Noone ever answered this question correctly..and the simple answer is NO!! Medical Marijuana dispensaries sell "capsules" which contain pure resin glands...more commonly known as hash. The resin glands DO NOT need to be heated for the cannabinoids to become active. The reason some people believe that THC needs to be heated....and/or cooked into an oil base is because most people use leaves, which have a low concentration of cannabinoids, to cook with. So in order to concentrate the cannabinoids they cook the leaves into butter, oil, alcohol, or an other cannabiniod-soluable substance. If you are using leaves, I recomend this method..or else your gonna have to eat up to an ounce of leaves to aquire any effect. Buds and hash are more potent. Buds are active in doses as little as a gram (potent kind bud) and hash can be active in as little as .1 gram (real potent shit). But, heating cannabinoids doesn't do anything except make them more soluable with oil, alcohol, ect....and of course if you heat them to 362 degrees you can turn them into vapor, which can be inhaled for maximum effect.

Try this simple method for cooking with leaves:

Freeze Leaves

Put frozen leaves in a big bowl

Add enough cold water so that leaves are completly submerged

Stir like a mad man (or use an electric mixing device) For a lighter (blond) hash with smaller yeild, stir gently.

Strain

Run greenish/brownish liquid through a set of bubble bags. (For you ghetto folk out there that might not wanna pay for bubble hash bags, try using pantyhose)

The bottom bag should collect potent resin glands.

Scoop that shit (yes, it probally looks like glassy poop) from the bottom of the bottom bag and add it to whatever you're eating/drinking.

Then you can put the remaining mixture in a glass pan then put it out in the sun to evaporate. After the water is completely evaporated, scrape the glass pan with a razor blade for some more potent resin glands.

You can add this powdery shit to. whatever you want. You can simply put it in a capsule and swallow it. You could press it into hash and sell it (only if you're a caregiver or dispensary employee of course). Or you could smoke it.

Yeah, its a little bit of work, but, its much easier than trying to get the cannabinoids from a half ounce of leaves to condense into 2 tablespoonds of butter without losing any.

Yall just got served. Have a nice day.