How to Make Cannabis Oil in South Africa – updated

The following is an updated version of how I made the Cannabis oil that successfully cured my breast cancer. I’ve applied many of the useful tips and suggestions posted on the original blog for an even healthier more potent oil.

Please note that the following is just a guideline of how I made it and should not be considered the only way to do it–this is simply meant to help those who are willing to help themselves by providing a step by step “recipe” that you can print out and use while you cook.

Why make it yourself? 

Firstly, when making it yourself you can check that the quality is up to scratch, that it has been made correctly and of course, it is much cheaper when you don’t have to pay someone else to take all the risk.

If you are looking to buy it you are going to pay anything between R3000 and R5000 for 10 ml and for a full cancer treatment you are looking at needing at least 60 ml over a four month period. Whereas if you make it yourself you are probably not going to have to pay more than R2000 for the whole lot and this should make you 60 ml. So if money is an issue – make the oil yourself!

There are also unscrupulous people who see this oil as a way of making money and so they mass produce the oil, not always taking the necessary care to ensure it has been made correctly with the best plant material available. In this case ask around and see if anyone knows about the oil  – there are more people on this oil than you might realise – and see if they can’t recommend someone who sells the oil. And, as with all things illegal, be discreet, be savvy and be safe – always.

All about the plant matter…

The better quality plant you use the better quality and quantity of oil you will be able to get but don’t feel you need to go for the super expensive indoor’s and indica’s. Indica plants are all the rage at the moment for smokers because the relaxation aspect is so intense.

However, Sativa’s, which are the natural African strain, are extremely underrated. Swazi, the variety I used, is a pure Sativa. Sativa’s have a higher CBD to THC ratio. CBD’s have been attributed with providing the anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving properties as well as repairing nerve damage. It also provides a mental high, improving brain function and stimulating thoughts and creativity- this is why it helps with depression which is especially beneficial to those experiencing a illness like cancer – basically it helps to get you feeling optimistic and empowered and as your depression subsides so you are able to take more and more empowering steps in your daily life to assist in your recovery.

I used an outdoor Swazi variety – a strain grown in Swaziland. This is a lovely, uplifting African Sativa and easily available in KwaZulu- Natal. Other African Sativa varieties available are from the Transkei and Lesthoto.

The following link argues that outdoor plants are better than indoor grown varieties:

http://www.theganjier.com/2015/03/06/outdoor-vs-indoor-dispelling-the-myth-that-indoor-is-better/

It’s important to ask about where the plant was grown as impurities in the soil and ground water (IE: on a mine dump) are absorbed by the plant and can contaminate your oil. Of course, the only way to be completely sure is to grow the plants yourself.

I also found that when I used what is known as “crush” (the leftovers at the bottom of the bag) it was cheaper and yielded lots more oil, so don’t be scared to ask for this.

Most people don’t have a network set up to provide them with the amount of plant matter required to make a decent amount of oil. In this case it’s helpful to talk to Rastafarians in your community. I have always found these gentlemen to be amazingly kind and helpful in sourcing the plant matter – especially when you tell them what it’s for.

How Much

I bought “5 L” of  outdoor Swazi – a 5 L is how they measure out the cannabis; they use a 5 L ice-cream container to measure out the weed and put it into separate bags. It averages out to about 500 gm but it’s far from an exact measurement.

A 5 L container could yield anything between 30 ml to 60 ml depending on the quality of the plant.

NOTE: Outdoor cannabis is generally harvested from about May. So, it’s cheaper and easier to get hold of it from May until November and then it becomes very hard. It’s better to buy in bulk when it’s available and make as much oil as you can so you don’t have to worry about a shortage.

Which Solvent?

Originally I bought rubbing alcohol (91%) from Dis-Chem Pharmacy but this can leave a poisonous residue in the oil so I changed to using 99% Isopropyl alcohol. You can easily locate this online – check online for chemical lab supply shops in your area, the alcohol is cheap and clean and easy to buy in bulk.

I strongly recommend using isopropyl over other solvents as isopropyl is one of the only ones which can pull out the chlorophyll from plants and cannabis is one of the richest sources of chlorophyll.

This is important when you think of the first thing you are told when you look into alternative methods of healing cancer – eat more green leafy vegetables! This is because the green in the plants (the chlorophyll) gives your body what it needs to sort out a whole host of ailments. Rick Simpson advocates using Benzene, which doesn’t draw out the chlorophyll and gives no explanation for why he prefers it without the chlorophyll. However, from all my research and my own experience, the chlorophyll is not to be underestimated in the healing process. So, in this method, I differ from Rick Simpson because I believe the more chlorophyll the better.

It’s also important to bear in mind that when using isopropyl you don’t add water to the mix – you ONLY do that with Benzene.

