Cannabis and Modern Times
Sixty-one percent of the US bipartisan population supports the legalization of recreational marijuana, with even more people in solidarity supporting medicinal marijuana. Unfortunately, the reefer madness propaganda from the early twentieth century still plagues the nation. Despite legalization in many states, many people are still arrested for the possession of weed. Modern history shows that we have a fickle and unforgiving legal relationship with marijuana.
In the early 1900s, cannabis was widely prescribed in the United States until about 1937, when the Marihuana Tax Act was introduced. One of the strongest supporters of this prohibition and the criminalization of drugs was Harry Anslinger, the United States Commissioner and Treasurer of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics. He stated among his colleagues that “reefer makes darkies think they’re as good as white men.” This was the tone that played a pivotal role in cannabis prohibition.
These beliefs crystalized for decades. In 1970, the Controlled Substances Act was passed, declaring marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug. This means that at this moment, according to federal law, cannabis is described as a drug “with a high potential for abuse, a drug with no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States, and a drug for which there is a lack of accepted safety for use under medical supervision.”10
In the United States, drugs, substances, and certain chemicals used to make drugs are classified into five distinct categories or schedules depending upon the drug’s acceptable medical use and its potential for abuse or dependence. The abuse rate is a determining factor in the scheduling of the drug; for example, Schedule 1 drugs (including heroin, LSD, and cocaine) are said to have a high potential for abuse and the potential to create severe psychological and/or physical dependence. According to the law, as the drug schedule decreases—Schedule 2, Schedule 3, etc.—so does the abuse potential.11 Marijuana is still a Schedule 1 drug, despite it being legal and used medically in most states.12
The Controlled Substances Act was a vehicle to unofficially villainize mostly Mexican immigrants and people of color while shaping the war on drugs. John Hudak of the Washington Post wrote that “marijuana’s strict scheduling emerges from the cultural and racial apathy felt by Richard Nixon who signed the Controlled Substances Act into law. Nixon’s aides suggested the war on marijuana was racially motivated, and Oval Office tapes highlight his contempt for the counterculture movement as well as racial minorities.”13
On December 1, 1975, when the Supreme Court ruled it was “not cruel or unusual for Ohio to sentence someone to 20 years for having or selling cannabis,”14 the message was heard loud and clear.
In January 2018, days after California officially legalized cannabis with Proposition 64, Attorney General Jeff Sessions made an official and disarming announcement stating that he would be encouraging the Justice Department to increase law enforcement for marijuana, particularly in jurisdictions that have legalized cannabis.
More than one person is arrested every minute for marijuana possession in this country. An astounding 574,641 people were arrested for simple marijuana possession in the United States in 2016—that’s 89 percent of all marijuana-related arrests. Remember that these aren’t dealers, distributors, or kingpins. They are just everyday people with a little bit of weed.15
In 2016, the Washington Post reported that more people were arrested for weed than for murder, rape, aggravated assault, and robbery combined. According to the ACLU, people of color were anywhere from four to eight times more likely to be arrested for marijuana than their white peers, despite the fact that statistically, white folks consume cannabis at slightly higher rates than people of color do.16
If this sounds both confusing and ridiculous to you, you’re not alone. In California, Colorado, Alaska, Nevada, Washington, Oregon, Massachusetts, Maine, and Washington, D.C., marijuana is legalized for both recreational and medical use. Meanwhile, there are currently 30 states in the United States that have passed medical marijuana bills of some sort. However, even with these laws in place, many are arrested for cannabis.
Sorry for the Buzzkill
I do apologize if sharing these crucial facts have killed your vibe—or your high. One buys a weed butter cookbook to cook weed butter, not feel preached at. But cooking with cannabis and enjoying cannabis is so much bigger than that. It’s a right that we have as people to heal ourselves in the way we choose without hurting ourselves, without hurting other people, and without the prejudice and injustices that sometimes occur from consuming cannabis alone.
