Help needed for medicinal use

Hello there. I am new to this site & have purchased seeds off the sister site. I’m not great with technology and am trying to work out how to gather some information.
I am not keen on smoking or getting high. I have severe back pain due to a previous injury caused by a violent relationship I was in. I will eventually require surgery however I am sick of taking codeine, opioids & other pain relief medication that has horrible side effects & is beginning to no longer be effective.
I am in Australia & they have recently only legalised marijuana for medicinal pain relief. It’s incredibly expensive & difficult to find a doctor to prescribe it. I was hoping someone could help me with methods of how to extract the oil in a way that is effective for nerve and disc damage pain relief. I have successfully grown one plant a couple of years ago as a hobby however I am now hoping to use the plants I grow to create CBD/THC oil. If someone could help me that would be amazing. TIA

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YouTube is a great resource. Also not a bad idea to pick up a book so you have reference material while doing the job.

But, maybe you are putting the cart in front of the horse? How is your grow going?

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Thanks for the response. I have only just planted some seeds so I can’t really tell you how they’re going yet. I have one pot set up in a humidity crib, another just sitting inside & another outdoors to see what works better. It’s a bit of trial & error.
My last plant was pretty successful however at the time I was just growing as a project so once the plant was matured and was getting buds I gave it away.
Are there any particular books you would recommend. I’m much better at following written directions.
Medicinal marijuana here costs approximately $633 au for 25ml of THC & 25ml of CBD which as a single mum is completely out of my price range.
You’re correct. I have very little knowledge however I’m at the point where I’m willing to give anything a go. After researching the assistance the oil has for pain management I figured natural has to be better than the pharmaceutical crap I’m filling my body with currently. It is currently illegal to grow your own marijuana here so attempting to make my own is my only option.
Can you possibly tell me the difference between extracting CBD & THC? There seems to be some oils that are only CBD. Which is better and I’m assuming you use a different extraction method for both?

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@christina87
Welcome to ILGM, and this a great resource community that everyone wants you to be pain free, and most of all succeed in growing.
I’m not sure of the list of people that have back issues, but there a lot of people that grow for pain relief in general.
We have many down under growers, but the screen names elude me at the moment. @Ausgrow ? Maybe @MattyBear @dbrn32 @Myfriendis410 remember the Aussie growers more than myself, as well as remember who grows for back pain.
Making a tincture seems like a good way to go, as are edibles.
Hope this helps you.
@anon78295680

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I’m sorry for my ignorance but I am very new to all this. What is tincture?

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A tincture is an alcohol based extraction as opposed to an oil based or some other solvent.

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Thank you. Would anyone have a detailed written method of doing this? Also what parts of the plant do I use? Is this to extract THC & also CBD?

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There is a whole section on the forum dedicated to extractions and edibles.
Maybe @blackthumbbetty @Covertgrower @dbrn32 @TDubWilly have some specific info.

There are many folks here that are involved in all of the extraction methods.

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Thank you Merlin.
If someone could direct me to those posts that would be greatly appreciated

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https://ilgmforum.com/c/fun-and-facts/recipes

https://ilgmforum.com/c/fun-and-facts/smoking-hash-and-eating

@christina87 you may find something in one of these areas

https://ilgmforum.com/c/medical/medicinal-uses
this is may be a better place to look…

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Welcome to the forum @christina87!

We can certainly point you in direction of getting help with extractions. Don’t sweat that at all. If you’ve just acquired seeds, you will have to grow out and harvest your crop first. That will take a few months, leaving you plenty of time to get caught up on inexpensive extraction methods.

Do you plan to grow your plants indoor or outdoor?

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Welcome to the forum. Keep at it and you will get all of the advice you can handle haha.

You will want to figure out a growing method that works for you in your climate but strongly suggest reading the Grow Bible and following it until you get some experience with cannabis. It’s not a hard plant to grow but it’s a more difficult proposition to grow WELL. As that is your goal it would be better not to guess at how and instead find out what others have done to be successful.

