CBD oil: The Ultimate 5 Step-Guide About How to Consume & Buy or Make at Home

Since 2013, hundred of thousands — if not millions — of people with endocannabinoid system dysfunctions all around the globe have been rescued and put back to the immaculate feeling of being able to enjoy life without enduring chronic pain, stress, or anxiety through therapeutic cannabis.

People looking to reduce the pain, stress, anxiety, and other issues from various illnesses, ailments, habits, and sleep difficulties and disorders have been turning to CBD from traditional prescription medications, including painkillers, and milder drugs in the form of pills such as Ibuprofen. A decade later, CBD is a prominent industry with a market size of 4.9 billion USD in 2021 and is projected to attain a value of 47.22 billion USD by 2028 speculating based on the increases in sales volume of the fiscal year 2022.

With that being said, there are a lot of options to choose from for what is commonly referred to as medicinal marijuana, others simply refer to hemp as the next-to-nothing-THC, but CBD-rich varietal of the cannabis plant with therapeutic properties. More specifically, people like to narrow down all the phytocannabinoids found in the hemp plant as ‘CBD oil’. It’s a commercial term, like in the world of Blockchains and cryptocurrencies, that people often call web3 — but those are simply marketing terms. And honestly; I personally dislike either one.

However, that’s the name of the game as CBD is widely more researched than other phytocannabinoids such as cannabigerol (CBG) or cannabinol (CBN), but still way less researched than THC, the phytocannabinoid that gets you high.

Still, if you go to my cannabis brand’s website greendrophealth.info you’ll find a beta landing page with only the option to buy one of my two products — CBD oil or CBG Isolate… that’s it for now. Until I have my long-awaited hemp processor license, supposedly later this month, I’ll be ready to put out different content such as short clips of videos, very different from the ones I used to create two years ago during the pandemic that was about the endocannabinoid system and how CBD works scientifically through it. Now it’s a different story, and beyond preaching about hemp’s therapeutic benefits, it’s more about overall health. Mental & physical. Because wellness goes way beyond cannabis supplements. And that’s the reason why I changed my brand name from Green Drop Hemp to a newly registered L.L.C by the name of Green Drop Health.

After lots of education, now I know that before trying to convince you to try a supplement that comes from the sketchy psychotropic plant of cannabis, or anything for that matter — you have to get rid of lots of food drugs and break a few (or many) habits that trigger inflammation, insomnia, and illnesses. And while CBD oil is still (preliminary) proven to reduce inflammation, and regulate mood, appetite, and sleep, and with a great deal of anecdotal evidence, before encouraging you to use it, I believe you should know the ins and outs of what you are considering to use.

Unlike the e-book about “all you have to know about CBD” that I self-published in Spanish on Amazon in 2020, this is a very simple, straightforward 5 step guide to consuming CBD oil effectively, by effectiveness I mean biologically effective and cost-effective to the point where you’ll be able to make it yourself at home.

1. What’s CBD?

CBD or cannabidiol is one of the more than 113 discovered phytocannabinoids in the plant of cannabis. It’s also the most abundant psychoactive compound in hemp or cannabis sativa. Note, that psychoactive doesn’t mean it’s psychotropic and it will impair you. It is however a potent anxiolytic, anti-stressor, with anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective properties. The isolation of this compound has been put into oils, and tinctures and made into extracts to ease consumption.

2. Why is CBD oil better than gummies or topicals?

Pouring drops of “CBD oil” underneath your tongue is the most effective way to consume CBD. It crosses the blood-brain barrier faster and it’s also the most affordable way to consume it. Also, I could argue it’s healthier as whether you are consuming Charlotte’s Web’s full spectrum CBD oil, made with organic hemp free of pesticides, heavy metals, and other toxins made with a CO2 method of extraction or my brand’s Green Drop Health, full spectrum CBD oil made only with two ingredients — organic full spectrum hemp extract and organic MCT coconut oil as the vehicle where the phytocannabinoids are carried. It’s just fewer ingredients, all-natural organic, with more therapeutic compounds.

