The self-cultivation of medicinal marijuana is booming within the law, either for therapeutic or medical use, or through the acquisition of licenses.
The main objective of self-cultivation is to standardize, characterize and promote safety in consumption. Knowing that each cutting provides us with a plant of certain characteristics. The aim is to generate all the necessary knowledge so that self-cultivation and solidarity cultivation can be viable even when there are medicines in the pharmacies.
It is based on a practice that is widespread in many parts of the world, both for marketing and for various forms of self-consumption.
Principles of Medical Marijuana Self-Cultivation
Marijuana is a substance with a long and controversial history. Over time, this plant, and for more than 5,000 years,
has been used for different purposes. These range from recreational use to a means of relaxation and meditation.
Although marijuana was assumed to have originated in meso-America. Now it’s known to be just an urban legend of little credibility. The origins can be traced to Chinese medical references dated around 2737 BC.
Although this plant does not have a Mesoamerican origin, it has generated interest in the world, and especially in Mexico. It is in this country that the use of cannabis has ranged from textile and medicinal interests to recreational consumption.
It has been sold over the counter, prohibited due to political and social pressures, tolerated and recently decriminalized for recreational and medicinal use.
In the ancient text of the Atharvaveda, written between 1,500 and 1,200 B.C. describes cannabis as a magic plant with healing properties.
Nowadays, different countries in the world have joined the self-cultivation of medical marijuana. Argentina passed a law in 2017 that enables a register of patients to receive cannabis oil free of charge from the State. However, so far there is no official cultivation. Marijuana seized in police operations is burned, and families who want to grow it are forced to file for legal protection.
Types of Self-Cultivation of Medical Marijuana
Indoor Self-Cultivation of Marijuana
It is a practical method, accessible to a large majority, and much more discreet. With this type of cultivation, a much greater control of the conditions of the environment can be maintained.
Hours of light, humidity, temperature, pH, CO2 levels, everything is much easier to measure and control. There is less risk of disease (as long as the right conditions are maintained).
Outdoor Self-Cultivation of Marijuana
Plants have much more access to nutrients and moisture from their growing medium, and while it may be necessary to provide some extra food, in general a plant outdoors will not need much more than water and sun.
Advantages and Disadvantages
Indoor Medical Marijuana Cultivation
Advantages
With today’s facilities, we will be able to maintain a constant optimal temperature and humidity in an indoor marijuana cultivation. We can also offer many hours of high intensity light and decide when the plants start flowering. In addition, the characteristic aroma of the plants will not be a problem. With a simple carbon filter, no neighbour will notice our plants.
Disadvantages
Great initial investment, between proper lighting, ventilation, grower cabinet, programmers, thermo-hygrometer. And although equipment is increasingly being manufactured with lower electricity consumption, from extractors to lighting systems, this is also a limitation. The truth is that electricity is becoming more expensive every day. Even so, self-cultivation will always be profitable.
Pests are more complicated to detect, treat and eliminate. Moreover, in a warm environment like a closet, with an average humidity, most of them reproduce very quickly.
Outdoor Medical Marijuana Cultivation
Advantages
Cannabis plants grow more and yields are higher when they receive many hours of sunshine. And especially UVA rays, which help increase resin and terpene production.
Most growers are able to make a compost throughout the year so that, in growing season, they invest as little as possible in fertilizers. Simply fill a good hole with a compost and the plants will require hardly any more nutrients.
No large space is required, a simple balcony or terrace allows the cultivation of small autoflowering varieties when there is no orchard, garden or guerilla for larger plants.
Disadvantages
Outdoors you can not grow all year round, only in the months that the climate allows. The best time for outdoor cultivation is usually in the spring and summer months. In areas close to the equator, however, it can be grown all year round. Furthermore, we cannot control the weather and there is a greater risk of theft or reporting.
Medical marijuana plants are not that complicated to grow. You have to take into account the different pros and cons when choosing a variety of cannabis to grow, especially if it is the first time.
Aspects related to the resistance of the plant to pests, fertilization, excess water, excessive heat or cold, sudden changes in humidity, etc., are interesting to take into account to have a successful crop.
Tools
- The location
- The pots
- The number of plants
- The type of fertilizer to be used in the crop
Steps to take before growing
- Interaction and extraction: the temperature must be with the focus on a maximum of 28 º and with the focus off, a minimum of not less than 18 º.
- Humidity: Control the environmental humidity, achieving a humidity of 70-80% during the day and the same at night, for a vigorous growth from the beginning.
- Height of the focus: In case of being of 600w, it is maintained to a distance of 50-60cm as long as the temperature is not superior to 28º.
- Growth phases: To ensure the correct development of the plant it is necessary to identify each of the growth phases. Germination, seedling, vegetative, flowering and harvest.
Reasons to promote the self-cultivation of medical marijuana
There are several reasons to consider and promote self-cultivation of medical marijuana. Here are some of them:
It’s good for your health.
In the area of social health, the criminalization of marijuana is easily questionable. Especially if we take into account that it is scientifically proven that this, like many other plants, has medicinal properties that can be very useful.
These serve for the treatment of various illnesses, either by using the plant itself in its natural state or as an active component of industrially produced medicines.
Recreational Use
Marijuana is not only used medicinally, but some people use it recreationally because of its pleasant relaxing effects.
Its recreational use has been discussed since the 1960s with the hippie revolution. In those years when there were no grow shops, there were some beneficial aspects of its use that are still being tested, some of which are mentioned below.
- It allows you to better appreciate the details. THC stimulates and dilates the pupil, which causes it to visualize more closely than it is capable of observing.
- It makes you slow down your pace of life. Marijuana slows down the perception of time, thus relaxing the person, thus lowering stress levels.
- It nurtures creativity. Although attention is dispersed, creativity comes to the surface because stress disappears.
Regulation
It is enough to point out the fact that for a teenager, it is easier to get a few joints on the black market than to get a bottle of rum or whisky, whose consumption is explicitly controlled among the underage population.
It could then be argued that adopting this regulatory measure reflects a certain lukewarmness on the part of the authorities, but the truth is that if a substance is legalized and regulated it would allow for greater control over its use and distribution than if it were marginalized to illegality.
Freedom or civic responsibility
The criminalization of marijuana is an attack on a person’s sense of freedom, right and capability to make the decisions that in their opinion best suit them.
While it is true that certain acts or activities must be prohibited in a State, they must be done according to criteria such as respect for the common good and respect for the rights of others. However, prohibitions such as the one indicated here respond more to certain ideological principles and mysterious economic agendas than to the genuine search for social good.
Moreover, it has been proven that giving a social group the possibility of discerning about its own integrity promotes a sense of self-responsibility among its individuals.
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