I will say, having just had this conversation with an expert in the business yesterday that oils and tinctures are best if they contain the entire spectrum of cannabinoids. THC, delta 9, A, CBN etc all interact to provide much more benefit than a pure CBD oil. The entire plant can be used and you don’t even need to dry/cure before use: just freeze it. (caveat: only in a NON frost-free freezer).

You should ideally select a strain that is identified as helpful for back pain and use that if possible. Your situation might be such that getting seeds is difficult. I might suggest without going into detail on a public forum that you join the Bergman’s Lab. It will become clear when you join that forum associated with the lab.

I would strongly advise not to reinvent the wheel. Use good proven techniques to get yourself some medicine and then you can experiment. Tag anyone you think might be helpful and remember we all want you to succeed at this. Everyone here is super helpful.

I am going to do some butter this weekend and am getting my act together now before hitting the grocery store. I usually shake kief (hashish) before using the leftover material for butter.

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Welcome to the forum. I use RSO for chronic back pain. I also make cococanna oil for cooking as were a vegetarian house. I predominately grow Hindu Kush for its straight up analgesic effect. If you have any questions give me a shout.:call_me_hand:t2:

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A quick method:

  1. Freeze a 750 ml bottle of Everclear.
  2. Roughly chop (don’t grind) an oz of bud and decarb in a Mason jar.
  3. Once jar is completely cool, add enough frozen Everclear to just cover buds & tighten lid
  4. Shake the motherfecking poopicaca out of it for about 3 minutes.
  5. Place it in the coldest part of your freezer for an 2 hours.
  6. Remove from freezer, shake vigorously & strain; rinse remaining material with another shot or 2 of Everclear.
  7. To evaporate alcohol: place liquid in shallow glass pie pan & leave in a warm, dark place for several days. You can use a warming plate to gently heat it, but too much heat makes disgusting tasting tincture.
  8. When it’s the consistency of sugar water/watery honey, it’s ready for most uses. It should be a golden color, not green & not black.
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Welcome to the forum. This is a great resource for all things cannabis. Sorry to hear of your pain. I hope you will get better. Many methods of extracting THC and CBD. YouTube is the next best place to get info. Good luck.

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I have so far trialled the seeds both ways. The ones I had indoors are starting to sprout. The ones outdoors are not so I’m thinking I’m going to have to learn about growing indoors

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Ok. How familiar are you with what’s needed for an indoor grow space?

Your soil looks a little damp by the way. Try not to leave it sopping.

I had just sprayed it with a spray bottle that probably why. I haven’t actually watered it since I planted the seeds as the soil it’s in is a seed germinating soil & seems to remain quite damp.
My last plant was grown in summer so an outdoor setup was fine however we are coming into winter here which can be rather cold.
I know you obviously require lights & air flow & I’m assuming a level of humidity. I have a toddler so it would have to be in the spare room away from him. That’s about as far as my knowledge goes :joy:

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You’re off to a good start there. If you grow photo period plants you’ll need a light tight space to flower in. Most use a pre fabricated grow tent, but there are some that will use an area of the home they can guarantee will get uninterrupted darkness for 12 hours, and others build their space. You were absolutely correct about needing a light. Probably a fairly powerful light depending on how large your space is. And some fans, at least and exhaust fan and 1 for circulating air within the space. That’s most of the major components. The other stuff isn’t all that expensive by itself, but will add up pretty quickly. Things like ph and tds testers, ph adjusters, pots, growing medium, probably some plant nutrients, temp and humidity sensor, and probably a few things I’m missing too.

It’s a pretty significant investment starting from scratch. The more crafty you are can definitely pay off in savings though.

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I’ve been looking at full kits on eBay. Are there any preferred kits? In particular the variety of lights is huge with all various wattage. Some emit heat, others don’t… some have various coloured led bulbs etc…

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