THC Infused Edibles Are A Great Alternative To Smoking Cannabis
Smoking cannabis isn’t always the best option for everyone. Some people have breathing problems such as asthma that interferes with consuming harsh smoke. Or maybe they don’t like smelling like smoke. Perhaps their living situation does not allow them the opportunity to smoke inside their own home. If that is the case for you or someone you know, they should consider cannabis-infused foods, aka edibles.
Edibles are available in a variety of forms including but not limited to: candies, cookies, brownies, mints, breath strips, water, soda, lemonade, plus much much more.
Edible foods with cannabis date back well before cookies and candies though. The use of cannabis and foods date back to India in the 10th century. This was not the brownies that we are accustomed to. Utilized as a sleeping agent and appetite stimulant a combination of mashed up weed, ghee (a type of butter), spices, and milk. This cannabis edible is still consumed in India today according to Holife Festival, a website dedicated to cultural celebrations in India.
Some of the sublingual edibles available in Washington State include Fairwinds' Sriracha Tincture, Happy Apple Cider, Zootdrops' Yippee Ki-Yay Mandarin Lime, and Sleep from Green Revolution. Each of these tinctures utilizes different cannabinoids to deliver a desired effect to the consumer. Zootdrops use specific cannabinoids in their Yippee Ki-Yay drops to give consumers a boost of energy and help with those creative juices.
Dosing Cannabis Edibles
Opportunities to infuse cannabis and food are endless. With all the cannabis edibles available it is important to understand the two different ways of consuming them. There are two common ways of enjoying edibles.
Sublingual
You can drop a liquid form under your tongue, this is called sublingual. This method allows the user to feel the effects of the cannabis quicker. However, the effects do not last as long. Edibles like tinctures, lollipops, and lozenges fall into this category.
Tinctures utilize an eyedropper to deliver cannabis containing liquid under the tongue of the user. This delivers the cannabis directly to the bloodstream of the user, which is why the experience the effects faster. Tinctures are also very low in calories, this offers a healthy alternative to the common brownies or gummy snacks that are available. They are also extremely versatile, you don't only have to drop it under your tongue. You can mix the liquids into drinks or food. Gum and drinks also fall into this category.
Brownies & Cookies
When cannabis is heated up it goes through a process called decarboxylation. This strips the cannabis of many of the inactive terpenes that are beneficial to patients according to Medical Jane. These inactive terpenes are converted to THC and provide medical benefits to the consumer. Edibles that are ingested allow these terpenes to target the sensitive areas within a person's digestive tract, where the food will be broken down.
Cannabis can also be combined with butter, olive oil, or coconut oil to create an essential ingredient for most edibles. Cannabis edibles that are eaten are referred to as gastrointestinal uptake. This method includes any cookie, brownie, gummy, capsules, or chocolate, plus other foods. In order to feel the effects of these types of edibles, they must be ingested. Many of these types of edibles are easy to make at home.
Effects Of Edibles
Edibles affect everyone differently. Smoking cannabis gives you the opportunity to maintain control over the amount you ingest. The biggest mistake people make with edibles is not waiting long enough for them to hit you. Digestion times vary from person to person, this impacts the time frame in which an edible will hit you. Users have experienced heightened senses of anxiety and nervousness due to the very different effects experienced when ingesting cannabis.
There are a few things you can do to increase your success with edibles. Be sure to eat something beforehand. While this may seem counterintuitive, having food in your stomach will slow the high to a manageable pace. Also, do not eat a second edible because the first one hasn't hit you yet. You need to have patience when consuming edibles. Understand that your body might react differently than your friends. Just because they can eat a whole tray of brownies, doesn't mean you should.
Micro & Macro dosing
Microdosing, which means a small dose, allows the user to regulate the amount of cannabis they are consuming at one time. Contrary to popular belief, getting higher and higher does not always benefit a medical cannabis user. Cannabis consumers who microdose allow themselves to regulate pain or other medical conditions without feeling overly stoned. This allows people to function as members of society while treating ailments that cannabis can treat.
Leafly states that there is no magical microdose that fits every person. There is a serious amount of trial and error that goes into determining the appropriate amount of cannabis for an individual when microdosing. Remember the goal with microdosing is not to feel stoned, but to receive the medicinal effects of cannabis.
Macrodosing is the opposite of microdosing. This type of dosing of cannabis pushes the user to the edge, meaning their whole goal is to get really high. There is a place for this. Celebrations like 4/20 and 7/10 encourage getting really stoned as a way of celebrating the day. There are people who cannot get high from a 10mg edible. California's newly created recreational cannabis market has put caps on the THC content of edibles. Brands selling 300 and 500mg edibles had to pull their products off the shelves.
There are still ways to experience a macrodose high though. However, this method is not for someone that has limited experience in cannabis. High Times defends the macrodosing movement going as far to state, "So if getting high is what we love, then it makes sense that getting high really high is what we really love."
Hopefully you are able to experience the magic of both micro and macro dosing of cannabis edibles. Edibles are a great way to get high at a family reunion, or before a long flight without having to conceal smoke.
Legal Purchasing Limits for Cannabis Products
Adults 21 and over can purchase up to one ounce of usable cannabis flower, 16 ounces of cannabis-infused edibles in solid form, 72 ounces of cannabis drinkables, and 7 grams of cannabis concentrates.
Three ounces of usable cannabis flower, forty-eight ounces of cannabis-infused edibles in solid form, two hundred sixteen ounces of cannabis drinkables, and twenty-one grams of cannabis concentrates, per the Washington State Department of Health.
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