Journaling
Keeping a Cannabis Log
Keeping a cannabis log can help you get the most benefit from your cannabis journey! Tracking the strains and methods that work best for you can help both you and your doctor make decisions about what works best!
Keeping a log doesn’t have to be hard, you can simplify it to work best for you.
You’ll find that keeping this log will help you understand many things about yourself, including: your ailments and symptom patterns, your treatment behaviors, and the efficacy and side effects of the cannabis medicines you use.
You can keep your log in the notes on your phone, a dedicated notebook, or we even carry cannabis journals at our dispensary!
You will want to log things such as:
🟢Date/Time: Record every time you consume cannabis with the current date and time of day.
🟢Amount: The amount of cannabis used (gram estimate or other consistent measure).
🟢Strain: The name, strain or variety of the cannabis strain or variety of cannabis medicine used. If you don't know the name, write a detailed description of the medicine.
🟢Classification: Strains are generally described as Indica, Sativa, or hybrid.
🟢Type/form of cannabis: dried bud flower (most common), concentrates, tincture/sprays, edibles/drinks or topical.
🟢Cannabinoid Content: the percent of THC, CBD and/or CBN. If you have this information available to you, write down percentages of each cannabinoid. If you're using edibles or similar, a description of potency and preparation is helpful.
🟢Method of Intake: Write down how you used your medication. Either inhale via S=smoke or V=vaporize, E=eat/digest, T=tincture or spray, TO=topical.
🟢Therapeutic Effects: List any positive effects you experience (physical, mental, social, behavioral, etc).
🟢Negative Side Effects: List your negative effects
🟢Timing: How quickly did you experience the first therapeutic effects? When did you feel the peak of relief? When did it start to noticeably dissipate? How long until effects were gone?
🟢What prompted your cannabis use? List the specific factors that told you it was time for medicine, as well as the general symptoms or conditions being treated (e.g. pain, nausea, anxiety, etc.)
🟢How did you feel (mindset)? Record your mood and feelings before and after you used cannabis.
🟢Where were you? Were you at home, at a collective, in your office? Sitting, standing, lying down?
🟢Who were you with? Were you by yourself, with a friend, a large group, among other cannabis consumers, etc?
🟢What were you doing? Just before you used cannabis, what was going on? What were the activities or circumstances leading up to it?