Should You Be Adding Raw Cannabis to Your Smoothie? Some Medical Doctors Say, “Yes”.
Yes, for the overwhelming majority of you, adding raw cannabis to your smoothie is a highly improbable event. But what if you could? In this post, I present the findings of some medical researchers, ingredients to my raw cannabis smoothie, and cannabis juicing tips from an expert.
A GROWING list of medical doctors are extolling the health benefits of consuming the non- psychotropic (no “high”) raw cannabis leaf, but most Americans will never get to find out if it’s useful for them.
That’s because marijuana remains a Schedule 1 drug and has been declared to have no accepted medical use. This consistently intractable position by the US Federal government is slowly being challenged and circumvented by various States, such as Washington.
In Washington, a person can smoke marijuana without persecution from State authorities, and – with a doctor’s prescription – a resident there can grow up to 15 marijuana plants for personal use.
Heating marijuana “turns on” the psychotropic properties that get you “high”, which for some people is helpful for pain relief, among other benefits.
That’s interesting for sure, but what I find more intriguing are the potential health benefits of juicing or blending the unheated, raw cannabis leaf into a smoothie, as I showed you in the video above.
As reported by Natural News:
In raw form, marijuana leaves and buds are actually loaded with a non-psychoactive, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-cancer nutrient compound known as cannabidiol (CBD) that is proving to be a miracle “superfood” capable of preventing and reversing a host of chronic illnesses.
According to Dr. William Courtney, a medical marijuana expert and founder of Cannabis International, CBDs bridge the gap of neurotransmission in the central nervous system, including in the brain, by providing a two-way system of communication that completes a positive “feedback loop”, which mimics the body’s own natural two-way communications system.
The result, say doctors who study CBDs in raw cannabis leaf, is that individuals whose systems are compromised by autoimmune disorders, cellular dysfunction, chronic inflammation, cancer cells, and various other illnesses can derive a wide range of health-promoting benefits simply by consuming CBDs.
If you’re lucky enough to have access to them, one of the best ways to obtain CBDs is to juice raw marijuana leaves and buds, according to Dr. Courtney.
Dr. Ethan Russo, a Seattle, Washington-area physician says this about CBDs in our bodies:
CBD works on receptors, and as it turns out, we have cannabinoids in our bodies, endogenous cannabinoids, that turn out to be very effective at regulating immune functions, nerve functions, bone functions.
In San Francisco, works one of the most preeminent medical researchers of cannabis, Dr. Donald Abrams.
Dr. Abrams is chief of Hematology Oncology, at San Francisco General Hospital, and a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.
His work on cannabis has made him an advocate of using it for medical purposes.
Dr. Abrams says this,
If cannabis were discovered in an Amazon rainforest today, people would be clambering to make as much use as they could of all of the potential benefits of the plant. Unfortunately, it carries with it a long history of being a persecuted plant.
In the first video below, Dr. Abrams has a conversation with Reason.tv about the science of medical cannabis.
He also appears in the second video, where he provides some unique insight into the benefits of ingesting medical cannabis in its raw form and introduces the newest technique for doing so, juicing.
Of course, as I demonstrated in my own video at the start of this post, you can simply add the raw marijuana leaf to the other ingredients of your favorite smoothie.
The last expert on this topic that I’ll introduce to you is not a doctor, but has had extensive experience helping people ease, and some claim, heal life-threatening diseases, such as cancer.
Canadian Rick Simpson has developed a reputation for helping very sick people better with “hemp oil”, which you can read about here.
Ingredients in Joe’s Raw Cannabis Smoothie (Make em Organic)
Those of you who did not have a pen handy while watching my raw cannabis smoothie video, may find the following table handy. And following it are some of Dr. Courtney’s raw cannabis juicing tips.
| Ingredients List | Reason | Alternatives/Addition |
| VitaMix blender | Completely purees vegetable and fruit quietly and quickly. | The Ninja Professional Blender works pretty well, and is Consumer Reports top pick, given price and performance criteria. It’s much cheaper than the VitaMixbut not as good. Watch it in action here. |
| Marijuana leaf | Read this post, or this one. | None. |
| Hemp seeds | Protein, fiber and high quality omega-3 fatty acids. | Chia and/or flax seeds. |
| Kale | Lots of vitamins/anti-oxidants, anti-inflammatory properties, aides in detoxification. | Spinach, bok choy, watercress, red leaf chard. |
| Red leaf lettuce | A good source vitamins A and K. | See Kale Alternatives above. |
| Pure Water | Less calories if use some water as the liquid base rather than some other liquid. | If you don’t care about calories, or want a thicker smoothie, substitute almond/hemp milk and/or keifer. |
| Almond milk | Adds protein, XXX and more thickness and water alone. | Hemp milk. |
| Keifer | Like all fermented foods, keifer feeds the beneficial microbiota in our bodies. New studies show that this is vital for health. More on this here. | If you’re diary intolerant, or a vegan, substitute almond/hemp milk and/or water for the keifer. |
| Frozen banana | Adds some sweetness and thickness. | Frozen papaya or stevia. |
| Blueberries | Reputedly, has the highest amount of antioxidants of any fruit, and may help the urinary track, vision, constipation and digestion. | Blackberries |
| ImmunPlex whey powder | Make sure the whey powder you use is undenatured. It provides protein and helps boost glutathione, a powerful antioxidant that is the cornerstone to healthy immune function. | Dr Mercoa is a good whey alternative, and Raw Protein is a brand that offers protein powder made from organic sprouts. It’s great, and I use it all the time, along with the whey. |
| Cinnamon | Helps slow down sugar absorption. High levels of blood sugar are likely a major cause of obesity and diabetes. More on that here. | Apple cider vinegar serves the same purpose, but doubt you’d want it in your smoothie. |
| Chlorophyll | Binds to heavy metals in our bodies and helps with their excretion. | Cilantro, parsley, watercress. |
Dr. Courtney’s Tips & Suggestions for Juicing or Adding Cannabis To Your Smoothie
- When it comes to juicing, as with any vegetable, the fresher the better.
- Cannabis that has been dried and prepared for smoking is not suitable for juicing.
- Dr. Courtney recommends that patients juice 15 leaves, and 2 large (2 to 4 inches long) raw buds per day.
- Raw buds are flowers harvested when the THC glands are clear rather than amber.
- It is recommended that you mix in another vegetable juice to cut the bitterness of the raw cannabis. (Watch my video at the top of this post.)
- A popular choice is carrot juice, and a ratio of 1 part cannabis juice to 10 parts carrot juice is a good rule of thumb.
- Split the drink into 3 parts and drink with each meal, or store for up to 3 days in a tightly sealed container in the refrigerator. (Source)
Your Takeaway
As I said at the beginng of this post, most of you would not be able to legally access or grow cannabis for its medicinal/health benefits.
So why did I bother writing about it?
Because it’s among some leading-edge research on the pharmacological benefits of plants, and some day we’re going to have acccess to this much maligned plant.
Your takeaway then is to know the value of ingesting raw cannabis and either support its legalization and/or work to make it happen in your State.
Ciao for now.
P.S. Comments are welcomed.
Last Updated on February 28, 2022 by Joe Garma
