Does Eating Weed Get You High?

Weed can be consumed in its raw form, or it can become an active ingredient in one of your favourite recipes. Food infused with marijuana are called edibles.

Eating raw weed is not the best way to get high for a variety of reasons. First, it takes much more of the drug to produce the same effects as other methods such as smoking, vaping, or eating edibles. This is because raw weed contains very little THC, the ingredient that causes the high that many users seek. Raw weed contains a chemical called THCA, which is converted into THC when heated.

The THCA in raw weed could be converted into THC by heating the drug in the oven or in a frying pan, but that would still not give the user an effective high.  The human body has difficulty processing raw weed– a required step in order for THC to reach the bloodstream. THC won’t have an effect if it doesn’t reach the bloodstream. Instead, it will simply be expelled as waste. Many users have also reported that eating raw weed has made them sick.

When it comes to oral consumption, edibles are a much better choice. Heating the weed by cooking it helps convert THCA into THC, which makes the user feel high. Moreover, THC is easier to digest when it bonds with fat or alcohol. That’s why making edibles involves more than just adding a pinch of weed into whatever you happen to be cooking. Many edibles are made with canna-butter (butter infused with cannabis) or canna-oil (oil infused with cannabis).

Edibles are often treats like brownies, cookies, and hard candies, but there’s no limit to what kind of food can be made with marijuana. Savvy chefs might make weed-infused hummus, bacon, pizza, guacamole, and more.

The high caused by edibles is often stronger and longer lasting than the high from smoking. This is because edibles are often very concentrated, and the THC is metabolized in a different way. When pot is smoked, it passes into the bloodstream via the alveoli found in your lungs. According to the Drug Policy Alliance, this produces a nearly instantaneous effect that peaks after an hour and lasts around two hours at most.

When cannabis is eaten, it is metabolized by the liver, which turns THC into 11-hydroxy-THC. This chemical is thought to cause a more intense high. Because the THC needs to go through the stomach and then the liver, the high from edibles also takes longer to set in. It can take from thirty minutes to two hours for the high to kick in, and it can last up to six hours.