Ishmael Fleishman

I have some Aqua Vita left over and I had some Nelson Sauvin Hops - I filled up the bottle and will put it away for 6 weeks to see how and if it works.

How long will they last - a search says that 6 months max before they go off even in the freezer.

Can you recommend a brand/model?

I got my seeds two or so weeks ago - I put them into a modified takeaway tek and here is the progress.

I have eaten a pellet of hops and yes it is bad but might try it again.

Stupid question but how do you get water to 130ºc? So you are suggesting cooking the hops in 100ºc water for 120 minutes to isomerize the alpha acids. - Just like you would when boiling wort to make beer. No alcohol required? What dose do you suggest? Do you suggest blending it with valerian?

I have decided to no longer use cannabis to help with sleep. For the following reasons. As I understand with current laws those caught with THC in their system will be charged even with a medical exemption. This should change in a year or two in Victoria. But I cannot risk losing my licence for 6 months. I have tried edibles and honestly, I'm not too fond of the body load, or couch lock. I am now stuck with a large number of brownies that I might just throw in the bin. I enjoy the act of smoking and the sedating effect but my lungs do not like regular use. I am an ex-tobacco smoker and I hate that burning feeling in my lungs. Vaping might be the way to go in future but I will have to try. Once legalisation rolls around and options open up I might look at cannabis again.

Can you explain this - I have access to food-grade 70%ABV alcohol. I am thinking of doing an extraction of the mix of suggested herbs. Can anyone tell me about hops - I used to homebrew so I am familiar with hops in brewing but never used hops otherwise.

Please let me know I really find good Kava helpful and used to enjoy it in the past. And yes the crap from the chemist warehouse is useless.

Thank you Halcyon Daze it is very helpful I will be going down the legal option. I am making an appointment time today with Trava. I am very much into entheogens and I treat plants with the utmost respect. However, learning to work with these medicines takes time.

I have looked at a good vaporizer and it looks like a good option however one I was looking at came in at $400 - 700 (depending on extras) a price I cannot justify at the moment. Also, I have no plans for long-term regular use. The cannabis juice is not to get high per se supposedly it's a mild relaxant and nutrient-dense popular in India and Carrebian where you have an Indian diaspora. People use the leave as tea again for the same purpose. I think the first humans to ever use cannabis would have eaten straight of the plant and eaten the seeds and then made a tea. Long before they burned it. I saw a Doco where it said that cannabis was burned in a large bowl in Ukraine just like incense in an enclosed space and that is how they first got high. I have looked at things like Instant Pot and other carboxylate tools some came to AU $500. However, I have just used an oven with a temp probe and a sealed stainless container and it worked really well I just have to watch the temperature carefully. I would be interested in trying to do a CBD carboxylate schedule instead of THC.

Yesterday I bought some herbs from my local health food shop. I made up a mix of Skullcap, Valerian, Chamomile and Passiflora for anxiety and sleep and I added Liquorice root for sweetness. I allowed my friend to administer it at.a dosage of three teaspoons in hot water soaked for 15 minutes, 30 minutes before bed. I made sure to use the placebo effect to my advantage, telling her that these herbs have "strong data" supporting their use and they are "effective", that this "will" make you sleep "really" well and that she will not have any groggy side effects on next day - a concern she has. Basically marketing the medication is just any good GP does when they prescribe any drug. She took the dose as instructed and this morning I spoke to her and she said "WOW that stuff is amazing and I slept like a baby" 8 solid hours of sleep for her. Personally, I am skeptical of how truly effective the herbs are for sleep believing that "the dose makes the poison" and anything that can heal can also harm and therefore anything that does no harm cannot offer much healing - however, I am a sceptical bastard - however good medical treatment is as much about caring for your patients as it is about the administration of the medication. So it worked, now we will see if it continues to be effective over time.

