How To Dose & Ingest Cannabis Edibles Properly

December 14, 2020

Cannabis edibles have come a long way from simple pot brownies to sophisticated full-course meals today. With the introduction of several innovative infused ingredients, cannabis culinary arts have progressed to offer a wide selection of cannabis edibles such as baked goods, treats, beverages.

One of the most critical parameters to keep in mind while using cannabis edibles is dosage. Paying attention to how much cannabis you are consuming through these edibles is important to avoid ingesting too much. Here we will briefly discuss how to dose and ingest cannabis edibles.

Cannabis Dosage

The potency of cannabis varies in different methods of consumption. For example, the amount of cannabis required to get you high when you smoke is quite different from dosing through an edible. It is because the absorption efficiency of THC and CBD varies in different methods of cannabis use.

Determining the potency or dosage of the different cannabinoids in your edibles is crucial to ensure that you have a safe and beneficial cannabis experience. The best way to determine the potency of cannabis is to define the amount of THC or CBD present in a given edible. Defining the THC and CBD presence in milligrams will make it easy to understand a given product's dosage.

How To Calculate The Dosage In Edibles

Let us take the example of a bottle of CBD capsules. Every capsule in the bottle counts as a single serving. If the product's label reads that the CBD content is 30mg, and the bottle contains about 60 capsules, then the CBD content per serving would be 30mg/60, which is 0.5 mg CBD per capsule. Now, if your daily dosage limit is 1 mg, you can take about two capsules in a day.

In case your product contains a combination of both cannabinoids, you can use a similar formula from above to divide the total cannabinoid content between each serving of the product. For example, in the above example, if the label says 30 mg of THC and 15 mg CBD, each capsule will contain 30mg/60 = 0.5mg THC per capsule and 15/60 = 0.25mg CBD per capsule.

How To Calculate The Dosage While Cooking Edibles

Suppose you plan to cook cannabis edibles at home. In that case, you can embed the goodness of cannabis directly using CBD oil tincture or try incorporating it through infused ingredients such as cannabutter, canna olive oil, canna honey.

Let us assume that your daily consumption limit for THC is 50mg and CBD is 15 mg.

CBD oil tincture Dosage: If your tincture bottle reads 60ml of 300mg CBD oil, the dosage is 300/60 = 5 mg of CBD per ml. So you can add about 3 ml of tincture to your recipe.

Cannabutter Dosage: If the label states 1000mg THC and 0mg CBD cannabutter and one bottle equal 20 servings with a net volume of 114g. This equates to about 1000/20 = 50 mg THC per serving or per 5.7g cannabutter. So you can add about 5.7g or one serving of cannabutter to your recipe.

Remember, THC is a highly intoxicating compound. Therefore, be careful while accessing the dosage in each edible serving to avoid an uncomfortable experience.

If you want to calculate the dose of homemade edibles from dry leaf, click here.

The proper dosage and serving based on your tolerance!

Now that we have understood how to determine the dosage of cannabis edibles let’s explore a little bit about dosage limits for different users.

If you are a beginner or novice cannabis user, start with a low dosage, anywhere between 1-5 mg of THC per serving. It is ideal for micro-dosing and helps to cope with stress, anxiety, pains, aches, and inflammation.

If you have been dosing through cannabis edibles for a while now, you can handle a slightly higher dosage. You can upgrade to 5 – 20 mg per serving. Make sure to balance the dosage with some CBD to have a comfortable high.

If you are a seasoned user, you can try much higher doses of THC. Typically, such higher dosages are best suited for people suffering from chronic ailments. There might be some side effects to such high THC doses, therefore be careful while ingesting these edibles.

Ingesting Cannabis Edibles

Like any other food item, when you ingest cannabis edibles, they go through the digestion process and end up in your gut. The nutrients and the infused cannabis are slowly absorbed into the stomach, which then metabolizes in the liver.

The THC remnants, now present in the form of metabolites, start to circulate in the body. At this point, you will begin to realize the effects of the cannabinoid.

Effects Of THC Through Various Edibles

Different forms of edibles exhibit varying times for absorption of THC. The metabolization of THC could take anywhere between 45 minutes to 3 hours in typical edibles like brownies, hard candies, which means that you have to be patient till the effects kick. But your intoxication from THC metabolites will have a longer life, and therefore you can enjoy a steady and soothing high for a long time. Liquid edibles take about 30 to 90 minutes to kick-in, with a peak high occurring two to four hours post-ingestion.

One way to achieve faster effects is to consume edibles on an empty stomach. But remember, the effects will be extremely intense and will last only for a short time.

On the other hand, sublingual tinctures placed directly under the tongue promote rapid absorption with high bioavailability of cannabinoids. They induce a high within 15 minutes as they are absorbed faster in the bloodstream that could be an alternative.

Conclusion

Edibles are an ingenious method of relishing the benefits of cannabis. They offer better control over dosage and come in vibrant flavors that add wonderful taste and aroma to your cannabis experience.

Be meticulous while calculating the dosage of your edible. Also, make sure not to get too carried away by the taste, or you could be overdosing on cannabinoids that could cause a bad trip.