Supercharge Your Cannabis Experience: What to Write in Your Cannabis Journal

If you keep up with cannabis culture, you may already have heard the term “cannabis journal.” At its core, a cannabis journal is a simple notebook where cannabis users can record information like strains, delivery methods, time of onset and other details about their cannabis experience. Developed as a simple and intuitive way for medical cannabis patients to track their usage and effects, they’ve made the leap to the adult-use world as well.

Why? That’s simple: If like many Americans, you use cannabis for gentle and sustainable relief from pain, insomnia or other conditions, a cannabis journal will go a long way towards helping you maximize your cannabis dollar. By keeping simple notes about which cannabis product was most effective and why, you’ll save yourself valuable time and money when it’s time to restock.

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And if you’re an adult-use fan of cannabis, a cannabis journal still has a role to play. In addition to making great gifts (hint, hint), they’re a perfect way to compare notes on your favorite strains, cannabinoid ratios, terpenes, delivery methods, and all the other facets that make enjoying cannabis such a unique and complex experience.

What to Write in Your Cannabis Journal: For Medical Cannabis Users

There’s nothing particularly challenging about keeping a cannabis journal. In its simplest form, it’s just a notebook (or a digital note-taking app) that allows you to keep track of your cannabis use and to note its effects.

So…why do it? Simply put, cannabis is an incredibly complex plant, containing over 100 cannabinoids and 200 terpenes, among other natural compounds. Even if you stick with a single strain or product, it’s perfectly normal to experience different reactions and effects depending on factors like dosage, time of day—even what you’ve recently eaten!

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That’s why learning which types and which forms of cannabis work best with your body can give you valuable information and insights to help guide your future use (and your all-important cannabis budget!).

You can use your smartphone as a notebook—we like apps like Simplenote or Notes—but many of us find that having a physical cannabis journal makes it easier to remember to use it! And no matter which format you end up using, the process is the same. Each time you take your cannabis medicine, write down a few details, such as:

You can go into much greater detail, of course. Some cannabis journalists like to record the effects of the cannabis right after they take it, and then at set intervals throughout the day. Whatever you’re comfortable with, just as long as you’re actually using it!

What to Write in Your Cannabis Journal: For Adult-Use Cannabis Users

For adult-use fans, the procedure isn’t radically different: Because many adult-use users still use cannabis for normal aches and pains, it’s worthwhile to record our impressions. What’s more, it will help you build your cannabis knowledge and serve as a sort of “tasting library,” with valuable information about strains, your impressions of terpene contents and more! Trust us: Once you give it a try, you’ll probably find it’s a practice worth returning to again and again!

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Ready to give it a whirl? Stop by Clear Choice or place an order online to find some new strains to write about!

8 Great Tips for Using Cannabis for Wellness

Cannabis has long been trying to shed it’s “stoner” reputation. Though getting bonkers stoned off of cannabis and eating the contents of your fridge is certainly an option – there are also many healthier ways to incorporate cannabis into your self-care routine. And it’s all about intention and awareness, turning cannabis from something that helps you escape into something that helps you engage. This week, we're talking about cannabis for wellness.

How To Use Cannabis for Wellness

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Not sure where to start with cannabis for wellness? Try these tips!

Get daytime-suitable strains or products.

There’s a huge range of effects that cannabis can create, and to use cannabis for wellness, you’ll want something that energizes and motivates you – not something to bond with your couch over. The line between sativa and indica is not as reliable as folks think, but go sativa if that’s the choice that’s presented. (Remember indica = in-da-couch) Ask your budtender for an energizing canna-purchase recommendation, and listen for the word “terpene.”

Know your dose.

Getting too high is not a great way to exercise self-care. You may have a negative experience and won’t be very likely to engage in wellness activities. You may find that you’re great at connecting with others and motivating when you just have a puff or two. Microdosing is a great way to employ cannabis for wellness.

Make a plan.

What will you do once you’ve had your perfect amount of cannabis? The options for cannabis-aided adventuring are endless, but nature is always a good bet. Take yourself on a nice hike, sit in nature and journal, or just watch the waves roll in whilst contemplating your philosophy on life. But your plan can also be work-oriented, taking advantage of boosted creativity. You might be surprised how ready you are to tackle your side hustle after connecting with the right strain or dose.

Treat what ails you.

Despite laws sadly limiting the amount of research that’s done, medical cannabis use is spreading like wildfire. This powerful herb works with your body’s endocannabinoid system, which is spread throughout the body, enabling it to treat a huge range of conditions. From anxiety to chronic pain, and tummy issues to depression – cannabis can provide stunning relief.

Wind down before bed.

Cannabis is a pro at crushing sleep woes. There are many products out there that are formulated specifically for helping people sleep, made with strains high in sleepy-making terpenes like myrcene or linalool and cannabinoids like CBN. Edibles are also great sleep aids but, of course, try to find something low-sugar or swallow a tincture oil instead of taking it sublingually.

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Other bedtime activities.

Want to boost your love life? Cannabis can help. Indirectly, micro-dosing and using cannabis for ailments will make you more relaxed and ready to have fun. Using topicals and oils for massage is always a good option. And there are also tons of products on the market made specifically for physical connection, like lube and sexy bath bombs.

You don’t even have to get high.

Though THC is an excellent way to use cannabis for wellness, there are many options that employ cannabinoids that don’t have psychoactive effects. In fact, most cannabinoids will not get you high. CBD is all the rage right now, but also look into THCa, CBN, and CBG.

And you don’t have to smoke either.

As you’ve probably gathered from previous suggestions in this article, there are many ways to enjoy cannabis that don’t involve smoking – something generally avoided in one’s wellness plan. Nowadays there’s all kind of options, like vaping, tincture oils, topicals, edibles, or capsules.

