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Arkansas has a growing number of active medical marijuana patients, and with the influx of new and possibly first-time patients, dosages should come up early in the conversation.
While everyone’s biology and experience can be very different, there are some important rules you can follow that will significantly improve your chances of having a comfortable and enjoyable experience.
In this Arkansas Marijuana Card Guide, we’ll give you a rundown on cannabis products and the different ways they are dosed, what some approachable dosages might look like for different people, and how to avoid going overboard with Arkansas cannabis products!
Arkansas Cannabis Products – Common Types
Cannabis flower is essentially found in every dispensary in Arkansas.
Coming in various strengths, strains, and appearances, flower is commonly found with anywhere from 15% THC to 25%+ in Arkansas.
The higher the THC content, the more potent the flower will be when it is consumed.
A good note for flower is that although higher THC percentages do make the product more potent, it doesn’t necessarily affect the strength or the effect of the flower as much as other factors, such as the strain type or the variation in indica vs sativa for example.
And although higher THC percentages will be more potent and can work longer, newer users may feel that a higher THC content is overwhelming, or too potent.
Cannabis flower with 28% THC will work much more aggressively, and with a greater immediate strength than cannabis flower with 12% THC.
And because cannabis use builds tolerance, products with high THC percentages are essential for patients who have been on a treatment plan for an extended period. Often patients who use cannabis for chronic conditions need consistent and longer-term use, and products with very low THC percentages can work less efficiently over time.
Edibles vary in strength and come in an array of different food types, such as candies, lozenges, chocolates, and tinctures.
Homemade edibles are an option, but it’s probably best to wait until you have some familiarity with them and have a degree of confidence in accurately measuring dosages before baking up your own batch.
But for edibles, strength is the certainly most significant factor.
Edibles can be significantly stronger than smoked cannabis flower, and when they are broken down in the liver a new compound is formed that is as potent or stronger than THC, called 11-hydroxy-tetrahydrocannabinol, or 11 hydroxy metabolite.
This metabolite that is formed after consuming cannabis in edible form is largely responsible for the increased duration of the high, and the amplified potency from consuming edibles.
While cannabis flower might come on immediately and last anywhere from 30 minutes up to 2 hours or so, edibles can sometimes take an hour or more to kick in and can last anywhere from 4 to 8 hours or longer.
Concentrates are very potent extracts from the cannabis plant that can be vaporized.
Concentrates that are designed to be used in dab rigs or desktop vaporizers should largely be avoided by first time patients until tolerance has been built or there is an immediate need for very high THC content.
Concentrates such as distillate used in vape cartridges can be an approachable concentrate for beginner users, but as these products can often contain very high THC percentages it is reasonable to start with the lowest possible THC content and go up from there.
This is a rule that is generally applied to all cannabis products, but is especially important for concentrates, where THC content can be anywhere from 60%-90%.
Vape cartridges can be much less aggressive and overwhelming than traditional hash products, but caution is still recommended when trying any new cannabis product for the first time, especially with those that put your dosage higher than you are used to.
How To Dose Arkansas Cannabis Products – 3 Rules
Dosing cannabis products can be a straightforward and easy process if you follow 3 basic rules, and while these can generally be applied to all cannabis products, they won’t necessarily apply to every single patient.
It’s important to remember that everyone’s biology and mental state will be different, and these factors can play an extremely critical role in how your body receives cannabis products and how you experience their effects, one person could have the opposite reaction to the same product.
However, there are some basics that everyone can apply to their cannabis dosing that can make for a much better experience.
Rule #1 – Take it easy, start slow, stay slow.
You should always start small with your dosages, as small as possible actually.
If you are unfamiliar with the effects of a particular product or don’t have much familiarity with cannabis at all, take the smallest dosage of the lightest product available.
Pro Tip: Talk to your budtender.
Let them know it is your first time, or if you are trying a new product, let them know you’ve never had it before.
Budtenders at dispensaries can offer a wealth of advice and experience from the industry that can help guide you along the way, and often they can tell you what other patients have bought and how they report those products to work.
If you’ve taken the smallest dosage and an appropriate amount of time has elapsed, take the smallest dose again and wait longer this time.
This brings us to rule #2.
Rule #2 – Wait. And then wait longer.
Especially with edibles but effective for all cannabis products, just wait it out. Almost every “I took too much/too many” story could have been avoided if the person had just waited a little bit longer.
And how long to wait depends on the product, but an easy rule to follow is that if you feel like enough time has elapsed, it hasn’t.
If you’re certain you’ve waited long enough, wait a little while longer.
You can always wait just a little bit longer, but once the product kicks in you’re riding that wave for as long as the product wants, there’s not much getting off the ride at that point, so wait a reasonable amount of time before taking a second dosage.
How Long Should I Wait After Taking an Edible?
For cannabis flower, a reasonable amount of time for some people might be 45 minutes to an hour and a half or so.
For edibles, it could be 2 to 4 hours.
For vaping, it might be 1 to 3 hours.
It heavily depends on your body and how it will process the cannabis materials you are introducing to it.
But for edibles, if you’ve waited several hours after taking the smallest dosage and don’t feel any effects at all, it’s probably time to add another dosage and wait another several hours.
If you’ve noticed no effects at this point, wait until the next day and start with 1.5x dosage or a 2x dose and then repeat the process, but wait it out at least a day before starting again and take a dosage that you’re comfortable with.
This will let you comfortably step into the product, whereas if you were to take 1, wait a few hours, take another, wait a few hours, and then take 2, you’re piling up the edibles rapidly.
This is one of the mistakes people make with edibles especially, because it is possible that your system just hasn’t had enough time to process them.
And when they do start processing them, it could be all at once.
In this case that would be a 4x dosage, and that is not the way to smoothly dose cannabis products.
Another popular option when dosing cannabis products with higher THC content is to add additional CBD or other non-THC cannabis products to your dosage, which can help offset some anxiety or discomfort that some people experience with higher THC products.
Arkansas Marijuana Products & Confident Dosing
Arkansas is home to a wide variety of products at various dosages to choose from.
Fortunately, for Arkansas marijuana patients, there is no limit on the amount of THC you can have in a cannabis product, so for patients that are using cannabis in a long-term treatment plan, there are many options.
And for new or first-time patients, there are many low-THC content products to choose from as well, in essentially every category.
And while prices are a bit high, there hasn’t been a reported shortage of Arkansas cannabis since 2020, and that’s great news for patients who need products on shelves.
Arkansans with qualifying conditions can use their medical marijuana card anywhere in the state, and having an Arkansas medical marijuana card gives you the freedom to incorporate medical marijuana into your treatment plan.
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!
Check out Arkansas Marijuana Card’s Blog to keep up to date on the latest medical marijuana news, tips, and information. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to join the medical marijuana conversation in Arkansas.
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