Should I Grow My Own Medical Cannabis?

Introduction

We are often asked by patients if they should try to grow their own cannabis to make their own Medical Cannabis oil.

There are many questions that will come to mind when learning about Cannabis and potentially growing your own Medical Cannabis oil:

Do I need THC or CBD oil?
What are the positives/negatives of each?
How much do I need to grow to produce the needed amount of oil?
Where do I buy the best quality seeds and equipment?

However, once you have an informed opinion – and if decided that cannabis oil is the right direction to go in – then everyone will face this one big initial question:

“Should I grow my own cannabis and produce my own oil or should I rather try to purchase it – AND WHERE?”

This article is written to try and help provide some answers to all of the above questions, and it assumes that the reader knows what cannabis oil actually is. If you don’t or are still a bit unsure, then please read the section about the different CBD/THC cannabis oils linked here to learn more. This article doesn’t go into in-depth detail about growing techniques but rather explores the practicalities, costs, and difficulties that may be faced.

Growing your own cannabis to make your own oil

Self-sufficiency has long been seen as the holy grail of treating/medicating yourself with cannabis oil. The general advice people receive is to “buy some seeds, buy a tent and other equipment, find a space in your house, and after 3 months you will have your own cannabis to do what you wish with”. Unfortunately, there is a little more to understand with this, and we will break this down into simple terms.

The two main cannabinoids that people grow cannabis for, currently are THC and CBD. The amount of these within each plant is determined through the plant’s genetics, and in recent years cannabis breeders have made great progress in creating various plants with a great variety of different ratios. The challenge with growing from seeds is that even within stable strains there is genetic variation meaning that there is no guarantee that the seed you grow will be the ratio stated or desired. Also, as the sale of seeds to grow cannabis is not legal (seeds are often sold in a grey area as ‘souvenirs’) so there is no come back should your seeds not germinate or not be the desired ratio. Even then, to know this information, you would need to grow the plants to completion and do a proper lab test to know what is actually there.

So what practical things could you do with seeds selection to help avoid these issues? Our advice would be to grow established strains that are high in either THC or CBD. This way the risk of variation in the ratio is greatly reduced. For first-time growers, it would be advisable to only grow one strain, as different strains have different requirements, but it is of course possible to match up to different strains that have similar requirements. For example by the number of weeks to flower.

A huge factor in your decision of whether to become self-sufficient or to try to purchase quality cannabis oil from a trustworthy source is the actual amount that you need – and why. Different medical conditions require different levels of cannabinoids: A cancer patient (Patient 1) for example will have a much higher requirement for oil than someone treating their own MS (patient 2).

If you need advice or help with medical cannabis please use the contact form provided. We try to answer all emails within 24 hours and are happy to help and advise on all aspects of medical cannabis treatments in complete confidence.

Let’s use these two examples to explore the numbers involved in this situation.

Patient 1 is looking to take 500-1000mg of top quality cannabis oil per day
Patient 2 is looking to take 25-50mg of top quality cannabis oil per day

The general rule of thumb is that it takes 8 grams of raw cannabis buds to make 1 gram of cannabis oil. This figure though is directly dependent on the resin content of the cannabis buds. Most strains bought on the street or grown at home vary between 10 to 20% in actual THC content. The strains at the top end of this bracket will cost upwards of £6,000 per kilo in the UK, and this price can increase dramatically depending on where you are in the country. At this price, and with a 10% return on your ‘bud to oil’ ratio would result in a cost of £60/gram. If made well, this oil would range between 60 to 75% purity. Clearly, this figure changes depending on the cost of material and/or % return from the cannabis buds you are able to source.

How does this relate to the two patients?

For patient 1 this would mean that their cannabis oil use would cost them around £30/day or £900/month.

For patient 2, using the 50mg figure, this would cost them around £3/day or £90/month

This means that this option is much more viable for a person whose needs are low, as the oil-making processes can be done with smaller amounts of cannabis as needed, meaning the financial implications of making oil this way can be spread over time.

The positives of this route:

– that you know exactly what has gone into your oil, although most commercial strains will have been grown using a large number of chemicals so if organic medicine is your goal then this would not be the route.

If you have access to a lab for testing, you could test a sample of the bud first to gain an understanding of the content, as this will directly transfer to the oil you produce.
If you have a need for a smaller amount of oil then this method can be more practical than trying to grow your own.

The negatives are:

You have to source this material illegally, which depending on your contacts and social network could range from being easy and relatively safe through to being difficult, risky and stressful.
It is the most expensive way to make oil, and it is stressful to pay this amount of money for something were you then still need to go through the oil making process, where it is possible to make mistakes.
Unknown growing methods used, means unknown content in the final product.
You have to make the oil yourself.

We previously mentioned how the holy grail of self-sufficiency is to grow your own cannabis and make your own oil. Now we will explore this option and see how it shapes up against other options for using medical cannabis oil.

The key facts to understand are that space and light are hugely important. With low light, you can’t grow well, and having only a small amount of growing space in relation to that light will result in low yields.

