Foods and beverages that contain cannabis in them are known as Cannabis Edibles. You would be familiar with edibles but cannabis edibles have gained much attention in recent times. People infuse cannabis into their drinks and meals for a long time but now infusion methods have evolved due to advancements. Now-a-days cannabis is being infused in baked items, jellies, gummies, candies, seasoning packets, cooking oil, chocolates, breath strips, mints, sodas, and innumerable other forms.
If you’re interested in learning more about cannabis edibles and want to get familiar with the ways to determine appropriate cannabis based products as per your requirements, then this article is a perfect-fit for you.
Strengths of Cannabis Edibles over traditional cannabis consumption methods
The advantages of consuming cannabis edibles are listed as follows:
- It provides the capability to experience the effects of cannabis without smoking and vaping.
- This way, consumption of cannabis is easy and instinctive as we are habitual to eating and drinking.
- No respiratory risk is associated with them.
- They are easily accessible.
- They have a longer duration of effects as compared to smoking.
- They are discreet in nature as they don’t possess strong and irritating odours.
Duration to experience the effect of cannabis edibles
The intake experience of cannabis edibles varies from person to person according to dosage levels and it can take approximately 30 mins to 2 hours to kick in. Various factors (i.e. metabolism rate, diet, sex, weight, capacity to tolerate cannabis) impact the duration to kick in the effects of cannabis edibles.
Modes of cannabis edibles
The most common forms of cannabis edibles are mentioned below:
Baked items: brownies, cookies, biscuits, and waffles.
Candy and sweets: gummies, chewing gum, lozenges, lollipops and hard candy, chocolate, truffles, fruit bars, and marshmallows.
Beverages: coffee, tea and iced tea, soda, energy drinks and shots, beer, wine, and alcohol.
Other items: jerky, butter, sugar, and syrups.
Considerations while intaking cannabis edibles
If you are planning to intake cannabis edibles for the very first time then you must consider the following essentials
- Use edibles that contain CBD and a very low amount of THC
- Start with the lowest dose
- Take a gap of at least two hours or preferably one day, before next consumption
Steps to intake cannabis edibles
The process involves four steps.
- Step – 1: Selecting Cannabinoid
- Step – 2: Deciding dose quantity
- Step – 3: Selecting desired product
- Step – 4: Take time
Let’s explain these four steps in detail below.
Step – 1: Selecting Cannabinoid
Chemical compounds that are found in cannabis as well as the human body came under the umbrella of cannabinoids. The classification of cannabinoids is as follows:
- Endocannabinoid – Present in the human body and responsible for the mental and physical effects on the body after cannabis consumption.
- Phytocannabinoid – Present in cannabis plant such as THC and CBD
In order to experience the high psychoactive effect of cannabis, select THC edibles but start it with a lowest dose as it does have side-effects such as weakened memory, increased heart rate etc. It is good to use it as a part of a combination of different cannabinoids to prevent serious consequences.
On the contrary, in order to experience psychoactive-free effect of cannabis, select CBD edibles as it is considered as intoxicated and effective for stress and anxiety relief. For freshers, it is recommended to initiate with CBD edibles instead of THC edibles.
Step – 2: Deciding dose quantity
It is important to determine an appropriate dose quantity of cannabinoids in products. Take dose according to milligram (mg) scale. Cannabis-ingested products contain the labels of quantities of cannabinoids present in them in mg so that consumers can get to know about its dose. It is suggested that initiate with 2mg of THC and 10 mg of CBD while consuming cannabis edibles and purchase it from a licenced cannabis dispensary.
Step – 3: Selecting desired product
There exists a wide range of cannabis infused products these days with varying potency ratios. You can have any product according to your taste and requirement. For example, most people consume weed chocolates and gums for classical edible experience. Likewise they consume cannabis beverages for hyperactive edible experience. The effects of different edibles vary depending upon their nature.
Step – 4: Take time
It is essential to take an appropriate gap between consumption patterns because infused cannabinoids have an effect through the absorption process taking place in the digestive system, so it is a bodily requirement to wait at least 30 minutes to two hours to experience the effects of cannabis edible.
Key Takeaway
It is pivotal to go through the label of product (cannabis edible) carefully prior to consumption. Consider the THC or CBD potency ratios as per dosage, and determine whether the mentioned ratio refers to the whole product or represents only a dedicated portion of cannabinoid in the product. Consume cannabis edibles with care and as per the recommendation of your therapist. Avoid addiction and overdose of cannabis as it is dangerous to health.
