Reddit reviews Cannabis Pharmacy: The Practical Guide to Medical Marijuana -- Revised and Updated

Sativa, Indica, Hybrid, what is that anyway? Sativa strains come from a taller variety of genetics, that tend to have a terpene profile that lends toward more head effects, as opposed to body effects. Indica varieties tend to have more terpenes on the relaxing side of the spectrum, and in general have more body effects. One thing people suggest is that sativa is good for "daytime use" and the indica is good for sleeping.

This is utter horseshit.

To start with cannabis sativa is the plant cultivated as medicine; the plant we smoke the flowering buds of. Cannabis indica is the breed grown for fiber, food, and now CBD. Marketers have chosen to stick the indica and sativa labels on two varieties of the same plant. For more information about cannabis medicine from a western approach, Cannabis Pharmacy is an excellent book.

I've found that most people tend to be either a sativa person or an indica person, and tend to stick with their chosen lineage regardless of what time it is. I am an indica guy 100%. Sativas rarely speak to me, and when they do it is usually to yell random stuff in my face and then run away. I have met very few sativas that I get along with. Most of the ones I've tried feel like they have ADD. Indicas though, they speak to me. They tend toward the calmer more introspective side.

I kind of think of sativa/indica as light/dark, yang/yin, male, female. Don't get me wrong, all cannabis is feminine, but the sativas sit in a different energy space that feels more ... male. Sativas can be bright like the sun, but indicas are a cool dark night with a full moon. Sky god - earth goddess. I need more yin in my life. I think that's why I gravitate to indicas. Consider your energy type. Are you high strung, nervous a lot, anxious? In that case, try some indica. Do you like to exercise regularly? Are you a Highly Organized Professional? Maybe give a sativa a try.

Hybrids are a cross of genetics expressing character of both sativa and indica in different amounts. They tend to sit heavier to one side or another. There are several good, indica leaning hybrids that I get along with quite well.

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I made the mistake of picking up a sativa, and a sativa leaning hybrid, in 1/4oz packages. One of them blew the top of my head off and exploded my psyche, the other one feels like a scatterbrained toddler with ADD to me. I have since given them away, which is a 1/2oz I didn't need to spend the $$$$$ on. I gave the psyche-bomb away because I have no call to do that again Any Time Soon.

Pick up a few strains in 1g amounts, if you can. If one of them doesn't speak to you, give it a way. When you find one that works for you, write it down.


Any of this could work for whatever symptoms you are trying to treat. Or not. Don't focus too hard, initially, on finding the right medication. If you are looking to heal, in a real sense of the word, try not to think of it as symptoms you are trying to mitigate, but as dating. You are spending a little time with different strains to see which ones you like to hang out with. Once you find one, I am willing to bet whatever symptoms you are looking at have improved. Because once you've found a strain and a store you can work with, then you have medicine.