I bought 6 L of alcohol for 500 gm of weed. Don’t worry about anyone getting too suspicious about you buying that amount of isopropyl alcohol – fortunately it’s used for lots of legal stuff too!

Important: Surgical spirits and Wintergreen are not the same as isopropyl alcohol – don’t make that mistake!

Making the Oil

Step 1: First I pulled all the big stalks off the plant and threw those away. However, if you are going to use a coffee grinder (which I highly recommend!) then this is not strictly necessary.

Step 2: Grind the plant matter up in a coffee grinder. If you don’t have a coffee grinder, use scissors and cut the plant up as finely as you can. The plant is very resinous so you have to put small amounts into the coffee grinder and use a teaspoon to help scrape it out. Once you are finished, wash the coffee grinder out with some alcohol to dissolve any of the resin and pour this in with the plant matter.

The reason you grind it is to allow a smaller surface area for the alcohol to penetrate into the plant, therefore allowing it to draw far more from the plant.

Step 3: I soaked the plant matter in alcohol for two days (at least) – it allows the alcohol time to saturate the plant and to pull out as much oil as it can.

Make sure you don’t use up all your alcohol; you’ll need to keep 500 ml to clean up after yourself.

Step 4: I then strained the alcohol and plant matter through a thick stocking into a large pot. This is another reason why using a coffee grinder is handy as it means you don’t have any sharp stalks   making holes in your stocking.

Step 5: After this I then strain the solution through a coffee filter. It is not strictly necessary to do this step. By straining the oil you take out any fine plant matter and pollen that may be left in the oil and so the oil is further concentrated. The leftover plant matter and pollen doesn’t seem to be harmful and it bulks the oil up, making it thicker which makes it a bit more forgiving when it comes to measuring out the dose. The more you strain it, the runnier it gets and the more concentrated which means you need to be much more careful with the dosage – especially with old folk, as too much oil can make you feel woozy and unbalanced on your feet. Also, if it’s too runny you need to be more careful it doesn’t leak out your syringe. How much you choose to strain it is up to you.

Step 6: I double-boiled the oil in water in an electric frying pan –like melting chocolate. This way I could ensure the temperature stayed around the 100 C mark and didn’t overheat it and destroy any of the THC or cannabinoids. Remember, the higher the temperature, the more the oil degrades – so lower for longer is best.

The smell is quite overpowering – mostly from the alcohol fumes, so I made sure I had good ventilation where I was cooking and had incense handy for the neighbours’ benefit! It doesn’t smell like weed, it mostly smells of alcohol but the point is that it is smelly.

It took all day and I had to keep an eye on it so that the level of the water in the double-boil didn’t drop too low.

Step 7: When the level of the oil got really low, I moved it to a smaller pot and used some of the spare alcohol to wash the big pot out. I poured this alcohol into the little pot too.

I then boiled the alcohol down until it became thick and the smell changed to less of the alcohol and the more peppery smell of the oil. The smaller also lessen and become isolated little groupings. I reduced the heat and and continued to cook it on low for another half hour to be sure all the alcohol was boiled off.

The oil should be thick and tacky when it cools.

Step 8: I allowed it to cool to check that all the alcohol  had been boiled off and once it had cooled down the look and consistency resembled Marmite.

Sometimes when the plant matter is still a bit green it leaves water behind in the oil. When this happened, all I did was wait for the oil to cool and then I would pierce the cold oil with a knife and gently poured the liquid out – I made the mistake of leaving it in once and it was revolting!

Step 9: After this I re-heated the oil and once warm I sucked it up into syringes and then plugged the syringe with wax by pushing the nib into a candle. (To undo this I simply dipped the nib of the syringe into hot water and then very gently pushed the wax out).

Step 10: I mixed the left over oil in the pot with heated olive oil; the olive oil picked up the cannabis oil and I used it in my home-made body balm which I applied directly to the affected area- I could also have used it in food if I wanted to.

I kept my open syringe in a mug in the fridge and it lasted forever. I found the oil would leak out of the syringe and made a bit of a mess but in the mug it remained contained and when I was finished with the syringe I used olive oil to pick up the cannabis oil at the bottom of the mug – waste not want not!

And that’s it, really easy and amazingly effective –enjoy!

To read my story you can go to:  Cannabis Oil and me  https://kitchencures.wordpress.com/2013/07/15/cannabis-oil-and-me/

For information on dosage go to:

https://kitchencures.wordpress.com/2015/05/20/cannabis-oil-dosage-methods-and-suggestions/

TRIAL OF THE PLANT: To donate towards the court case to free cannabis in South Africa go to: http://fieldsofgreenforall.org.za/donate/

Related articles: 

Time to Legalize Cannabis (thcfinder.com)

Confirms Cannabis Oil Cures Brain Tumor & Brain Cancer!!(ascendingstarseed.wordpress.com)