would use your regular pharmaceutical medication. So you know that if you need to work for eight hours, you’re going to need to figure out, “What am I going to have to take that’s going to let me work for eight hours. Okay, I can smoke every two to three hours or I can have edible that’s going to last me six hours, or I can have a combination of these things to get me to that eight hour Mark, a patch and an edible or whatever it is.”

Sandra Guynes: So I think that’s one thing that we really need to educate more on because a lot of people think, “You’re going to take this oil in the morning. It’s just going to magic in your body.” And I’m like, “No,” I’m like, “You probably are going to take a two to three times a day. You may have to try a different method for different things.” So breakthrough pain, breakthrough anxiety, breakthrough anything. I like inhalation because inhalation means right now at this moment, I’m going to get these results and I’m going to be able to function within seconds to minutes. So that too I recommend those two. And then topicals. I always tell people, topicals are great for joints, relaxation, but definitely knowing that even with topicals, you may have to apply them multiple times a day. It’s not just a one-stop application, then you move on with your life.

Ellen Scanlon: I shared some of my story about using cannabis for pain related to endometriosis in episode 57, I also use it for anxiety and what works best for me is taking a CBD gel cap in the morning and in the evening. And I use an oil tincture throughout the day. I generally just take CBD, but I also really like oil tinctures that range from 20 to one to one-to-one, which is an even split of THC and CBD. And with oil tinctures, put it under your tongue, hold it there for 15 to 30 seconds. And you should start to feel the effects within 15 minutes or so.

Ellen Scanlon: Cannabis delivery from Caliva is available throughout California. And in case you haven’t tried it yet, I wanted to share my experience to hopefully make it easier for you. First, go to caliva.com. That’s C-A-L-I-V-A.com. Look through the site to find what you want and when you’re ready to check out, you create an account. This is where it’s different than something like food delivery. ID verification is a legal requirement for purchasing cannabis and Caliva uses a third-party app that asks for your phone number. You’ll receive a text that then asks you to take a photo of the front and the back of your license. And once that’s done, your account is automatically verified. You can also choose to connect to your bank account through the Hypur app or pay in cash on delivery.

Ellen Scanlon: If you’re ready to start micro-dosing and looking for a product, check out the brand Chill Chocolates. I recommend trying the Mood chocolate bar and Inspire two to one, which means it has two times more CBD than THC. I love cannabis delivery. Caliva is fast, friendly, discreet, and one of the rated cannabis delivery services. Try for yourself by visiting caliva.com, and use promo code, Dothepot for 30% off your first order.

Ellen Scanlon: Matthew Gerson, the founder of sexual wellness company, Foria has some advice about why he recommends microdosing and choosing lower THC options for sex.

Mathew Gerson: So you really have to be able to fine tune it. It’s hard to find tune something with… It’s like hard to play a cello with boxing gloves on, right? So you really don’t have a feel for things. And if you onboard too much THC too quickly, that sensitivity is lost. If you go a little bit overboard as a male, you can instantly get couch lock, and disassociation, and impotency, and loss of sex drive. So I say smoke cheap weed and smoke it in small amounts and see what happens. Going for a really refined, really beautiful pouring spread bud, might just have such a higher amount of THC that it doesn’t do you right. A higher CBD content, a little bit lower THC content, and that’s slower onboarding it to the body and just more presence, usually both will with that whatever strain you choose.

Ellen Scanlon: For today’s high five. How to Microdose. Number one, consider how you want to feel. When was the last time you consume cannabis and what felt best about that experience? If you think about consumption on a spectrum, maybe one to five, where do you want to settle in? Number two, compare it to something that you know. Think of one piece of chocolate cake versus eating the whole thing. One drink versus the whole bottle. But with cannabis, a tiny little gummy can pack a punch. Pay attention to how much THC and CBD are in the products, especially edibles, which have effects that can last a really long time. Number three, if you’re consuming to help with pain or anxiety, you might need to take several doses throughout the day to alleviate your symptoms. Don’t be alarmed or think you’re doing it wrong. Just keep some notes so you can track which products you try, when you take it and how long it works for you.

Ellen Scanlon: Number four, what method works best for your lifestyle? Microdosing can happen with a joint, a vape, an oil tincture, an edible. Each one takes a different amount of time to onset and can last for a varying amount of time. So be open to experimenting. Number five, microdosing is a great way to introduce cannabis into the bedroom. Listen to episode 54 for more tips about the best strains for sex. Today’s strain pick is Pennywise. It’s a one-to-one CBD, THC. So it has equal parts of both cannabinoids. It has milder intoxicating effects, which are great for stress and pain, and promotes feelings of relaxation and happiness. For today’s podcast racks. I like Hidden Brain hosted by Shankar Vedantam, Afraid of the Wrong Things. Around the world, people are grappling with the risks posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. How do our minds process that risk and why to some of us process it so differently? And for How to Do the Pot, listen to High Good People. That’s H-I-G-H good people hosted by Tiara Darnell. Weed words with friends is the word marijuana racist.

Ellen Scanlon: Thank you for listening to How to Do the Pot. You can find us on Instagram @dothepot and for lots of more information and past episodes, please visit dothepot.com. Thanks to April Pride, Madi Fair, our brand manager and our producer, Nick Patri. I’m Ellen Scanlon, and we’ll be back soon with more of How to Do the Pot.