Have You Had Your ¨Herbal Holiday¨?
By Sarah Chinelo Igbokwe
• Médico Investigador, Sociedad Española de Investigación sobre Cannabinoides
• California Cannabis Research Medical Group
Sebastopol, California
• Miembro de La Sociedad Española de Médicos de Atención Primaria – SEMERGEN
Socio No. 15902
According to medical doctors in the California Cannabis Research Medical Group, Medical Marijuana patients should be reminded to take a ¨herbal holiday¨ from time to time.
What are herbal holidays?
Herbal holidays are not extended vacations in Amsterdam. Nor does it mean to stop going to your confidence grow shop. They are tolerance-breaks within your normal Cannabis regimen in which you do not consume.
This period of ¨rest¨ in which users are not consuming cannabis allows their receptors to take a break and desensitizing. This in turn, provides for better effectively in treatment with medical marijuana.
Medical marijuana users should be reminded that chronic usage of cannabis leads to chronic stimulation of cannabis receptors. This continuous stimulation of cannabis receptors leads to desensitizing, producing what we know as ¨tolerance¨.
To prevent patients from becoming tolerant to dosage levels, the following herbal Holiday regimens may be implemented:
1 day of ¨herbal holiday¨ every week.
1 week of ¨herbal holiday¨ every month.
2 weeks of ¨herbal holiday¨ every 4 months.
Medical marijuana users who, due to their condition, are not able to temporarily stop their treatment are advised to change their strain for this period of time.
If users are taking a THC predominant strain, they should switch to a CBD predominant one, and vice versa.
This temporary change in strains also allows a medical marijuana user´s receptors to ¨rest because THC and CBD have different receptors.
REFERENCES:
- Castleman M. 2001. The New Healing Herbs: The Classic Guide to Nature´s Medicine. Rodale Press Inc.
- Gettman J. 1995. Marijuana ant the Brain. Part ll: The Tolerance Factor. High Times. July 1995. www.marijuanalibrary.org/brain2.html