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Patients suffering from various diseases always have to worry about medical expenses that seem to escalate every year. Medicines can be expensive and it often defeats the victim before the battle even begins. Thankfully, nature has an answer to many of our ailments, and it’s known as CBD oil. CBD oil is nothing but an extract of the buds of a female cannabis plant, and it’s easy to make at home.

To make your own CBD oil at home, you need to extract cannabinoids or CBD using high-proof alcohol. Even before cannabis was legalized in several countries, patients resorted to making their own oil because there were no other options, but now that things have changed, you can easily buy CBD oil online or prepare it yourself at home.

Cannabis oil is also known as Rick Simpson Oil or RSO. Some people even refer to it as the hemp oil. Basically, CBD oil is a viscous liquid that helps to cure several diseases such as glaucoma, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis and many other conditions. Ever since cannabis picked up popularity, you can see many people selling CBD oil, but unless you’re completely sure about your source, do NOT buy CBD oil! Unscrupulous dealers can sometimes sell oil that doesn’t contain any medicinal properties.

The advantage of making your own CBD oil is that you control what goes into it. Right from selecting the strain, you are aware of all the raw materials required to extract the oil. Also, you can choose organic cannabis to ensure that no harmful pesticides were used to grow the plant. CBD oil can be extracted without any skills or special equipment. Additionally, if you use alcohol that’s high-proof, you can rest assured that it’s safe to use as there are no harmful residues in the oil.

Note: Cannabis contains both THC and CBD, and although people will tell you that you only need CBD, don’t worry about it since you cannot extract only CBD from the bud. Contrary to many popular misconceptions about both THC and CBD, THC is not bad for you. In fact, it fights cancer and even if you ingest too much of it, the only side effect is that you will pass out sooner than you think.

You’ll probably make a fool of yourself in front of your friends when you’re high, but that’s better than other drugs that can be fatal. Sure, some people experience paranoia and hallucinations after smoking strains that are high in THC, but the effects pass away in a short period of time. Therefore, it’s important to choose the right strain for your CBD oil. Generally, CBD oil is meant for patients who have trouble sleeping or eating much, so it’s best to choose Cannabis Indica rather than a Sativa. Although Sativas are equally beneficial, you might stay awake at night due to the psychoactive high associated with it.

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METHOD

Ingredients

• 1 ounce of high-quality medicinal cannabis. Make sure it’s an Indica strain
• Safety goggles to protect your eyes
• Gloves
• Mixing bowls
• High-proof alcohol like Everclear or 99% Isopropyl alcohol
• Spoons
• Rice Boiler (Make your own double boiler if you don’t have a rice cooker)
• Thin fabric or muslin or cheese cloth
• Spatula
• Syringes
• Thermometer
• Parchment paper

Step 1: Clean everything

It’s important to keep your workspace and utensils as clean as possible. Boil some water in a pan and sterilize all the utensils so that there’s no risk of any contamination. Also, clean your work area and ensure that you have all the ingredients at hand.
CBD oil must be prepared outdoors. Do NOT do it inside your home because the alcohol is highly inflammable. As you heat the herb, there’s a high risk of the rice cooker catching fire. Therefore, choose a ventilated area outside your home. If it’s absolutely impossible to make the oil outdoors, open all the windows to allow adequate ventilation. Don’t take these instructions lightly as you’re risking a lot to make the oil.

Step 2: Extract solvent

To extract the solvent, you need some high-proof alcohol. As long as you’re using Everclear or any grain alcohol, you will be fine. Do not settle for anything else as it can ruin the final product. You won’t be ingesting any alcohol when you consume CBD oil later because the alcohol will evaporate while you make the oil. The goal is to derive a pure concentrate sans the alcohol.
Begin by placing your herb in a bowl. Pour just enough alcohol to immerse the herb. You’ll need about 2-3 liters of alcohol just to be safe. Let the herb soak the alcohol for a while. Stir the contents to allow the alcohol extract the cannabinoids.

