Sativa, Indica, or Hybrid?
Hippie “Weed” No More!
It is the Subtype of Marijuana — the Strain — that Matters
In 1981, when I bought my first marijuana, it was just “weed.” Most of it was “Mexican dirt weed,” the kind that was commercially manufactured in Mexico and compressed into “bricks,” stems, seeds, and all. Occasionally, we got “sinsemilla,” or “seedless weed,” grown locally in Mendocino and Humboldt Counties in California. Mexican dirt weed and sinsemilla were all we knew back then. In the ’60s, there was a lot of Columbian, Acapulco Gold, and the like, all of which would be considered “dirt weed” these days. The iconic memory is of sitting with an open double album, sorting out the seeds and stems and rolling a doobie.
If this photo is still your vision of marijuana generally, it’s no wonder you are suffering from misconceptions. You now should be talking about marijuana in terms of “strains” and “terpenes.” These days, the primary dividing line is whether the strain is an “indica,” a “sativa,” or a “hybrid” of the two, typically one that leans toward the one or the other. Within those categories are numerous names of the genetic lineage of the plant. On Leafly, you can look up these various strains and get a lot of useful medical information.
For example, sitting next to me are flowers labeled “GG #4.” Here’s what Leafly has to say about it: “Original Glue (GG4)…Hybrid: Indica Dominant / 63% Indica 37% Sativa…THC Range: 27–30%,” and more. It lists the terpenes in order of prominence: Myrcene, Caryophyllene, and Limonene and gives tasting notes much as you would see with fine wine. These and other terpenes are very important for understanding the effects of a particular strain.
Myrcene is one of the most common terpenes found in several plants other than marijuana, and it tends to dominate in indica strains. It is responsible for the “couch-lock” effect, but medically it is anti-anxiety, promotes sleep, reduces pain, and is anti-inflammatory. I need it for the first two types of effects. Caryophyllene does not cause euphoria but is a potent anti-inflammatory. Finally, Limonene, found in lemons and other citrus fruit, has anti-stress and anti-anxiety properties.
We can learn a lot from this information. This strain will not cause you to be paranoid or anxious. Some sativa strains or sativa-leaning hybrids, I have learned from experience, cause me to grind my teeth. More dangerously, sativa sparks my mania, so I do not think most bipolar people, like me, should take it.
One sativa strain is “Green Crack,” which, like the name suggests, is very “energetic” sativa. Some of my friends swear by it, and either use it as regular daytime smoke or inhale it before cleaning the house and doing chores. As a bipolar I person who tends toward the hypomanic, I must avoid this strain and most other sativa strains.
Knowing and using information about the type and strain of your marijuana has everything to do with sobriety. I need to know what medicines work for me. From twelve years of trying to stay sober and nearly four years of not drinking, I have learned that I need to stop the craving before it gets to be a craving. That means addressing my underlying issues, post-traumatic stress disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder before the symptoms of those diseases can lead me to crave a drink. However, when I get a craving, I can also cut that down by vaping concentrates, an option which was not around in the bad old days.
Concentrates range from kief and waxes on the low end to live sugar, live resin, rosin, shatter, budder, and badder on the high end. These range from 30% THC for kief up to the 90% range for the high end. I use a High-Tech device called the Puffco Peak Pro to vaporize live sugar, and two hits off it with an indica-profiled concentrate will keep me “couch-locked” and thereby stop me from getting into my car and driving for a drink.
So, forget about those generalizations, such as “weed makes me paranoid.” Not every strain of marijuana will make you paranoid. Back in the bad old days, you did not know the plant’s genotype, or even whether it was sativa or indica. It was mostly sativa. It is crucial to become informed. Cannabis treats so many conditions, you would be amazed. It should be a part of everyone’s pharmacopeia.