3. How do I know what CBD oil will work for me?

When shopping for CBD oil, it’s important to know there are 3 types of CBD oil — CBD isolate, broad-spectrum CBD, and full-spectrum CBD.

CBD isolate is only cannabidiol (CBD) and none of the other phytocannabinoids that together create a synergy that regulates our body’s own endocannabinoid system. It could work, but you’ll need to consume way more milligrams, and it may not be as effective to treat pain or ADHD as CBG does to improve focus and concentration.

Broad-spectrum CBD oil includes all the phytocannabinoids but THC, which also has some therapeutic properties even though it’s toxic and psychotropic. Broad-spectrum CBD is a good option for people who fear testing positive for cannabis on a drug test. At a meager scale, THC is not psychotropic, and it’s a potent anti-inflammatory, stress-reducing cannabinoid. And that’s why Full Spectrum CBD oil is arguably the most effective, therapeutically speaking.

4. How do I know the right dose for me?

This is by far the most important subject to consider when consuming CBD, whether it’s oil, topicals, gummies, or any other form of ingestion. While I already put together a questionnaire form to determine any individual’s dose by asking a set of questions regarding habits about sleep, nutrition, tolerance to cannabis, and other biological stuff to consider, it’s easier to do it yourself by writing it down your optimum dose and schedule in a piece of paper or wherever you can see it often enough to remind yourself to do so, as everyone reacts differently to CBD or any psychoactive substance like caffeine and its actual healing effects are more notorious when you abide to get your body used to it.

• Know your intention

It could be reducing work-related stress, bettering sleep, reducing anxiety or abstaining from an addiction, lowering joint pain, or any kind of chronic pain.

• Based on your intention, determine how often you’ll use it

This step about dosing is setting up a schedule, there is no standard dose but I usually recommend having a small amount in the morning right after brushing your teeth and at night before doing the same thing.

• Start small, increase gradually, and abstain accordingly

Even though CBD is not addictive or creates physical dependence, we do build tolerance quickly, start anywhere from 25 to 50 mg a day if you have low tolerance and a low degree of pain or stress/anxiety, or insomnia. 50mg to up to 100mg a day if you have medium or high pain, stress/anxiety, or insomnia.

5. How do I pick the right brand or product for myself?

With hundreds of options near you online and at least in North America, physically, on any website or brick-and-mortar store, make sure the product offered doesn’t only say it’s tested but make sure you see the test results for bioavailability, cannabinoid profiles, terpenes flavonoids, and most importantly to make sure it’s free of pesticides, heavy metals, and other toxins. While there are plenty of circumstances that will lead you to pick CBD oil, gummies, topicals to rub on your body, or even suppositories. When it comes to CBD oil you shouldn’t pay more than $50 USD per gram or 1000mg of pure CBD. Some concentrates are 250mg and are good enough for pets but the average human user will take a low dose that might not result in effective therapeutic benefits.

If you’d like to make artisan, small-batch CBD oil, the hardest thing is finding an actual high-quality form of raw hemp. You could grow it yourself but that would take months. To obtain CBD from raw hemp plants, you need to activate it through a process called decarboxylation. Heating the plant material in an oven is the easiest way to do this. Once the plant material has been activated, it can be mixed with carrier oil, such as hemp seed, olive, or coconut oil.

To make CBD oil at home, start by decarboxylating the hemp or cannabis plant material in the oven at 230 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 to 30 minutes. Then grind the plant material into a fine powder and mix it with a combination of water and oil in a saucepan. Heat the mixture gradually, stirring constantly, until it reaches boiling point. Let it simmer for around 30 minutes, or until most of the water has evaporated and the plant particles begin to float to the surface.

Next, strain the mixture into a mason jar using a fine mesh filter and refrigerate it for at least two hours. The oil will separate from the water and float to the top. Scrape off the oil and store it in a container. Your homemade CBD oil is now ready to use.

If you found value in reading this article about CBD please follow me on Medium and my brand Green Drop Health on Twitter. Thank you for reading and if you got any questions regarding CBD oil, the endocannabinoid system, or therapeutic cannabis in general, shoot me an email at maxgutierrezca@gmail.com