If you’ve ever had vanilla ice cream, a cup of coffee, or a glass of sweet ice-tea, you’ve benefited from ingesting plant products.
Cannabis is a plant with unique properties and the New Hampshire Democrats have recently added legalizing recreational cannabis (Therapeutic Cannabis is already legal in NH) to our party platform. If one looks around at our local New England States, you’d see that NH is one of the few remaining states that has not legalized cannabis.
Which means we are missing out on tourism money and money that our state could use from the cannabis industry.
Honestly, it’s simply a matter of time before New Hampshire joins the rest of New England by legalizing cannabis. As a Democrat running for State Representative in Merrimack, I fully support the legalization of cannabis with the same restrictions that cigarettes and alcohol already have (must be 21 or older to buy and consume recreationally.)
As a mother of six, I also support an educational program that explains what cannabis is and how to use it responsibly. In that vein, I will be rolling out a series of informational and educational articles here on the legalization of cannabis in New Hampshire.
For starters let’s talk about the difference in cannabis strains. Cannabis is not just cannabis. There are basically two types of cannabis plants – Sativa and Indica. (I’ll talk about hybrids, but hybrids are simply a cross between these two plants.) Both strains contain THC – the plant component that gives you the feeling of euphoria, but each strain give different body effects.
Sativa or Daytime
Sativa (think Sunny) plants usually give a more cerebral sensation as opposed to “body” effect. Sativa or daytime THC gives an expanding feeling. Often when people talk about Sativa plants they will open up their arms in an expanding move. The effect feels like you are literally expanding your thinking. Many artists will use a Sativa product before creating their art, believing that it increases their creativity. People also say that Sativa gives them “energy” and “motivation.”
People with anxiety should be careful using Sativa products as, sometimes for some, it can increase their sense of anxiety.
Indica or Nighttime
Indica (think In-da-couch) plants give a more body-related sensation. Indica or nighttime THC gives a feeling of closing down. You get a feeling of settling down and being balanced. It’s much like putting a thunder coat on a dog during a storm – a weighted grounded feeling. Many people use Indica products to calm anxiety and to get to sleep.
Indica products work well at controlling pain and anxiety, but they can be heavily sedating, so people with some types of depression need to take care when ingesting these products.
Hybrids or Day/Night
Hybrid plants are a combination of a Sativa plant with an Indica plant. They are typically designed to be balanced between the two but there are some strains that are “more Sativa” or “more Indica.”
In dispensaries where cannabis is legal (California, Colorado, and very soon Massachusetts) products are typically identified as Sativa (daytime), Indica (nighttime) or Hybrid (day/night) to help you choose which product you want.
When cannabis become legal in New Hampshire, it will be important for people to know how to use it responsibly (just like you had to learn how to drink alcohol or smoke cigarettes.) The absolute worst scenario would be to legalize it without guidance on how to use it.
Wendy E. N. Thomas is a candidate for the New Hampshire House of Representatives Hillsborough County, District 21. She is also in the NH Therapeutic Cannabis program. Wendy agrees with the state-wide Democratic platform of legalizing cannabis in New Hampshire. She would also like to see the Therapeutic Cannabis program expanded to include anxiety, Lyme disease, and insomnia (for starters.) Wendy also understands that people need to know about what cannabis can do, how to keep it away from children, and how to use it responsibly (in the same way that the alcohol industry talks about responsible drinking.) All opinions reflected in this article and any future articles on the Democratic cannabis platform are the opinions of Candidate Thomas and do not reflect any company or industry. Wendy works at Prime ATC in Merrimack as a Patient Liaison. The contents of this article are not sanctioned by Prime ATC or any of its affiliates.