Recently I have been researching cannabis -the legal, economics, chemistry, social, historical and medical aspects of this plant. While initially, I was impressed with its effectiveness in dealing with my anxiety and stress. I am now more ambivalent after some use. Dosing is inconsistent when smoked depending on the strain and how well the joint is made. I do not like smoking anything and I can feel its impact on my lungs. This is why I have been looking at edibles. I have tried edibles but again dosing is a problem. I have had some heavy heavy experiences with edibles actually experienced visual hallucinations. Also, the body load is intense. I suffer from a hangover for 3-4 days afterwards from edibles. Coffee is your friend. I however think the hangover is just from having taken too much. I am experimenting with dosage. I have these brownies and I have cut them into 1/8ths pieces and will see if the dose is more appropriate. I have discussed medical cannabis with a medical professionals and they are supportive of its use believing that the data on cannabis for insomnia and depression is good. I am however unhappy about cannabis's legal status and the current medical cannabis laws. They were set up to fail with the intent to make the medicine as expensive and hard to get as possible. Because at the heart of it I do not feel that the Australian government ever truly wanted legal medical cannabis. I want full legalisation, however, I do not want to follow the American hyper-capitalist model. It seems that just leads to inflated claims about health benefits and mind-blowing high THC products. I am also not keen on the recreational use of cannabis and feel that medical cannabis is just a Trojan horse for recreational use. It is however early days and products, dosage may stabilise over time with a better range of treatment options. This is a great talk on the options we have going forward. I am currently exploring getting approved for medical cannabis however medical cannabis is not financially sustainable for consumers costs thousands a year in some cases and it means I would like most people to turn to the illicit market. This is not something I want to do. I see parents in Victoria with epileptic kids having to score cannabis from disreputable elements of society, which much be so hard for those families, to be turned into criminals by our government. Approved for medical cannabis seems to only be currently used to avoid legal complications, by police and employers. However, their individual state laws are changing and complex. Victoria is currently looking to remove penalties for those who have a medical cannabis exemption found to be driving with cannabinoids in their system. However, currently, you will be charged with driving under the influence even if you have an exemption. Looking at the US/Canadian cannabis market it is amazing the range of products and the THC/CBD blends that can be constructed to meet specific needs. I see they have hundreds of strains bred for specific needs. I feel that I would be interested in a 30/70 split between THC/CBD for my own needs. I do feel anxiety around cannabis because of its shifting legal status and social stigma however the medication does not induce anxiety in me. However, as I said I am undergoing another treatment to deal with the underlying anxiety and I would prefer not to use cannabis at all in the future. If it was legal to grow I would have a few plants and I would grow organic and I would juice the fresh green leaves daily.

Thank you for your detailed response - I will make up a blend per your suggestion.

Agreed - in both of our cases it works relate din part we both work in a high-stress - Violent & aggressive workplace both of us are looking for new work. My friend recently got a new job that should be better for her. However, we are using another plant healer to recover from the trauma that my friend and I carry which contributes to our anxiety. Totally agree My local health food shop has some Passiflora incarnata and I will try it. It will act as a stop-gap.

Just smell nice - but nothing but a placebo IMO Passionflower looks interesting - is this referring to Passiflora incarnate? Might buy some dried herb and if it works grow it.

Home distillation is ILLEGAL in OZ - However, the law is grey because the criminal law does not cover distillation it is under the excise act. As long as you do not trade or sell products the ATO and the police do not seem to care. Do not talk about it do not promote it not even to friends or family. Distillation is HUGE in Australia. This is why homebrew shops can sell stills and boilers and the police do not care. Walk into any homebrew shop and see the shelves and shelves of flavours that you can add to neutral spirits. No one is adding this stuff to commercial vodka. Then you will see the 25kg bags of dextrose sugar. Mountains of the stuff. They are used to make sugar wash turning it into neutral spirits. Not sweetening coffee. However, I fear a change in community attitudes and government could force a crackdown. Police raiding people's homes, smashing down your grandfather's door. Australian drug law is broken. Australia has become a boring conservative dystopian nation of bureaucrats. Remember the Australian Larrikin. They no longer exist. They were deemed "inappropriate" lacking "data". I am not against science and reason I am vaccinated and covid is not fake news. Just drug laws that are anti-scientific and a war that has failed. It is not as good as full proper still but it works - See https://www.youtube.com/c/StillIt/videos for some great examples of what you can do. Here are two videos Sorry, this is incorrect distillation cuts aka heads/hearts/tails is physics no technology or product can get around the fact that acetone, methanol and ethanol have different boiling points. You should always make cuts if you want a quality product. Suggest people read Firewater on Reddit - there is an Australian Home Distillers forum.

I have a dear and beloved friend a 57-year-old professional female who lives in Victoria. She has a history of anxiety, depression, insomnia and Excoriation disorder (obsessive skin picking). She was on several SSRIs, anti-psychotics, and more. None of the medications was working. So she had another friend offer her a cannabis joint. She has been having the occasional joint for 1 month during this time her anxiety, depression, insomnia and Excoriation disorder have gone away her skin is no longer full of holes. In a month she has tapered off all other meds. She was calling her experience with cannabis "amazing" and was glad to no longer take several pills a day. Today her family found out that she smokes 1 joint every few days. Their response was to book her into a private drug rehabilitation clinic for one weak. They have threatened to cut off all contact if she does not go. They are calling her a junky and that she will lose her job and that marijuana is a gateway to heroin and cocaine. Then her sister who works for the police has put a notice on her licence that the police must pull her over whenever they come across her and that is to be treated like a drug addict and will be tested for drugs. I feel that this must be illegal, abuse of police powers and police harassment. Police should not be able to target someone without criminal cause/justification?????? Her romantic partner even turned on her, her children, sister and parents have all turned on her for smoking a fucking joint. My friend is beside herself, she was having the best day and then her supposedly loving family does this. It just shows me how insane Cannabis Propaganda is and how it has fucked up people's minds have become regarding a plant that has been used for 10,000 years and while it is temporarily restricted it soon will be made legal in a few short years. Questions Can you be forced into rehab? Can the police target you without cause? How fucked up is this for a joint?