Step 3: Repeat the entire process again

Keep stirring cannabis and alcohol and strain it once the solvent changes color. The solvent turning green serves as a good indicator to strain the mixture. Strain the solvent using the muslin cloth and collect the entire used herb. Repeat everything you did in step 2, but use fresh alcohol. This ensures that your oil contains all the goodness cannabis has to offer. Finally, squeeze the herb to collect any excess liquid.

Step 4: Evaporate the alcohol

Now, you have a green liquid that consists of both alcohol and cannabis. However, we need only the cannabis concentrate without the alcohol, so you need to separate the alcohol from the plant material. As you heat the mixture, the alcohol evaporates effortlessly, and you’ll be left with a pure concentrate, which is still in the form of a liquid.

Try not to heat the alcohol too much as you might lose a lot of THC in the process. THC reacts to heat and you don’t want the THC to evaporate. I can’t stress enough the importance of using a double boiler or rice cooker for this method because you can’t place the herb directly on the heat. In other words, you risk an explosion if you heat the alcohol directly.

For instance, if you try to extract CBD oil using a regular pan, the heat rises to such an extent that the oil can lose its medicinal properties. Use a rice cooker or double boiler to ensure that you have the best CBD oil. It’s a good idea to test how your rice cooker works beforehand. If it gets hot very quickly, then it’s recommended that you prepare your own double boiler.
Pour some water into the cooker until it fills 3/4th of the way. Switch on your cooker. Don’t cover the cooker with a lid or anything else as it needs to be open to disperse all the fumes emanating from it.

Step 5: Extract the concentrate

Let the mixture heat slowly and evenly. Make sure you watch it as you can’t risk a mishap. If you’re in a windy area and can’t avoid dust, cover the cooker with a thin cloth so that the fumes can escape and the mixture is clean as well. Use the cooker like you would while cooking rice. Any setting that cooks rice is ideal as you don’t want it to heat up too quickly.

The mixture will start bubbling in a while, and the oil will turn greener and thicker. This is a sign that you’ve done everything properly. Stir it again and allow the bubbles to pop at the surface. It’s important to keep an eye on the bubbles as you need to switch off the rice cooker as soon as the bubbles reduce. At this point, the oil will be thick and gooey.

The only difference between using a double boiler and cooker is that you have to switch off the boiler as soon as the oil starts boiling. Let the mixture remain in the boiler for at least twenty minutes. The oil will thicken slowly. You can switch on your double boiler again if you notice that the bubbles have stopped.

Step 6: Collect your CBD oil

We are now at the final step. Congratulations! Your hard work has paid off and you have some amazing CBD oil waiting for you to collect it. It can be a little tough to extract the oil as it is thick, so a syringe will work just fine. It’s important to weight the oil first as it will give you an idea of the dosage. Try not to waste anything and scrape it all using a silicon spatula.

Any remaining oil that can’t be extracted into a syringe can be transferred to your parchment paper with a silicon spatula or a toothpick. If you want to make it simpler, load the oil on to some capsules so that you don’t have to guess the dosage every day.

And, that’s about it! You have your very own CBD oil and you can use it to cure a host of ailments. Not everybody has the ability or opportunity to create their medicines, but you’re lucky enough to do it! Even people who aren’t suffering from diseases can ingest low amounts of CBD oil every day to keep diseases at bay.

Dosage

Now comes the most important part. You’ve made the oil, but what about the dosage? Generally, the ideal amount would be about 60 grams or 60 ml every 90 days, but you can experiment with the dosage until you understand how to tolerate it. You might feel very sleepy if you ingest too much, but there are no other side effects.

To prevent any unwanted incidents, try only small amounts of the oil when you begin. Patients suffering from cancer will benefit from high doses of the oil, and they can start with 0.5 ml every day and increase as they adjust to it. Allow at least one week to get used to it. Alternatively, you can reduce the dosage if it seems too much for you.

Many people have even used about 2 ml per day to get rid of their ailments. You could also feel high in the first week, but it’s important to not panic as your medicine is just doing exactly what it’s meant to do. Continue with the dosage until you get positive results.

If you want to use the oil daily, you can also dilute it with coconut or olive oil and use it in your recipes. Experiment with it until you’re sure about the dosage. Last but not the least, pat yourself on the back since you’ve accomplished your goal of creating your own pure medicine!