My intentions come from a place of advocacy. Without advocacy and sharing the facts, we would not be where we are today. In knowing, we are able to better enjoy and understand our privilege while using it to fight for those who cannot. Being a well-informed consumer is an integral tool to help us understand how we’ve evolved, what has worked in the past, and what isn’t working now. It informs our decisions when we vote and how we address these topics at home and in our communities.
5 Jann Gumbiner Ph.D, “History of Cannabis in Ancient China.” Psychology Today, May 10, 2011, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-teenage-mind/201105/history-cannabis-in-ancient-china.
6 New York State Department of Health, “New York State Department of Health Announces Opioid Replacement Now a Qualifying Condition for Medical Marijuana,” The Official Website of New York State, July 2018, https://www.health.ny.gov/press/releases/2018/2018-07-12_opioid_replacement.htm.
7 ANA Center for Ethics and Human Rights, “Therapeutic Use of Marijuana and Related Cannabinoids,” American Nurses Association, 2016, https://www.nursingworld.org/~49a8c8/globalassets/practiceandpolicy/ethics/therapeutic-use-of-marijuana-and-related-cannabinoids-position-statement.pdf.
8 Expert Committee on Drug Dependence, “Cannabidiol Critical Review Report,” World Health Organization, June 7, 2018, http://www.who.int/medicines/access/controlled-substances/WHOCBDReportMay2018-2.pdf?ua=1.
9 Sara Brittany Somerset, “UN Drug Committee Finds Cannabis an Effective, ‘Relatively Safe Drug,’” Leafly, June 11, 2018, https://www.leafly.com/news/politics/un-drug-committee-finds-cannabis-an-effective-relatively-safe-drug.
10 Legal Information Institute, “21 U.S. Code § 812 - Schedules of Controlled Substances,” Cornell Law School, https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/21/812.
11 United States Department of Justice. “DEA Drug Scheduling,” https://www.dea.gov/druginfo/ds.shtml.
12 American RSDHope, “Schedules or Classes of Drugs,” www.rsdhope.org/schedule-or-classes-of-drugs.html.
13 John Hudak, “How Racism and Bias Criminalized Marijuana,” Washington Post, April 28, 2016, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/in-theory/wp/2016/04/28/how-racism-and-bias-criminalized-marijuana/?utm_term=.1169a62032be.
14 NBC News Archive, “Supreme Court/Marijuana/Busing/Abortion” Vanderbilt Television News Archive, originally aired December 1, 1975, retrieved March 9, 2011, https://tvnews.vanderbilt.edu/broadcasts/35203.
15 Shaun King, “Despite Liberalizing Marijuana Laws, the War on Drugs Still Targets People of Color.” The Intercept, January 25, 2018, https://theintercept.com/2018/01/25/marijuana-legalization-weed-drug-arrest.
16 ACLU. “Marijuana Arrests by the Numbers,” https://www.aclu.org/gallery/marijuana-arrests-numbers.
Chapter Two
Edible Health
You’re probably reading this book because you’re interested in edibles as a healthy alternative to the intense and potential long-term consequences of smoking weed. As we’ve covered, edibles are a go-to for people looking for lasting relief to their chronic pain and other severe medical symptoms.
If health is really your concern, the fried chicken or cobbler recipes, though delicious, don’t have to be all that you make. Try adding some infused olive oil into a salad, or add a dose of weed to any super healthy and delicious dish that calls for coconut oil. Though I tried to curate a nice balance of healthy and easy recipes in this cookbook, know that there are ple
nty of possibilities for making healthy infused-cannabis dishes. You can get creative.
Eating Weed Butter vs. Smoking Weed
The liver runs through it. Ever wonder why, when eating edibles or weed butter, it takes longer to feel the high? It’s because the weed takes a couple extra steps before entering our bloodstream. First it goes to the stomach, then our liver. The process can take up to three hours before our bodies feel the full effect. Bailey Rahn, an editor at Leafly, reminds us that “THC is metabolized by the liver, which converts it to 11-hydroxy-THC. This active metabolite is particularly effective in crossing the blood-brain barrier, resulting in a more intense high.”17 Smoking, however, goes through the lungs and immediately into the bloodstream, giving us that quicker, instantly gratifying high that we’re more accustomed to.
