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Arkansas medical marijuana patients have had access to dispensaries for a few years now. But the number of registered patients in the Natural State is continuing to rise, and many first-time patients will find themselves at a dispensary for the very first time. While Arkansas has a variety of products that can help alleviate many symptoms, choosing the right products can be a little difficult the first time around. In this Arkansas Marijuana Card Guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know about choosing the right strain for you.
How to Choose a Cannabis Strain in 4 Easy Steps
Step 1: Decide What You Want to Happen with Cannabis
Picking the right cannabis strain is a lot less about making the right choice, and a lot more about making informed choices.
At the end of the day, medical marijuana patients are looking for help to alleviate symptoms from specific conditions, and that will be highly relative to what that person is trying to get out of the medication.
Because there are so many strains and so many products to choose from, the first real step is to decide what you want to treat.
Different strains will be used for anxiety relief than will be for nerve pain, and as such the best way to figure out what you’re looking for is to start with what you want to treat.
Leafly and Weedmaps are both great resources for looking up strains and figuring out what’s commonly used for your symptoms.
You don’t need to know everything about every strain out there, but it’s likely you’ll see several strains available in dispensaries near you. You can look at those strain profiles to determine if they suit your needs.
Step 2: Choose a Cannabis Strain - Indica, Sativa, or Hybrid
After you’ve figured out what symptom you’d like to treat, it will become increasingly clear that the strains you’re looking for will be in one of three categories:
· Sativa – Produces a more cerebral “high”
· Indica – Produces a more body “high”
· Hybrid – Produces a combination of cerebral and body “high”
While these categories aren’t set in stone, they give a general sense of what a strain will be linked to. Some Sativas can be sedating, and some Indicas can be very cerebral, and hybrids can be any combination of the two by being either indica-dominant or sativa-dominant.
Though these categories aren’t concrete, they can help identify where the plant belongs in the conversation of traditional effects.
This will play a huge role in how you pick a strain.
Perhaps you need help with chronic limb pain and lean towards an indica. Maybe you have severe nausea or PTSD, and a hybrid or sativa works best.
Talk to your budtender and find out what other patients with similar conditions buy frequently, or ask what sells best for particular disorders. Oftentimes certain strains or categories will be sought after for specific ailments.
Step 3: Choosing a Terpene Profile
Terpenes are an important part of the cannabis plant that will absolutely impact your experience. They play a huge role in what the cannabis will do for your symptoms.
Terpenes are responsible for the aroma, taste, and many of the effects of cannabis. Some terpenes will favor fruity aromas with sedative effects, while others can have piney flavors and promote stress relief.
There are a lot of terpenes to learn about, but there are a few terpenes that are found in strains regularly:
· Myrcene – A sedating terpene that has the aroma of cloves, spices, or pepper.
· Humulene – Appetite suppressant and anti-inflammatory, woodsy/earthy aroma.
· Limonene – Relief from anxiety and depression, with a citrusy aroma.
· Pinene – Anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial, with a piney aroma.
Terpenes play a critical role in producing effects, and are a huge part of the entourage effect, which is what happens when all of the compounds in the cannabis plant work synergistically to produce specific effects.
Picking your terpenes is an important part of choosing strains that work right for you, and although you don’t need to know about every terpene out there, knowing a little about the more common ones will help a great deal.
Your budtender will be able to help you figure out what terpene profiles are best, and available.
Step 4: Pick a Cannabis Product
Cannabis strains come in a ton of different product types. Whether you want to smoke traditional flower, consume edibles, or apply your cannabis topically, there’s a product made for you.
Picking your product type is one of the easiest choices in the process!
In fact, you likely already know what you don’t want to do, and that will help determine what you do want to happen.
· You probably don’t want to get too high.
· You probably do want to alleviate your symptoms.
· You probably don’t want to be inconvenienced.
· You probably do want the most efficient medication.
These factors will all be subjective to you, and your budtender can help you pick the right product type based on these elements.
Traditional smoking might not be appropriate for someone with breathing issues, and topicals might not work for someone looking to alleviate nausea.
How you choose your product is based on how you want it to work, and every product will have pros and cons.
· Edibles take longer to work but can be very strong when they do.
· Smoking flower can provide immediate relief but can be volatile for impaired lungs.
· Topicals can work great for localized pain but won’t be efficient for internal problems.
· Vaping cartridges can work efficiently but require a device to install them onto.
· Hash oil will provide immediate relief but is very potent and can be overwhelming.
Why Arkansas Medical Marijuana Matters
Finding the right strain for you is a process.
It takes time to get familiar with medications and how they affect you.
You might go through a few strains that don’t work the way you’d like, and eventually land on one that does everything just right.
Or you might find the right strain on your first trip to the dispensary!
But it’s important to understand that every strain is different and will produce different effects.
And while you can get a general sense of the type of strains that work well for you, each strain will have independent properties that can change how it works and what it does.
One of the best reasons to become an Arkansas medical marijuana patient is having the freedom to choose the medication that works for you.
For many, the opportunity to incorporate healthy alternative medications into treatment plans doesn’t even exist.
It is often the case that medication regimens will be created for a patient by a doctor with much less attention to that person, and with more faith put in the groups of people that have been treated with those medications in pharmaceutical trials.
Being an Arkansas marijuana patient gives you the right to choose the medication that’s right for you and allows you the opportunity to get relief naturally and organically.
Talk to your doctor or budtender about which strain is right for you. Our team of doctors at Arkansas Marijuana Card are here to help -- Schedule your appointment today!
Become an Arkansas Marijuana Patient
Qualifying Arkansas patients can schedule an appointment to meet with one of our certified physicians and get approved for medical marijuana treatment.
We’re dedicated to helping patients every step of the way, feel free to give us a call at 844-249-8714, and we can answer your questions about getting medical marijuana in Arkansas.
Doctors Who Care. Relief You Can Trust.
Helping everyone achieve wellness safely and conveniently through increased access to medical marijuana. Our focus on education, inclusion, and acceptance will reduce stigma for our patients by providing equal access to timely information and compassionate care.
If you have any questions, call us at 844-249-8714, or simply book a medical marijuana evaluation to start getting relief you can trust today!
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