What Are Cannabis Drops?
Cannabis drops, also known as tinctures, are alcohol-based extracts of the cannabis plant. You can buy them on the commercial market or make them yourself.
Most people use food-grade alcohol to make cannabis tinctures. You can get away with using glycerin if you don’t want to use alcohol, but the bonding is weaker and the final result won’t be as powerful.
How to Make Them
The making of cannabis drops always starts with decarboxylation, the chemical process that activates the THC and CBD in cannabis. Full carboxylation cannabis requires heat, though drying and curing will work if you don’t mind a weaker effect.
Once the flower is activated, the next step is to soak it in alcohol or glycerin in a jar with a lid. If you’re making it at home, you’ll want to put the jar somewhere it can sit safely for a few weeks. Some people swear by freezing your tincture because the cold will pull out unwanted ingredients and make your concentrate stronger.
Cannabis drops have a long shelf life, so you can buy or make them in bulk if cannabis products aren’t easy to get where you live.
How to Use Them
The standard way of using cannabis drops is sublingual administration, meaning that you place a few drops under your tongue. The active chemicals in the concentrate get absorbed quickly by the sublingual artery. Most people start feeling the effects in 15 to 30 minutes, with peak effects coming after about 90 minutes.
You can also ingest cannabis drops, either by dropping the concentrate onto your tongue and swallowing or mixing it into food or drink. If you do it this way, you won’t feel the effects as quickly. The cannabinoids will have to pass through your digestive system instead of going straight into your bloodstream by way of the sublingual artery.
On the other hand, you might get a stronger high, since the liver converts THC into the more potent 11-OH-THC.
The Benefits
They’re discreet. Drops are probably the most convenient and subtle way of using cannabis. All you have to do is place a few drops under your tongue. Also, cannabis drops don’t have that distinctive cannabis smell, so no one will know what you’re using if you don’t want them to.
They’re easy to measure. A bottle of cannabis tincture will have the same amount of active ingredients in each drop, so you can figure out exactly how much you need to get the effect you want. You’ll need to measure your ingredients carefully if you’re making it at home, but a commercial bottle will tell you explicitly how much is in each drop.
They act quickly. As mentioned, if you take your cannabis drops under the tongue, you’ll probably feel the effects in less than a half-hour. This is a major benefit for people who use cannabis for symptom relief.
Cannabis drops make it easy for you to get the relief or high you need. Different products will have different features and benefits, so ask your local dispensary if you’re looking for a particular effect.