I'm looking for a good pain-relief strain of marijuana.

April 9, 2013 2:27 PM

I'm looking for a good pain-relief strain of marijuana.

After a bunch of trials with prescription drugs (this is ongoing), I've tried your basic cheap type of marijuana. I found that while it helps with my back pain and lets me be more productive, it's more of a head high vs. the body high I'm after. Looking into it more, I'm pretty sure what I'm looking for is an indica strain instead of a sativa. While I've found lists of indica strains, I'm not sure what's popular or that I could get my hands on in a non-dispensary state. What should I be asking for that I have a good chance of finding?

posted by Evilspork to Health & Fitness (12 answers total)

My cat says just ask your friendly local dealer for an indica strain or something with a good body high. If he's a good dealer, he'll know what you're talking about. If he's a great dealer, he'll actually give you what you want.

Explain that you're dosing for pain-relief. Perhaps ask if you can buy an eighth of a few strains in order to test them out, then promise that you'll be back to buy the most effective strain in bulk.

Good luck, hope you find a solution.

P.S. I recommend stretching while high (assuming the nature of your injury allows this). My cat uses marijuana recreationally, but says this feels great and helps his knotted back.
posted by Strass at 2:43 PM on April 9, 2013

You might find some useful info at sparc's site, but it may only give a sort of general direction to go, since the strains they carry may not be available elsewhere. Not to mention that unprocessed plant material is, well, unprocessed plant material, and so not always reliably "Will do this, and not that," in the way that manufactured pharmaceuticals do. They do have a facebook and twitter presence, and may be able to answer your questions there. They are very nice (I speak from experience). Good luck.
posted by rtha at 2:44 PM on April 9, 2013

This is a bit of an indirect answer, but, have you tried edibles? I have no interest in getting stoned, but do have lots of joint (har har) problems, and rendering it into "cannabutter" and making baked goods was just right; it minimised, for me, mental distractions, and maximised physical relief. Bypassed the research on the strains etc once I figured out: brownies.

(Bon Appetit Cocoa Brownies with Browned Butter and Walnuts recipe)
posted by kmennie at 2:45 PM on April 9, 2013

(If you make butter, my cat also recommends that you use the 'double boiler cannabutter' method)
posted by Strass at 2:48 PM on April 9, 2013

I'm speculating, but I'd look into the ratio of THC vs. CBD (cannabidiol). This varies by the time of harvest and greatly by strain. The CBD content tends to be an overlooked aspect. As far as my limited knowledge goes, CBD balances out anxiety- and psychosis-like factors of THC intoxication, in addition to having pain-management and anti-inflammatory properties itself.

"Cannabidiol (CBD) found in cannabis helps with pain and does not make patients feel “stoned”." —http://www.drjakefelice.com/2011/04/medical-cannabis-why-cbd-and-not-thc/ (No idea if that's a reliable source.)
posted by krilli at 2:50 PM on April 9, 2013

Strass, my dealer is my neighbor at the moment; I don't have any direct contact with a dealer yet. Otherwise, thanks for the info.

rtha, thanks, I will look into them.

kmennie, I had the same thoughts as you when I first looked into it because I hate smoking. I've made these (same thing as cannabutter), and tried other edibles, but found that it was hard to control the dosing - I either got no effect or way too much effect. I'm using the Magic Flight vaporizer now, and really love it.

krilli, thanks, I will look into it.
posted by Evilspork at 3:18 PM on April 9, 2013

My cat is curious... how do non-college age felines find dealers?
posted by Strass at 3:21 PM on April 9, 2013

We just stand on the fence and yowl.
posted by Evilspork at 3:24 PM on April 9, 2013

IME, dose is more important than strain. Lower doses than you'd use recreationally should have an effect on pain without mucking with your mental state too badly. The MFLB is great for this, both because you have a lot of control over how much you consume at any given moment, and because you can keep it going pretty much indefinitely.
posted by spaceman_spiff at 3:31 PM on April 9, 2013

Check out StickyGuide for comprehensive strain descriptions.

At dispensaries in CA there are edibles that are almost entirely CBD w/ very low THC for maximum pain relief with minimal brain weirdness. Failing that, Indica is definitely what you want.
posted by wemayfreeze at 3:51 PM on April 9, 2013

you know strains are important, but when one harvests is also important. Later harvests...when many of the trichomes are starting to turn amber and are all at least cloudy, produces more of a a body pain numbing high.
posted by couchdive at 6:01 PM on April 9, 2013

I just got my green card up here in Washington, and I've found that the dispensaries have pretty amazing edibles, where you know exactly how much is in the [item as a whole], so you can then chop it up for how hard you want to hit the pain. and like krilli said, you want to look for CBD levels more than straight THC.

I'm not sure if you can get roughly the same strains down there, but any Kush is pretty good [lemon is particularly smooth and easy to use], and if you really seriously need something to make you feel nothing, White Widow is a pretty good bet. However, I don't know much about WW long-term use because I never had a large enough supply to test that.
posted by gloraelin at 12:01 AM on April 10, 2013