Be patient. I can’t stress this enough, but as a very important rule of thumb, when consuming edibles, start slow. Some may feel the effects of the cannabis within 30 minutes, others not until three hours later. When testing your weed butter, test about ¼ teaspoon of the weed butter you make, or approximately one serving of your cannabis-infused dish. Wait about an hour. Take note of how you feel and let your body tell you whether this is a good amount, if you need more, or if you need less. Erring on the side of caution will ensure that you actually enjoy yourself and have a positive experience.
Experiment to find the perfect dose. This book will help you achieve an almost perfect dose, but know that edibles rarely have exactly the same potency from piece to piece, even when store bought. Not every single batch of butter or oil will be the same, unless they are tested by a laboratory. It will be difficult for you to ensure that each batch will be exactly the same. Perhaps the last batch was really mild and you want to double the serving into a dish that you are cooking or baking. While I encourage you to experiment with what potency works best for you, test each batch of butter ahead of time before baking to ensure the most accuracy possible for the dish.
Did You Get Too High?
Too stoned and don’t know what to do? Because I care deeply about you and don’t want you to get turned off to edibles, here are a couple of tips and tricks I’ve learned throughout the years to mellow out your buzz. These tips also work for folks who’ve smoked too much. The most important thing to remember is that we’ve all been there, and this too shall pass.
1. Eat citrus and/or pepper. The beta-myrcene terpene in black pepper helps you feel at ease. Also, the acid and limonene terpenes (we’ll get more into terpenes on page 25) found in limes, oranges, and grapefruits can help reduce the effects of THC. Be sure you eat that pulp and try getting a little lemon zest in—it’s the most important part. If you have the gumption, try recreating an elixir I copped from Simone Fischer18 to help ease the feeling of being too stoned. The mint and ginger will help your stomach calm down while giving you some pep.
2. Avoid sweets or fats. As you read earlier, THC is transferred and stored in fats. It’s also stored in sugars, although the rate isn’t as high as with fats. Try a savory snack instead, perhaps one that you can squeeze a lime on.
3. Hydration station. Carbonated water works wonders. I don’t know if this is scientific, but somehow, the bubbles during those super-high moments help me calm down. Drinking plenty of water is always a good idea for overall health and doubles as an agent to battle cottonmouth (dry mouth).
4. Take a nap. Don’t judge, but I once ate an edible that three hours later made me feel way too high. I was set to meet up with a friend for a work-related event in just one hour. So what did I do? I decided to take a quick nap. I woke up 20 minutes later and felt brand new, as if I hadn’t eaten an edible at all. Any sort of relaxation is key, but a 30- to 45-minute nap is ideal and will make you feel refreshed.
5. Cold showers. Known to lower other things *cough*, a cold shower can take your attention away from the high while also closing your pores (yes, I care about my pores). But avoid a hot shower or bath, as the steam will heighten the feelings of euphoria and lightheadedness.
6. Chill out. Relax. Just remember that you’re going to be fine. You’re not going to die and nothing terrible is going to happen to you. If anything, once it’s all said and done, the unnoticed benefits of cannabis have no doubt helped you and your body in ways undetectable to you.
Citrus Mint Pepper Fizzle
To a glass of sparkling water or club soda, add ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black peppercorns, the juice and zest of one lemon or lime, a few springs of fresh mint, and optionally, some freshly grated ginger. Add ice and serve immediately.
Weed Pairings and Terpenes
As we continue to discover more about cannabis, we’ve learned that different strains of cannabis have unique characteristics, similar to those of wine. Some strains make you feel more relaxed while others help you focus. Terpenes are one of the signifiers for those characteristics. How does it taste and smell? Is your weed sweet or is it fruity? Does it have strong hints of citrus or is it more piney? What you smell from these flowery buds are the terpene profiles.
