I’m tired of high THC weed.

I’m tired of the monopoly; of the lack of variety, and the lack of curiosity within the growing community for what else this plant can do.

High THC weed is not the be-all, end-all. Hell, it’s not even the only kind of weed!

Let’s get scientific for a moment.

Categorizing Your Cannabis

We’ve all heard of indica and sativa as the main plant classification. But this labeling is both inaccurate and misleading.

Indica and sativa don’t tell you, the user, anything about the plant you’re consuming. Not the cannabinoids, the terpenes, or the purported effects. All these labels tell you is what kind of cannabis plants your bud comes from.

Cannabis indica and cannabis sativa are the most commonly known varietals of the cannabis plant (the other being cannabis ruderalis.) At one point, back when landrace strains were still dominant, these classifications meant more- but even then they were never formally agreed-upon definitions. And after decades of cultivation, inter-breeding, and experimentation, they don’t mean much. Today, they cause more confusion than clarity.

Indica won’t necessarily put you “in da couch” and sativa is not inherently uplifting. These labels tell you which plant your bud was grown from; a shorter, bushier one or a taller, skinner one- that’s all.

So if indica and sativa are useless for classifying cannabis to understand the user experience, what can we use?

Chemotypes.

What’s a Chemotype?

A chemotype is a classification of cannabis plants by their dominant cannabinoid.

(Quick refresher: cannabinoids are chemical compounds produced in the cannabis plant responsible for its effects, like THC and CBD. There are over 100 identified cannabinoids.)

Currently, the market has three chemotypes:

• Type I – High THC, low CBD

• Type II – Balance of THC and CBD

• Type III – High CBD, low THC

The market is flooded with Type I cannabis. Type III cannabis can be found at hemp and CBD shops across the country. But if you want a Type II strain?

Good luck with that.

Despite a growing body of research showing that a balance of CBD and THC works well for many (maybe even most) people, finding a strain with a noticeable amount of CBD and THC together is an incredible challenge.

Searching for Type II Weed

There’s a saying in the cannabis industry that THC is like alcohol percentage, and customers only want Everclear. There’s a strong belief – supported by sales – showing that THC percentage is a driving factor for how well a strain sells.

Yet the research shows that high THC percentages don’t work well for most people, and the biphasic effects of THC mean that most of us are actually better off with lower doses.

(The biphasic effects of THC mean that it can have opposite effects at low and high dosages. Think relieving anxiety versus making it worse.)

The cannabis market is still new, and changing rapidly. It’s no surprise that years of prohibition have driven the THC percentages up, the same way alcohol prohibition made moonshine popular. But when we know better, we can do better, and we know a lot better now.

Type II weed remains challenging to find but there are ways you can incorporate CBD into your cannabis routine to maximize your benefits and reduce the negative side effects of THC.

• Combine Type III flower with Type I flower in your grinder for a DIY type II blend

• Use a CBD tincture after smoking if you start to feel too high

• Look for edibles with a combination of CBD and THC for a balanced high