Dear Cheri,

How often should I apply marijuana topicals?  And by the way, I have to say “Thank you.”  I took your DIY topicals course and I have been making my own pain relief salve that does wonders for my arthritis.  I actually can make it at half the dose I use to buy, which makes it less expensive.  And also, making my own it costs a fraction of what it used to cost to buy at the dispensary.  So, thank you, thank you, thank you!

I am soooo happy you got value from the DIY topicals course.  And so happy to hear that you took my advice and experimented with the dosing.  

When I first started the course several years back, one of the first comments I got was from a gentleman who had a similar experience to you.  He found he did not need a super strong dose to find relief, which in turn saved on the expense of the cannabis.

So when it comes to how often to use cannabis salve or other topicals it is simple.  Use them as often as you need to or whenever they stop working and you need more relief.

Cannabis might be one of the ONLY medicines you can use “ad libre,” meaning as much as you need to find relief.  And everyone responds differently, so what brings you relief might be different from others.

For more information about ad libre dosing of cannabis see this post and video.

In the meantime, the best course of action is to try different things and amounts to see what your body and your symptoms respond to best.  

Cannabis is extremely safe, especially in topical form. That’s because unless it is a transdermal patch, and we are NOT talking about those here, cannabis topicals do not cross the blood barrier.  Likewise, they won’t make you feel high, but they can provide localized relief from pain, inflammation, itching and a whole lot more.

So how often to use cannabis salves or re-apply cannabis topicals?  As often as you need!