Ask a Stoner: How Should an Older Patient Use Pot Again?

Dear Stoner: What products would you suggest for a 65-year-old cancer patient? I want to treat my anxiety and pain and increase my appetite without the hallucinations or paranoia. I want something like the stuff we smoked in the ’70s.
Sandy

Dear Sandy: Most flower and virtually every concentrate sold at dispensaries is way stronger than what you were smoking in the ’70s, but that doesn’t mean your preferred consumption habits have been completely forgotten. Thanks to CBD’s rise in popularity, you can buy edibles and certain strains with THC levels of anywhere from 1 to 12 percent. Considering that most of the shit you were smoking forty years ago didn’t eclipse 10 percent, you’ll probably want to start there. Ask for high-CBD strains and edibles with something close to a 2:1 ratio of CBD to THC or higher, and you should be fine.

Strains like Cannatonic, Harlequin and Spectrum #12 and vaporizer cartridges with CBD-heavy hash oil are a good way to gently test your THC tolerance as you learn what you like. And because the state requires cannabis companies to print THC and CBD test results on the packaging, you’ll be able to figure out what’s too strong.

Have a question for our Stoner? E-mail marijuana@westword.com.