Edibles are all the rage right now. A lot of people prefer edibles to smoking cannabis for a few reasons. I would say one is that it’s more approachable for people who do not smoke cannabis. I have found that pretty much anyone who does smoke cannabis generally does prefer to smoke, as the results can be a bit more predictable.
Another reason would be the fact that you can do edibles and really no one is the wiser, unlike smoking or even vaping, where the people around you know that you are getting blazed. As far as we’ve come with regulating and taxing cannabis – I won’t call it legalization because that is NOT what we have rolled out in this country – there is still a significant stigma associated with cannabis. Not to mention, as I just alluded to, you can’t just smoke anywhere. You can take edibles pretty much anywhere, and while it might not be technically legal, no one really cares because either no one knows or, at the very least, it doesn’t really affect anyone around you. It’s kind of like getting paid cash under the table or jaywalking. People kind of turn a blind eye to it because it’s a victimless crime.
I also think a lot of people find it more in line with their normal routines. People eat all the time in fact, it’s a normal part of life. Back in the day, a lot of people smoked cigarettes, and I think that made it easier for people to make the transition to smoking weed. Comparatively, hardly anyone smokes cigarettes in this day and age, for good reason. I think people associate smoking with being unhealthy. And while consuming cannabis via smoking is much safer than smoking cigarettes, it is still the form of consumption that is most harmful to our lungs.
How Does Eating Edibles Differ from Smoking Concerning Your Experience?
For anyone who has ever done edibles, you know that generally it takes much longer to experience the effects. That’s because the entire process of consumption via ingestion is vastly different from the one that you will have if you smoke or vape. When you smoke or vaporize cannabis, phytocannabinoids such as THC, CBD, and CBN, along with terpenes, are absorbed through the lungs into the bloodstream. From there, cannabinoids circulate throughout the body and interact with the endocannabinoid system, including CB1 and CB2 receptors, as well as other biological targets. This method of consumption usually only takes a couple of minutes before you start feeling the onset effects.
When you ingest cannabis, it has to go through quite the journey before you feel its effects. After THC is absorbed through the digestive system, it passes through the liver, where some of the delta-9-THC is converted into 11-hydroxy-THC. This metabolite is also psychoactive and, depending on individual physiology and metabolism, can contribute to the considerably stronger and longer-lasting effects people often experience with edibles.
My personal experience with edibles is that you really do get the most bang for your buck, and it’s not even close. You can take a few rice-grain-sized samples of RSO and get to feeling pretty good for a few hours. This is due to the slow release of THC through ingestion vs. the quick release that you will get from smoking or vaping. I’ve also experienced taking far too much THC via edibles, and I will be the first to say it can be unsafe. The first time I took 80 mg of THC via a Cheeba Chew in one sitting, I could no longer drive my car, and I asked my wife to drive home after going to a movie. This was also the first time I ever hallucinated off cannabis, so I knew that driving home was not a good idea. I also took an entire ml of RSO one time, and that took me to a very dark place. Admittedly, I was going through a very difficult time in my personal life, and while the experience was ultimately beneficial, during the experience I just wanted to get out, and for the first time I understood why some people less initiated with cannabis would go to the emergency room.
Emergency Room Visit Spikes in Legalized States
The prohibitionists of cannabis – largely the far right – will say that legalizing cannabis is generally harmful to society, and they use the spike in hospital visits of people who took too many edibles as evidence of this. Well, causation and correlation are not the same things. You see, if a state has legalized cannabis and you take too many edibles in that state, then going to the emergency room seems more reasonable because you don’t have to worry about getting arrested for consuming and possessing cannabis. As opposed to eating too many edibles in an illegal state, where you are apprehensive about going to the emergency room because you are worried about being under the influence of an illegal substance. Yes, more people, I’m sure, are having overwhelming experiences in legal states because more people are taking readily available edibles more frequently when you can just go to a store.
The Safest Way to Do Edibles
You didn’t really think I was going to get through an entire blog post and not mention DIY, did you? Yes, the best way is to grow your own cannabis or get the raw materials to make edibles from someone who grew their own cannabis so as to avoid the potentially toxic chemicals no doubt contained in most commercial cannabis. I love to cook. It’s a trade skill I’ve learned in parallel to working in the cannabis space my entire life, and I love to merge passions. So grow your own, and cook your own. Getting the dosage right is something that is challenging and something I’m still working on myself, but once I figure that part out, you better believe I’m going to let the world know via a blog post on the subject. One love.
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