Product: DNG Medicated Strawberry Lemonade
Dispensary: 420 Central; 420 W Central Santa Ana, CA 92707
Editor’s Note: Welcome to our weekly medical marijuana review column, Toke of the Week. In this space, our stable of card-carrying cannabis connoisseurs will be reviewing all the latest strains, edibles and other cannabis-related products. Whether you are a cancer survivor trying to wean yourself from prescription medication or just a typical clinically overstressed suburban smoker, this column is your go-to destination for all-things ganja.
When you eat a solid edible, the way your body metabolizes the THC is pretty standard: It takes anywhere between 45 minutes to two hours for you to feel any effects. THC-infused liquid, on the other hand, has a much faster absorption rate, making it an entirely different beast.
The most alluring aspect of DNG Medicated Lemonade is that it uses RSO oil, which is a whole-plant extract. According to a theory known as the “Entourage Effect,” the benefit of using the whole plant instead of single THC and CBD extractions, is that the cannabinoids and terpenes within the plant work together synergistically, providing more healing benefits than isolated cannabinoid extracts do.
Despite this, I was still nervous about ingesting 120 mg of THC— especially because I’m a lightweight when it comes to edibles. But when I got home from Whole Foods with a warm 16-oz. kale, pineapple, spinach, parsley, spirulina and apple juice, I decided to get creative. Although I could’ve easily put my drink in the fridge to lower the temperature, I decided to pour my medicated lemonade into heart-shaped ice cube trays to put into my juice. I wasn’t sure how the strawberry cannabis flavor was going to affect the taste of my juice, but I figured anything would probably make a kale-parsley-spirulina blend taste better.
The downfall to making ice cubes, however, is that they usually take at least an hour to form. But when you freeze medicated lemonade, it takes at least two hours for the liquid to freeze. By the time my strawberry cubes were ready, my green juice was warm AF. I cracked three ice cubes out of the tray and into my drink. My green juice immediately shifted from having a medium green hue, to having a dark, sea-weed green color. Although the color of my juice didn’t look very appetizing, I was still hopeful.
I took the first sip of my now-very-cold juice, and I didn’t taste too much of a difference. But after about 15 minutes, the strawberry flavor gave life to my drink. The sweetness of the medicated strawberry lemonade accented the pineapple juice in my drink, while muting the pungent flavors of the kale and parsley. I also wasn’t able to taste the flavor of cannabis at all—unusual for edibles of any kind. But as the ice cubes began to melt, the color of my drink shifted from dark sea-weed green to a murky brownish-black. Although it looked as if it would taste like tar, my juice was now, finally, delicious.
As the cubes melted in my juice, the more stoned I felt with each sip— and almost instantly. In theory, dividing up the medicated lemonade into 12 pieces breaks down the dosage to about 10-mg per frozen heart, which is easier to manage than 120-mg (for me anyway!). And for the first time in my edible eating life, I didn’t want to crawl into my bed and hide as a result of being ridiculously baked. What I learned from making DNG Medicated Lemonade ice cubes is that frozen doses allow for consuming medicated drinks at a safer pace. If the thought of liquid-edibles intimidates you, turning medicated drinks into ice cubes is a great way to control the levels of THC you absorb—take it from a lightweight!