Terpenes, Effects, and Flavor Profiles
Terpene
Linalool
Strains
Purple Kush, Lavender, Sour Kush
Taste profile
Floral
Effects
Relaxing
Helps/Used as
Insomnia, stress, depression, anxiety, pain
Dish pairing
Green Ganja Dressing (page 79), Classic Weed Balsamic Vinaigrette (page 77)
Terpene
Myrcene
Strains
Mango Kush, Trainwreck, Grape Ape, Granddaddy Purple
Taste profile
Mixed herbal and citrus, musk
Effects
Relaxing, psychoactive, calming
Helps/Used as
Antiseptic, antibacterial, antifungal, inflammation
Dish pairing
Elevated Avocado Toast (page 67), Mennlay’s Medicated Fried Plantains (page 100)
Terpene
Limonene
Strains
OG Kush, Jack Herer, Lemon Haze
Taste profile
Orange, lemon, lime
Effects
Mood elevation, stress relief
Helps/Used as
Depression, anxiety, gastric reflux, antifungal
Dish pairing
Baked sweets, Fluffy Medicated Blueberry Mini-Cakes (page 65), Nutty Vegan Chipotle Aioli (page 75), Morning Medicated Fruit Bowl (page 59)
Terpene
Pinene A and B
Strains
Blue Dream, Afghani Kush, Bay Dream
Taste profile
Sweet, sharp, pine, sage
Effects
Alertness
Helps/Used as
Focus, memory attention, inflammation, asthma
Dish pairing
Garlic-Crunch Sweet Potato Fries (page 87), Easy Cheese Cannabis Spinach Frittata (page 61), Summer Squash Lasagna (page 91), Cute and Cheesy Macaroni Bake (page 83)
Terpene
Trans-caryophyllene
Strains
Chemdog, Sour Diesel, Bubba Kush, Fire OG
Taste profile
Spicy, peppery, woody
Effects
Not known for obvious physical effects
Helps/Used as
Inflammation, muscle pains and spasms, and insomnia
Dish pairing
West African Fried Chicken (page 85), Philly Jalapeño Crema (page 71), Chacahua Coconut Beans and Rice (page 93)
Terpenes are found all over the natural world in countless herbs, plants, trees, and even a select group of insects. They are known to be a key component to various plant resins—cannabis is no exception. Scientifically speaking, “terpenes belong to a class of compounds known as aromatic hydrocarbons that are made up of chains of linked isoprene units. Isoprene is an abundant naturally occurring molecule with the chemical formula C5H8, and terpenes are formed by two or more link
ed isoprene units.”19 The strong aroma of terpenes wards off potential predators and attracts others that may help the plant to fight off other pests. For example, in some outdoor cannabis gardens, you may see an abundance of lady bugs and frogs who are attracted to the terpenes. The lady bugs and frogs then eat troublesome bugs that will otherwise destroy the plant and possibly the entire crop.
Though there are around 100 different types of terpenes in the Cannabis sativa species the most common flavor profiles are sweet, spicy, citrus, and herbal. Each terpene is responsible for creating a different effect on your body or mood. It’s not necessary to think about terpenes, but they are something you might want to consider when choosing which strain of marijuana you want to use for your weed butter infusions.
Have fun with it. Consider terpene pairing to be an added dimension to the butter and dish you choose to make—an opportunity to get creative with a desired effect or taste. On page 25, I’ve listed a little guide to terpenes and suggest which recipes might pair well with certain profiles. Not in the mood to nerd out on this? Not a problem, I get it. No matter what strain of cannabis you choose to use, your cannabutter is going to taste incredible. Just remember that regardless of whether you’re using cannabis flower, trim, or shake, quality is everything. The more crystals (trichomes), the better. Again, these are only suggestions. But if you’re down to experiment, try it out and let me know what works best with which meals. I’d love to hear about your pairing. Leave me a note at my website, www.mennlay.com.
Dosing Cannabutter and Weed Oil
Let’s be real: When it comes to edibles, most people make them far stronger than necessary. It’s both a waste of precious cannabis, and in my personal opinion, a gluttonous way to treat a sacred plant. It might be a good idea to remember that cannabis has the capacity to be a strong medicine, hence the existence of medical marijuana. But I’m not here to preach, just to inform you that when it comes to making weed butter, less is more.
The Art of Weed Butter Page 3