If you’re a medical cannabis user, you face a problem that recreational users don’t have to worry about. You need to ensure that your cannabis maintains its desired effect over time.
If you use cannabis for recreation, poor storage may simply leave you with an ineffective product. However, when that product is your medicine, poor storage practices become a real problem.
It gets worse if you’ve purchased your supply in bulk to save money or to avoid needing to make a trek to the dispensary every few weeks or months. Depending on how much you use, bulk storage can change the cost-benefit analysis of that once-smart purchase.
Cannabis Storage Science That Every Medical User Needs To Know
Medical cannabis maintains its potency when stored properly. The cannabinoids that give THC, CBD and their friends (called terpenes) the therapeutic properties of a given strain all respond predictably to various storage conditions.
When cannabis is stored properly, it maintains a therapeutic effect for months. Medical cannabis users who buy from places like https://www.bulkcannabis.cc/ can benefit from understanding the storage science that helps maintain its benefits.
THC converts to CBN in excessively warm and well-lit environments, shifting the strains from their energizing, pain-relieving effects toward sleep-aid properties. Terpenes evaporate at room temperature. The volatile cousin of cannabinoids are what gives strains their unique flavor, but without a handle on its behavior, users may find it difficult to locate a reliable source of the effects they want.
The good news is that these processes are slow under reasonable storage conditions so medical users can keep getting the effects they expect from their supply.
The Container Trick Most People Don’t Even Think About
Your medical cannabis has to be stored in glass. Plastic containers allow gas exchange even when they’re sealed, which gives oxygen and moisture a slow leak into the container. That slowly leaches the potency from the product over time.
Mason jars can work for small quantities but a system is needed for bulk purchases so the best option is wide-mouth glass jars with rubber gaskets for seals. The best practice jar size for bulk users is to get multiple small jars so you avoid opening the same one repeatedly. Each time you open an airtight container, you introduce air and moisture into the system. By separating out your supply into weekly or monthly doses, you leave most of your stock sealed.
Cannabis gets damaged by room temperature fluctuations more than most people realize. If you keep your stash on a shelf in your kitchen, it’s exposed to temperature swings daily as you cook and run the heater. Cannabis maintains its potency most when kept at stable temperatures around 60-70° F.
Cannabis should be stored away from light sources even more for medical than recreational use. A predictable effect is what patients need as they work on treating their diseases or ailments with cannabis.
A shelf in a closet works better than a kitchen cupboard. Warm basements might work if they’re dry, but places that get hot in the summer months are usually avoided so don’t store there.
Temperature and Light Control That Actually Works
Cannabis thrives when humidity levels are just right; not too low and not too high. Around 55-65% relative humidity is the sweet spot. Too much humidity means mold growth (an even worse problem for medical patients who need to avoid immune suppression). Too little humidity will ruin your stash by making it crumble.
Humidity packets are now commercially available that take the guesswork out of maintaining proper humidity levels for cannabis storage. These packets will absorb some moisture and release others, keeping humidity levels stable in sealed storage containers.
It’s not hard to find these packets in stores and they’re not expensive, but don’t expect them to last forever. Users may expect replacements every 2-6 months depending on how much moisture is absorbed or lost over time.
Medical cannabis users might have a greater tolerance for replacing the packets more often than not since they want to maintain their medicine’s potency.
Storing Medical Cannabis In The Freezer: It Works, but Don’t Mess It Up
If you’re freezing cannabis for long-term storage, be careful how you do it. Freezing cannabis makes it brittle so rough handling during retrieval breaks off trichomes (the parts of the plant that contain the medicine). The process of freeze-drying also ruptures cell membranes if done improperly.
If you are going to freeze your supply of medical cannabis, do it in vacuum-sealed portions to limit damage to your medicine and double-bag them to protect against freezer burn. When you decide to use your frozen stash, let it defrost at room temperature before opening the container so you can avoid condensation affecting your product.
Most medical users find room temperature storage works best when planning to keep their supply available for over six months but freezing may be beneficially recommended for backup supplies only for extended periods of time.
Storage Needs Change Depending On The Cannabis Product Being Stashed
Flower needs more attention paid to its humidity and temperature than other products do.
Concentrate containers usually already provide adequate conditions for storing these concentrates, but something cool and dark makes for the best concentrate storage area regardless of container type.
Edibles have different problems than flower or concentrates do when needing proper storage conditions but they also still lose cannabinoids over time if not stored well.
Castration problems act like food so cold storage helps but check product packaging as various products have different storage instructions with some requiring refrigeration while others do not. Tinctures generally need to be kept somewhere cooler and darker as they will also degrade if kept somewhere bright and warm.
Creating A Cannabis Storage System That Works All The Time
Storing medical cannabis isn’t a one-time event but rather a project that requires ongoing work throughout its life cycle.
Check jars monthly for signs of mold or excess moisture even if they’re recently filled with humidity-packing packets. Replace those packets when needed. Rotate your supplies so older medicine is used first.
Keep notes regarding when you place supplies in storage containers — on average, medical users can expect their medicine and supplies to last a good 6 -12 months if stored properly but knowing exactly when they were placed there can help them access them in an appropriate timeframe.
The goal is not everlasting storage conditions but rather storage conditions that help avoid wasting medicine and that lasts long enough to make buying it in bulk worth it.
Candid Mama
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