Looks like I am getting a few recommendations Trava Health Cannatrek Cannabis Doctors Australia Tetra Health Astrid Should I pick one and apply to that one or should I apply to a few at the same time?

This seems to be the case the family is a quiet working wealthy type, beach house, farm etc and they are using their wealth and ignorance to bully my friend. I had a look at https://honahlee.com.au/articles/cannabis-clinics-australia/ and it lists clinics however which one do I pick and why would I choose a $1500 consultation over a $0 consultation. What difference is there between them? I however fear that even if she gets a pharmacy script - her family will reject her because she is just a junky - legal or not. Remember marijuana is a deadly plant with its roots in hell and you will kill your brother if you take a single puff.

She is a submissive person who is close to her family and has trouble standing up for herself. Feeding into her anxiety. I have suggested that she should get a medical exemption. Can anyone recommend a provider who can provide such paperwork in Victoria?

4. Would be keen to grow them

San Pedro is the loving grandfather spirit, the love and insight with absolute kindness and gentleness. It has transformed my life. I would recommend it as the first choice for the self-treatment of those in need.

EDITED TO: I have no interest in recreational use for me it is medicine. The problem with psychedelic-assisted therapy is that detractors will simple lump everyone even remotely associate into the recreational pile. There has been a concerted attempt to differentiate recreational from therapeutic. The whole community is diverse but society focuses on a narrow subset because they are easy to dismiss.

I have a diagnosis of two comorbid personality disorders and the total ineffective treatment options available through the current mainstream therapeutic is what brought me to psychedelic-assisted therapy. I have no interest in recreational use for me it is medicine. Unfortunately, the TGA and our politicians are ultra-conservative and it will be decades before these treatments will become available in Australia. While its use is spreading legally in the developed world and has an extremely long legal and safe history of use around the traditional societies. I was not willing to suffer for 20 years until I could access treatment I would have killed myself before then just like thousand do every year who would be help from this treatment. I did my research and joined some professional psychedelic treatment organisations to educate myself. I even spoke to my GP about psychedelic-assisted therapy. He agreed that it works, the data and research are solid but we would not see it in Australia for 20 years. At that point, I sourced San Pedro and learned everything I could about preparation and dosage. I gave myself a good set and setting and took a small dose. Afterwards, I journaled and integrated the experience. I am now planning my third experience in 5 months. I have gone from suicidal on SSRI, anti-anxiety meds, and anti-psychotic meds to being only on a beta-blocker to deal with my heart palpitations. I have lost weight and regained my interest in sex. I am calmer, happier, more stable, more affectionate, more empathetic, more loving and caring even with strangers. I now fail to meet enough of the criteria of the DSM to be diagnosed with the two comorbid personality disorders. All from two doses of cactus. On the negative, I am more prone to feeling my emotions and openly crying about the pain and suffering in the world. I choose cactus because the purchase, growing & possession of cactus is legal and making the tea is easy - even if making a cup of tea in the eyes of the law makes me a criminal. Research has focused on psilocybin, ayahuasca, Ibogaine and MDMA, the reason is political. Politicians with their limited education have not heard of psilocybin and they would support research that could help people. However, LSD, ecstasy & shrooms are deadly schedules 1 drug that will kill you or that is what they would like people to believe. Mescaline has had limited research because the duration of 6 - 12 hours does not fit into a standard workday making it not a suitable candidate for psychedelic-assisted therapy. Even if it is highly effective however I have heard of Germans researching therapeutic mescaline. People need to realize that psychedelics are only half of the picture of psychedelic-assisted therapy. The other is having a treatment team or at the very least a supporting and loving friends/family/shaman/guide/GP/psychologist to help with the trip sitting and then to guide you through the psychotherapeutic integration and without that integration the drug benefits/insights wears off over time. It takes me two months to fully integrate the experience, the dreams and insights blossom over time - I can only imagine that as my neuroplasticity increases after every treatment with new neural connections my brain heals and in so doing I see and experience the world in new ways. Now there are some brave GPs, therapists and psychiatrists who are risking their careers by helping people in Australia they are hard to find and access but they do exist. I risk my job because I sought out an effective treatment but I will fight to make this treatment known. My concerns are that we will have a repeat of the 1960s and the religious and political will seek to kill research and treatment again so we need to be careful. I am also concerned with drug tourism. People seeking treatment go to Peru or Brazil and get raped or killed this will be again used to shut this treatment down, even as tens of thousands are killed by doctors every year in "accidents". Finally, the rush to monetize and capitalise on psychedelic-assisted therapy will lock out the poor, and those in need, this is our medicine we should not divest our interests to corporations. We are at the crossroads spread the message, and share the love by helping those in need find psychedelic-assisted therapy in Australia.