Let Cannabis Help you Live Your Best Life

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We evolved alongside cannabis, brought it wherever our ancestors moved, and even sold it in pharmacies not so long ago. Incorporating cannabis into your wellness routine can be life-changing, stop by one of our dispensary locations to learn more!

Does Cannabis Make You More Creative?

Some of our most celebrated creatives—artists, musicians, writers, and even scientists—swear by cannabis as a tool for driving creative breakthrough and inspiration.

Salvador Dali. Bob Marley. Shakespeare. Carl Sagan.

In one interview, megastar singer Lady Gaga revealed, “I smoke a lot of pot when I write music.”

These icons are far from exceptions. The prevalence of cannabis use in creative disciplines is widespread, to say the least. With the level of success these people have achieved, we cannot reasonably dismiss their claims of cannabis’ inspiring powers.

So what’s going on here? How can a plant increase such an abstract and high-level function like creativity?

What Is Creativity, Anyway?

Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, let’s take a step back and think about what creativity really is. A generally accepted definition is the “ability to see or create novel connections between disparate ideas and categories.”

When it’s put in scientific language, the meaning can sometimes feel a little abstract, so to bring the feeling home, self-described performance philosopher Jason Silva describes it like this:

“Marijuana enhances our ability to marvel: In some mysterious and uncannily recurring way, marijuana can induce an almost ‘synesthetic ecstasy,’ whereby a loosening of the usually firm borders that separate our five senses allows for a broader, deeper, more profound, and often time-dilated “interpretation” and “internalization” of moment-to-moment experience.”

The Science of Creativity

The science of creativity is a pretty nebulous endeavor. It’s hard to truly pin down something so ephemeral and subjective, but that certainly doesn’t stop anyone from trying.

So how do you quantify creativity?

Studies investigating this field look at a number of different ways to measure it. Some look at “divergent thinking,” atypical answers to problems. Some look at the number of creative associations a person can create to different prompts, like “How many words can you name starting with the letter ‘p’?” or “How many plants can you name?”

Studies show that cannabis increases this number.

It’s a good start, but it’s still a challenge. Verbal measures are not the ultimate measure of creativity (unless you’re a rapper). There is plenty of creative thought independent of verbal skills but measuring it is a major challenge.

Cannabis and Creativity and the Brain

Amongst cannabis’ many biological effects are its ability to reduce what is called “latent inhibition,” mediated by a neurotransmitter called GABA.

We naturally filter out a lot of the sensory data coming at us all the time. It would be a little overwhelming otherwise. Cannabis reduces this filtering effect, shows us more of the world, so to speak, more connections, more patterns that we may have otherwise filtered out. It also increases cerebral blood flow to the prefrontal cortex a brain region associated with pattern recognition, novelty seeking, and… yep, creativity.

How to Use Cannabis For Creativity

To be clear, cannabis isn’t just some all-access pass to unbridled creativity. It has its downside: tolerance.

The more you use cannabis, the less effective it becomes and the less creative you may be in life.

The best use of cannabis for creativity, like many things, is moderation. It can be rocket fuel for creative leaps and making new novel connections, but if you become dependent, it can rob you of your spark.

Use it wisely!

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Does Cannabis Use Increase the Risk of Vehicle Crashes?

Despite some frustrating speed bumps, the tidal wave of cannabis legalization shows no signs of receding anytime soon, and one of its primary benefits—besides access to safe, high-quality and clean marijuana!—is the flood of research following in its wake.

As we’ve reported previously, two recent studies examine the question of what cannabis legalization does for traffic safety and the affect that cannabis use has on drivers. As you’ll recall, one of the main arguments against legalization is that it would make our roads even more dangerous, unleashing a horde of impaired and confused drivers to an already-dangerous environment.

Statistically speaking, driving impaired is dangerous—resulting in at least 10,000 deaths a year in the United States—but what effect cannabis has on these numbers is not entirely certain.

Cannabis and Crashes: By the Numbers

One of the recent studies found an overall rise in automobile accident insurance claims in states with legal weed. The research, commissioned by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, found that compared with their neighbors, legal-weed states saw a roughly 3% rise in these claims.

A second, roughly similar study commissioned by the American Journal of Public Health instead zeroed in on traffic deaths. And rather than comparing cannabis-legal states with their neighboring states, it compared them to states with similar populations and traffic patterns, and found “no significant association between recreational marijuana legalization…and subsequent changes in motor vehicle fatality rates.”

Yet other studies have found a decrease in traffic deaths in regions with legal cannabis. As reported last December by Reuters, states that legalized cannabis for medical use experienced a decline in traffic deaths, according to a study analyzing data from 1985 to 2014.

So if the evidence evens out—very roughly speaking—to “not much of a difference,” perhaps there’s a different way to look at the question. On a physiological level, what happens when we imbibe cannabis and get behind the wheel?

Cannabis in the Body: An Increase in Risky Driving?

Studies indicate that cannabis does affect the parts of the brain that regulate body movement, balance, and coordination. And marijuana’s well-documented effect of altering perceptions of time and speed are obvious red flags when it comes to driving and impairment.

That said, other studies indicate that drivers with only small amounts of THC in their bloodstream tend to be more cautious on the road. And habitual cannabis users tend to experience fewer overall adverse effects when it comes to driving, perhaps a result of their bodies’ increased tolerance.

Cannabis and Driving: Tips to Live By

So if cannabis use increases some risks—even if the dangers aren’t necessarily borne out by statistics—what are some steps you can take to ensure you’re not a liability to yourself or others on the road? Here are three to start with:

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