The Joy of Cannabis: DIY Cannabis Infused Edibles in Virginia

DIY Cannabis Infused Gummies are Easier Than You Might Think!

Cannabis edibles are a discreet, effective way of getting the natural relief you deserve whenever you need it, without worry about odor. They can be a fun addition to your medical marijuana treatment routine, but pricing, dosing, and available products are a couple of barriers to many patients adopting the use of edibles into their wellness routine.

Virginia Marijuana Card is always here to help you take control of your marijuana treatment, by providing you with up-to-date information, useful how-to guides, and compassionate doctors who understand.

Qualifying for a medical marijuana card in VA is easy. And once you get your marijuana card, you can legally purchase all the supplies you need to make some delicious DIY edibles of your own!

In this article, we are going to break down the barriers to having the relief you deserve through edibles, by helping you understand the cost, and how to use the products available to you in VA dispensaries as of April 2021 to make whatever your heart—and taste buds—desire into an edible infused with medical marijuana.

Save Money on Edibles by Making Your Own

At VA dispensaries, the price per mg of THC, as well as the total price, is often higher for edibles than it is for oils and tinctures.

For example, a pack of ten fruit punch-flavored gummies with 9.3mg of THC costs $55 at Dharma Pharmaceuticals. That’s only about 60 cents per mg of THC, but it’s $5.50 per serving. On the other hand, the fruit punch THC oil at Dharma costs about 45 cents per mg of THC, and $3.75 per serving.

You Can Make Almost Any Food A DIY Edible!

The awesome thing about making DIY edibles, is that you can make almost any food you want, and infuse it with THC. No dispensaries in Virginia are currently selling flower products, which means that you’ll have to start with the oils available.

This gives you a little less control, but it does save the step of decarboxylating the cannabis before adding it to a recipe. This is the process of “activating” the THC in your buds by exposing them to higher temperatures (around 225 degrees Fahrenheit).

If you are going to grow your own marijuana plants after July 1, 2021, then there will be a few more steps to take before your cannabis is ready to be made into a delicious edible, and we will get into the process in a later post. Keep an eye out for upcoming tips on growing, curing, and processing your own cannabis plants on our blog.

Which Oils Should You Use for DIY Edibles?

You’ll want to choose your oil or tincture based on the end result you’re going for (blue raspberry flavored oil probably won’t be great on a steak), but you have some options if you are making smoothies, sweets, or your own gummies.

Having unflavored oil gives you the greatest level of flexibility when it comes to cooking with cannabis oil. As of April 2021, gLeaf in Richmond makes the only unflavored THC oil available in the state. However, you can also find it on the shelves at Columbia Care in Portsmouth.

GLeaf’s unflavored oil comes in a 30mL bottle, with 1mL being equal to one serving. It’s a blend of 165mg of CBD and 255mg of THC, for $65. That’s just about 25 cents per mg of THC—far less than the price per mg of THC in an edible you would buy at the dispensary.

Controlling Your Dose: Pre-Made Vs. DIY Edibles

When you purchase pre-made edibles from a Virginia dispensary, you don’t actually have control over the dose. As of right now, there is not a whole lot of variety with edibles and their dosing, and you pretty much have to take what you can get.

If the edible item you got has more THC than you wanted, you can always halve or quarter your serving, but who wants to eat just ¼ of a gummy? Conversely, people on a glucose restricted diet don’t want to have to eat too much sugar just to get the relief they need.

When you make your own DIY cannabis edibles, you get complete control over dosing, serving size, and flavor.

Using THC-Infused Oil Makes it Easy to Control Your Dose

Making edibles with THC oil is easy! It’s really just a matter of determining just how much THC and/or CBD you want to get in a single serving, then adding the amount you need in order to get you there.

Let’s say, for example, you are making the quintessential magic brownies. If you want every serving to have 8.5mg of THC (the amount per serving in gLeaf’s unflavored oil), and there will be eight brownies, then you just need to squeeze eight dropperfuls into the batter.

If 8.5mg of THC is too much, you may want to halve the amount. It’s easy with oils. Simply put four dropperfuls in instead of eight, and each serving will have 4.25mg of THC instead of 8.5mg. If you want to double the recipe, use 16 dropperfuls. You get the picture.

What Can You Make With THC-Infused Oil?

You are really limited only by your imagination when it comes to making DIY edibles with cannabis oil. The main thing you want to remember is that extremely high temperatures may weaken the THC in your oil. So drizzle it on AFTER frying or broiling your food.

Try squeezing a dropperful of fruit punch flavored oil from Dharma in Bristol into your morning smoothie, or adding it to your next fruit salad or even Jell-o mold.

A nicely-cooked steak is extra delicious with some melted butter and cannabis oil drizzled on in the end. You can add your oil to salad dressings, salsa, chip dips, and hummus—even your morning coffee or evening tea can get a boost from adding a little medical marijuana before you sip.

How to Get Started Making DIY Cannabis Edibles

The first step to getting started making DIY cannabis edibles, is getting a Virginia marijuana card. You could wait until adult-use marijuana becomes legal to grow, then grow your own plants, wait for them to mature, harvest and cure, and maybe be ready to make your edibles by the end of the year.

But why wait? Get your marijuana card now, by making an appointment with one of our marijuana doctors today. Before you know it, you’ll be giving the Barefoot Contessa a run for her money with your cannabis infused culinary delights!

Check out this guide to edibles for a more detailed look at how to make the most out of your edible experience.

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Doctors Who Care. Relief You Can Trust.

At Virginia Marijuana Card, our mission is helping everyone achieve wellness safely and conveniently through increased access to MMJ. Our focus on education, inclusion, and acceptance will reduce stigma for our patients by providing equal access to timely information and compassionate care.

Call us at (888) 633-5808, or simply book a medical marijuana evaluation to start getting relief you can trust today!

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