My book: The Cannabis Spa at Home--Marijuana Lotion and More

I started publishing my cannabis spa recipes on my website several years ago while battling a rare autoimmune disease that landed me in the Stanford Cancer Center for radiation treatments. If you've ever been in a health crisis like this or know someone who has then you know all about the severe pain and the pharmaceutical painkillers the doctors will prescribe for you. Like a lot of people in this situation, eventually i figured out that the pills don't work very well when you take them for a long time--the more you take the more tolerant you become as they work to relieve pain even less. I saw where this path was going to take me and I did not want to go there. 

Fortunately, I am privileged to live in a state (California) with very liberal medical marijuana laws and getting a medical marijuana card for a rare disease was as easy as getting one for a tension headache. Many states with medical marijuana programs would have never allowed me to have a card even though I was receiving radiation therapy and later chemo and immune suppressing drugs due to the simple fact that the list of conditions that you can legally hold a card for do not cover rare or unnamed orphan diseases. This is why I believe a 'catch all' for chronic pain should be in every state that has a medical marijuana program. 

Chronic pain. This is the story of my life for many years now and why I use cannabis medicinally. Cannabis has become a joyful respite from the autoimmune diseases I will be coping with for the rest of my life. There are so many ways to prepare and enjoy this plant--vapors, edibles, and my favorites--the spa preparations like the lotions, salves, and bath salts. I love cannabis topicals because, for me, they have helped to make pain management with vaping and edibles even more effective and enjoyable.

Today I am going to share my current favorite cannabis salve recipe which is based on one of the cannabis spa formulation methods I teach in my book. By the way, all of my formulations are free of the big-eight allergens and preservatives--an important feature of my artisan craft as an anaphylactic allergy patient who carries Epipens for life-threatening food and environmental allergies. I formulate for everyone!

Rosemary and Lemon Cannabis Salve 

In my book, The Cannabis Spa at Home, I introduce cannabis spa in my Quick Start chapter as something you can prepare right away, with ingredients you already have in your kitchen. You don't need to go ingredient shopping to make a very effective and soothing cannabis salve! And if you love this Rosemary and Lemon Cannabis Salve, you may want to try your hand at the more complex spa formulations in my book. So let's get started:

You will need:

1 cup of olive oil

1 whole large (or two small) lemon with the peel, chopped

1 cup of chopped fresh rosemary or 1/2 cup dried 

Cannabis (The amount is really up to you--but generally starting with 1/8 ounce of top-shelf flower, or 1/4 ounce top-shelf shake, or a gram or two of hashish, or the equivalent of these in cannabinoid content is just about right for your first salve. Remember, the most effective amount of cannabis is the amount that you and your doctor decide is best!) 

3 - 5 cups of water (Start with 3 and then add more if it is necessary to keep from scorching the oil.) 

A few drops of rosemary essential oil is nice to put in the end product if you want to. 

Preparation:

1. Grind the cannabis and chop all of the herbs and put them into a pan with the olive oil and water. 

2. Simmer everything gently on medium to medium low heat in a lidded pan on the stove for 60 - 90 minutes. Letting it go a little longer will decarb more of the cannabinoids--again, your preference is what counts here. 60 minutes is the minimum simmer time for an effective salve in my experience. 

3. Remove from the stove and allow this to cool with the lid on. After it has stopped steaming and cooled sufficiently, strain the plant material from the liquid into a glass measuring cup or bowl and allow the oil and water to separate completely and cool further on the counter. 

4.  Using a turkey baster or syringe, draw up the oil from the top of the liquid making sure that you do not bring up any water and transfer it to a clean glass container that you will be using for your salve. There may be a little slick of oil left on the top of the water--you can draw that up and apply it to your skin right away to try out your new salve formulation. Discard the water after you have done this step. 

5. Go ahead and add a few drops of rosemary essential oil to the oil in your salve jar if you like at this point. Now, close up the jar and put in the freezer. In an hour or so you will have a hard salve that is cool and refreshing to apply to the skin when you remove it from the freezer! And don't worry if you leave it out, it will become hard again once it is placed back in the freezer. 

I like applying this rosemary and lemon cannabis salve to my sore leg muscles when they spasm, and my finger joints which are quite arthritic these days. Try it! Thanks for checking out my recipe. :)