Although technology is improving, the rule of thumb is 600w of power per square meter. The best growers will achieve around 1g of dry bud for every watt. This figure will move depending on factors such as type of light, the technique of growing (soil vs hydro for example), and advanced growing techniques such as using CO2. For a standard setup of a 1 square meter tent, with 1 light, fan, and pots you could set up for as little as £400. Your power will cost around £1.50/day and take 4 months from start to finish. Initially, this can seem like an extremely good option, which it can be, but it is important to consider that most first-time growers are greatly disappointed with their first few grows. A realistic assumption is that a first-time grow will be at best half as good as expected.

Using this assumption, a 1 square meter grow for a first-time grower would yield around 300g. It would cost around £180 in electricity, £50 in seeds, £100 in plant food and other consumables, and £400 in setup. The results in £730 total cost for first time around. When using the ‘bud to oil ratio’ figure discussed earlier would result in a price of £24.30 for your cannabis oil. This is clearly far cheaper than buying grown bud to make your own. It is important however to consider that the reason for this is that you are doing all the growing work and most probably all the risk. Growing is very hands-on, and good results require full commitment to the process. If your plants go without water, or light, or heat, or food, or grow too big, or too small, then all these factors will greatly impact your final return. With that said, growing can be fun, and many people do it successfully

How does this option works out for our patients?

For patient 1 who requires 500mg/day, the 30g of oil produced would last approximately 2 months, meaning that to satisfy the amount of oil needed, this patient would actually need to grow 2 square meters to be sure to produce all of the amount of oil needed. This would increase the initial outlay considerably and require more space. But it would save them around £15 per day, every day.

For patient 2, this 30g, if taken at 50mg/day would actually last them 18 months. This means 3 options. They could either grow less, in a smaller more manageable space, or they could stockpile for the future and grow until they know that they are secure long term, or they could pack the grow tent down straight after the first grow and then start again later when they are going to run out.

The other eventuality is that they could actually take more than 50mg and increase their dose over time. After all, our 50mg is only an example.

Positives:

You dramatically reduce the costs of cannabis oil, especially when you become a competent, successful grower.
You know exactly what chemicals were used to produce your oil and what strains where grown.
You don’t need to source you oil from another source.

Negatives:

It will take you 4 months to get your first drop of oil.
Growing takes a lot of effort and directly impacts the returns. If you don’t have support from someone else with this project you will need to be near the grow for at least 30 mins every day to water, feed and prune your crop.
Growing is illegal and this does come with risk, but as long as you are sensible and don’t grow more than 9 plants, then even if you are caught you would almost certainly walk away with only a caution.
Crops can fail, and your hard work can end up being for nothing. Also with the emergence of smart meters it is important to remember that your electric use needs to be managed in a sensible way. Especially when switching to the 12/12 light cycle part of the growing cycle.

Buying cannabis oil from another source

In a perfect world, this would be the best option, but sadly this is not a perfect world. Purchasing top-quality cannabis oil has long been a minefield, and trying to navigate through this can conjure up a variety of emotions. We have a section on our website that is dedicated to informing people about cannabis oil scammers. In this popular article we explain many of the pitfalls of sourcing cannabis oil online, and please before you attempt to source cannabis oil this way, read it and/or ask any questions you need to via our contact page. Poor judgment in this area can cost a lot of money and time. Please also check out our info on how to best buy RSO oil online.

How does purchasing oil shape up against these other two options? Well, assuming you have a trusted source and can trust the content of the oil and the price point is below what it would cost to make it yourself, then it’s definitely a very good option. Sadly there are issues.

Who is your source?
Are they making safe oil?
How do you know anything they tell you is true?
How can you trust something so important into a stranger?

Please read our article here that helps explain these issues.

Conclusions

There is no perfect solution for obtaining cannabis oil, but there are various routes you can take that vary depending on your situation, both medical and sadly financial.

If your needs are for a lower amount of cannabis oil, like patient 2, to treat more chronic conditions, then all the options above can offer a solution for you.

Buying cannabis to produce your own oil is viable as the initial outlay will last you a lot longer – but you still have to source it and then produce it.

If your needs are for much larger quantities, and to treat serious conditions such as cancer, then perhaps the best option for you is a combination of two options. As it takes 4 months to go from seed to oil and most people’s need for oil is immediate, there is clearly a problem with self-sufficiency. This makes sourcing your cannabis oil from a trusted top quality source while you become self-sufficiency through your own grow an option that many people take, and one that we ourselves would advise people to do.

Ultimately whatever the route you choose please try to enlist the support of those around you. Family and friends are there to support each other and this support often proves invaluable. Remember that attitudes to cannabis are changing and it’s not something to be ashamed of. Often you will be surprised who you know are already going down this path and taking their lives into their own hands.

Help and advise

Disclaimer: Please note that whilst we consider ourselves subject matter experts regarding medical cannabis, we are not medical professionals. We are an information resource and there is still limited evidence that medical cannabis can cure all of the illnesses we discuss here. We recommend you do as much research as possible, and where practical seek professional medical advice before proceeding with cannabis oil.