It's basically impossible to get high-CBD chocolate. I've only really been able to find two brands of chocolate in a high-CBD formulation: Kiva, and Revive Pure Life. Neither is available from any dispensary in Los Angeles or the Bay Area, at least according to Weedmaps.

This is a problem for my family. My mother has been in memory care for a few months now, but she continues to be very agitated there. She's been prescribed two different kinds of atypical antipsychotics to help manage her agitation, but most of these medications are all off-label for dementia patients, and in fact come with black-box warnings recommending against their use due to increased risk of death. Their efficacy is dubious at best. The FDA has only recently approved brexpiprazole as the first atypical antipsychotic for dementia-related agitation, and that approval is not without controversy.

Out of a sense of helplessness and desperation, we decided to try cannabis. Surprisingly, this seemed to help! However, my mom is a pretty picky eater, and she wanted nothing to do with the typical gummies or weed candies. She's obviously not going to smoke, and administering a tincture is challenging, given how much subterfuge is already required to get her to take all her other medication. Pretty soon, her coffee is going to be more medication than actual coffee!

She does like chocolate, though, and I was initially able to source the Revive Pure Life at a dispensary not too distant from Mom's memory care facility. Alas, that appeared to have been the only available batch in Los Angeles. When we ran out a few weeks later, we were staring down the barrel of a major relapse in her behavior issues, and were totally helpless to source more chocolate. I attempted to contact the manufacturer directly, but never heard back from them. I also tried to talk several dispensaries into making a custom order for me -- but no luck there, either! In desperation, I decided to just make my own chocolate.

Gathering Supplies

It turns out making chocolate is not too difficult. I ordered a few chocolate molds and a digital thermometer on Amazon. I also picked up a large bar of chocolate.

Next, I needed cannabis. I decided to get tinctures of cannabis in MCT oil, since oil could dissolve in the chocolate without affecting the texture. I also wanted to match her previous 7:1 dosage from the Revive Pure Life, to avoid having to get a new script from her psychiatrist. There are no 7:1 tinctures conveniently available, but I was able to get Papa & Barkley's 30:1 and a 1:1 tinctures from a nearby dispensary.

Making Chocolate

I began with a test bar, both to figure out the quantity of chocolate per bar and to get the technique right. I heated the chocolate in a pot, set into another pot full of water, until it was 120°F. Then, I allowed it to cool until it was around 90°F before pouring into the mold. Waiting for it to cool down took a substantial amount of time. I weighed the pot before and after the pour, and determined that my molds comfortably fit around 65 grams of chocolate per bar.

Now, it was time for some arithmetic. I wanted to match the Revive Pure Life bars: 7mg CBD and 1mg THC per serving, or 70mg CBD and 10mg THC per 10-square bar. I needed to figure out how much of my 1:1 and 30:1 tinctures to use to get the correct ratio in the chocolate. Thankfully the tinctures were very well-labeled.

To figure out how much of each tincture to use, it is necessary to solve a system of two linear equations, one for the total THC and one for the total CBD. Rather than walk through the math, here's a calculator:

This works out to 2.44ml of oil added to 65 grams of chocolate. However -- this is a problem. I'm using 72% chocolate, which contains about 30% fat (cocoa butter) -- about 20 grams per 65g bar. Adding 2.44ml of oil would increase the fat content by over 10%, likely resulting in a soft, greasy-feeling bar. To make sure I ended up with a nicely tempered bar, I ended up halving the oil, making the dose 2 squares instead of 1 square.

To make the medicated chocolate, I heated enough chocolate for 4 bars to around 120°F, and let it cool to 90°F. Then, I added my cannabis tincture and stirred gently but thoroughly. Finally, I poured the chocolate into the mold and allowed it to set at room temperature for quite a while.

After letting it sit for a while, it solidified nicely and got a very pretty swirly texture. I wonder if this was the result of the tincture I added?

Upshot

I wrapped the chocolate I made in aluminum foil and proudly delivered it to my mom's memory care community. The next day, I learned that the staff cannot legally administer this chocolate to my mom. Apparently, the medicine cart cannot include an obviously home-made product. They're only allowed to administer cannabis products that are "commercially produced".

So in the end, this project was, technically, a complete waste of time. Still, I had fun learning about chocolate! Plus, now I have a bunch of CBD chocolate for home consumption.

When you're on a caregiving journey for a loved one with dementia, you quickly learn to take the small wins and look at the bright side. Stay tuned for my next post -- producing professional-looking cannabis product wrappers.