Updated on September 15th, 2023
Cannabis edibles dosage can be frightening to even think about if you have never dealt with it before. But also for experienced edibles consumers, there is a lot to take into account. In this article, you will learn all about cannabis edibles dosing, so you can confidently and safely consume them.
But before we start outlining the things that you need to consider, it is good to know that cannabis is not harmful to your body, unlike most big pharma meds. Doctor Sanjay Gupta said that only about 6% of the scientific research on cannabis aim at the benefits, and in all other studies (94%), researchers try to point out negative issues.
So, although people are waking up to the enormous benefits of cannabis, after roughly 80 years of prohibition, the unjustified bias against ‘marijuana’ is still there. Nevertheless, humanity did not record one single death from cannabis ever.
From 1999 to 2016, more than 200,000 people died in the United States from overdoses related to prescription opioids, according to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and prevention)
Why is Cannabis Dosage important?
We have dedicated separate articles to the benefits of CBD oil and cannabis. However, once you realize the benefits, the next mind-barrier is fear of side effects. What are precisely the side effects of marijuana, and how can we deal with them?
First of all, cannabis side effects only occur when you take too much. That differs from person to person and depends on several things, which we will discuss later in this article.
Cannabis Side Effects
Even if you cannot die from a cannabis overdose or experience any harm to your health, it still can scare the living *** out of you. Some people get so scared they never want to touch it again. Therefore it is crucial to make sure you stay in your comfort zone.
Cannabidiol has no side effects, other than perhaps a dry mouth with higher doses. On the contrary, CBD is an antagonizer to THC and, to a certain extend, reduces the ‘high’. We therefore always recommend keeping a bottle of the best hemp oil ready, just in case.
THC, on the other hand, has one side-effect, getting ‘high’. To treat severe medical conditions, like cannabis prostate cancer treatment, you’ll have to take a lot of weed. Therefore you need to gradually build a tolerance first, for example, with medical marijuana gummies.
Some of the unpleasant effects of becoming too ‘high’ are:
- Concentration loss
- Longer reaction time
- Slurred speech
- Red eyes
- Confusion
- Short-term memory loss
- Coordination difficulties
- Lightheadedness
- Weaker muscles
- Throwing up
- Dysphoria
- Low energy
- Paranoia
- Anxiety
- Hallucinations (extreme cases)
- Delusions (extreme cases)
Edibles Dosage – Risks of Errors
When you drink too much, you will get a hangover. The more you drink, the lousier you’ll feel, and you even risk dying. So in that perspective, cannabis is safer than alcohol. Besides, alcohol is about twice as addictive as cannabis.
When you consume cannabis edibles, you cannot see the amount of THC and have a delayed effect. You need to focus on these two things to avoid this unpleasant space trip to the moon and back.
1a) Ready-made Edibles – Read the package
Most retailers and online canna dispensaries in Canada these days provide dosage information on the package in milligrams (mg), package total, and amount per edible.
1b) Home-made Edibles – Pay attention
Several cannabis products are suited to make your edibles. Oils, isolate, or you can include THC distillate with terpenes in recipes.
When you didn’t make them yourself, ask and make sure the answers are clear, and you positively know how much is in the edible you are about to eat. Usually, it is easy to calculate as a ratio of the total weight versus your edible weight.
For example, adding 100 mg of THC to a brownie cake and cutting it into four pieces, one piece contains 25 mg. But if you don’t like the high, don’t worry.
There is also CBD bud for sale. When you buy CBD flower and include them in salads, you can avoid a ‘high’ altogether. Or order CBD edibles.
2) Delayed Effect – Don’t be impatient
Probably the biggest reason for edibles overdosing is the delayed effect. This can catch off-guard both new and experienced cannabis edibles consumers. How long it takes before you start feeling the effects of cannabis or hemp depends on several things.
The most important one is your stomach content. If you take the edibles on an empty stomach, the effects come much quicker. However, taking them after a big meal can take up to four hours before you feel the impact.
The mistake people make is that they think it doesn’t work. Nothing is happening. They start thinking; maybe I had a piece of the cake without cannabis in it. They get impatient and take some more, often going on a trip that can last for many hours.
Consider this when you don’t feel anything after you consumed a cannabis edible:
- To kick-start your digestion, take an organic snack like fresh fruit.
- Sometimes people don’t feel anything for the first couple of times (two or three) eating THC edibles. Therefore repeat the exact edible dosage at least 8 hours later or the next day.
- Some people do not react to marijuana edibles at all. Probably the absorption of the THC through their gut is somehow not working.
In these cases, try other consumption methods like sublingual, topicals, vaping, etc. Find the best CBD oil pen here.
Cannabis Edible Precautions
Recreational Tolerance
If you are a new user, the ‘high’ effect is the strongest. You need to take this into account when dosing an edible. Start with a very low dosage as a precaution.
The longer you take cannabis, the more tolerance against its impairing effects you develop.
Medical Tolerance
Unlike the ‘high’ effect, we do NOT develop a tolerance for the therapeutic effects of cannabis. On the contrary, we develop tolerance to many ‘big pharma meds’, making them less effective the longer we take them.
However, medical benefits do not fade, so there is no need to take more overtime for medicinal purposes.
Safe surroundings
Cannabis veterans recommend new users choosing the place they consume cannabis carefully. The comfort of your own home or familiar place and being surrounded by loved ones or close friends can be a crucial comforting factor when some anxiety effects kick in.
Avoid alcohol and drugs
When you drink alcohol or take drugs parallel to the edibles, the effect might be amplified, and you risk getting too high. Non-alcoholic CBD wine is OK.
Edible Dosage Calculator
The trick with calculating your cannabis edibles dosage is to stay within your ‘comfort zone’ concerning the impairing effects. In other words, avoid getting too high.
From what you have read so far, you understand that many factors influence how high you get from a specific dosage. Therefore there is no precise algorithm that will keep you from overtripping. Nevertheless, we have put together a chart to use as a guideline for calculating your edibles dosage.
New users will not get high if they use 2.5 mg to 5 mg of THC per dose. The limit for a new user probably lays below 10 mg for avoiding any mind-altering effects. In contrast, experienced users will not suffer substantial impairing consequences even at the higher dosage levels.
| THC mg per Dose | Effects | Medical Effects | Target Audience |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 to 5 mg |
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| 5 to 10 mg |
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| 10 to 20 mg |
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| 20 to 30 mg |
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| 30 to 50 mg |
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| 50 to 100 mg |
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Following these guidelines and using common sense should make edibles dosing pretty easy, almost like dosing oil with our CBD dosage chart. Except for some instances, anxiety often can not be improved with cannabis, but in most cases, it increases it.
Therefore people take cannabidiol for anxiety. But what is the best CBD oil for anxiety? Please read all about it in our separate comparison article.
Edible Overdose Treatment
We don’t want to overemphasize this aspect of THC edibles because even with a severe overdose, there is no harmful effect on your health or body. But it is essential to realize and remember when you accidentally had too much.
Things you can do to ease an unpleasant overdose ‘high’:
- Drink enough. Make sure that you drink enough to keep your body hydrated. A CBD tea wholesale supply would be just what you need. (just kidding, but you get the point).
- Calm down and relax. The best way to overcome an intense ‘high’ is to sleep it off in a safe and familiar environment. Remind yourself that cannabis is not harmful to your health.
- CBD is counteractive. Cannabidiol counteracts the impairing effects of THC to a certain extent. Take a high dose of CBD; depending on how much THC you had, 50 to 300 mg of CBD will likely reduce the high or at least shorten it. Grab some CBD gummy as it also strongly mitigates nausea and vomiting.
- Distraction. Take a walk, a shower, or watch TV. Do something to distract you from your temporary unpleasant state of mind.
Private label CBD gummies are interesting for larger companies wanting to tap into the CBD market.
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