Responsible and safe enjoyment of cannabis edibles

Author: Elena Experience expert (psychedelics and psychoactive & medicinal plants), blogger, passion for healthy food

If you have ever eaten space cake, chances are you were surprised by its strong effects. Many cannabis enthusiasts mistake the possibilities of edible cannabis. Before you know it, you've eaten just a little too much of those tasty space cookies. The high can be much more like a psychedelic trip than when you take a few puffs from a joint.

Read in this blog how you can safely enjoy the unique effects of edibles.

Never underestimate an edible

You probably know one or more stories about people who misjudged edible cannabis. Maybe you know it from first hand experience. The effect can then be far too intense, causing you to feel paranoid, for example. I can tell you right now that no one has ever died from a cannabis overdose. Actually, cannabis is a very safe drug and does not cause dangerous reactions in the body. In fact, cannabis is increasingly recognized by the mainstream as medicine, something for which it has been used for thousands of years. Still, as a user, you can get pretty upset if you take the wrong dosage, or if you misjudge yourself. 

Cannabis is used as medicine for a variety of purposes. Examples include reducing physical pain symptoms, relieving depressive feelings, warding off inflammation, promoting sleep, and inducing appetite. 

The effects of cannabis are highly dependent on the amount of active ingredients present. There are countless different varieties, each with its own unique properties. Responsible for this are largely the substances called cannabinoids. Cannabis possesses as many as over 100 different active substances, in varying amounts. The most well-known cannabinoids are THC and CBD. 

What is edible cannabis?

Edible cannabis, also known as edibles, comes in every form you can imagine. You may know of some unique recipes yourself. Edible cannabis has several advantages over smoking cannabis: its medicinal properties can be better appreciated, as it is easily absorbed by the body without harmful side effects. Smoking a joint still provides medicinal properties, but these are partially negated by the fact that you are burning your herb. 

Tip: As an alternative to smoking a joint you can of course opt for a vaporizer! I would even dare to say that every stoner should benefit from this great innovative technology. The latest vaporizer models are only getting more advanced and once you purchase one, it will last a very long time!

Edibles are foods that have cannabis in them. The examples are endless. For example, you have cakes, cookies, chocolate milk and other sweets that have cannabis added to them. Now, it is not recommended to mix ground cannabis buds through your batter, because (in most cases) it is not particularly tasty. Instead, it is suitable to make cannabis butter and use this. Another option using a cannabis oil or concentrate. 

Furthermore, there are also many savory dishes that cannabis can be incorporated into, from pizza to guacemole and even cheese. 

Edible cannabis is suitable for people who prefer not to smoke and still want to enjoy the benefits of this medicine. Edibles can also provide a pleasant change of pace for those who prefer to smoke a joint and add a new dimension to their high. 

Dosage of edibles

The risk of edible cannabis lies in the dosage and the risk of eating too much. This is because it takes a lot longer for the active ingredients to take effect. It can take up to two hours before you realize that you are under the influence. Your body needs time to digest the food and absorb the active ingredients. This is in contrast to vaping or smoking cannabis, where the effects can be felt almost immediately. This makes it much easier for you to estimate how much you can have and when you need to stop. When eating foods or drinks containing cannabis, it is much more difficult to listen for the signals that you have ingested too much.

Furthermore, everything depends on your metabolism, i.e. how quickly THC is absorbed by your body and how quickly it leaves your body again. Other elements that play a role are the amount of cannabis you have ingested, the strength of the cannabis strain, how full your stomach is and your experience with cannabis. 

The effects of oral cannabis, especially with high doses, can last up to 24 hours!

What is a standard amount to dose edibles with?

It is usually assumed that 10mg per serving will be used. However, this standard dosage is not the same for everyone. Just as a beer will have little to no effect on one person, it will have a strong effect on others. The best recommendation is to start carefully and build up slowly if necessary. 

Tips for weighing the right amount of cannabis

Too much cannabis in your system can be overwhelming and cause all kinds of reactions, including: anxiety attacks, paranoia, increased heart rate and sweating. This unpleasant experience has been experienced by many beginners and is one of the reasons why edibles have been viewed in a somewhat negative light. This is not necessary! With the right approach, the experience of edible cannabis can even be preferable to the smokable variety. 

Don't compare yourself to others and determine your own dose

Just because your friend feels fine eating a slice of space cake or a few drops of THC oil doesn't mean you will. Relying on someone else when it comes to finding the right dose is asking for trouble. Instead, it's best to determine for yourself as accurately as possible what one serving of edible will do to you by slowly building up the amount you ingest. For example, start with ¼ of a brownie with cannabis. Wait long enough to make sure that the THC and other cannabinoids have had time to do their work. Then you can decide (say after 2 hours or so) whether to eat another slice of the single serving. 

Watch out for edibles of which the strength is not clearly defined.

This is very often the case with edibles: someone may have baked a cake and it turns out to be much stronger than the baker intended. In this case, if you still want to try the effect of the edible, it is recommended that you deliberately underdose. This means that you deliberately take in a very small active amount and see what happens. 

Know the potency of the cannabis strain used

Not unimportant: by doing some research and from your own experience you can find out how different cannabis strains work. It will never be a black and white story, some cannabis strains are simply stronger, more psychedelic or more relaxing at one moment than at another. This has to do with all kinds of factors. Still, you can learn to distinguish between different kinds as well as possible. In the coffee shop it is best to ask the staff about the THC and CBD percentage. If you've bought cannabis seeds to grow your own plants, ask for advice and read enough information about the strain. THC percentages can vary considerably. Stronger strains will of course result in a stronger edible. 

How do I calculate the THC percentage in edibles?

It helps tremendously when you make your own edibles and know how much THC is in your edibles. 

To find out the strength of your edible, you can use the following formula: As mentioned above, you must first find out which cannabis strain is used so you can determine the strength. 

If your end result is 1000 grams of space cake, for which 6 grams of cannabis starting material has been used, you know that per 1000 grams/ 6 grams of cannabis has been used. Converted this is 0.006 grams of cannabis per gram of cake.

Suppose the cannabis material is a powerful strain, for example Amnesia Haze of about 15-20% THC. Then the calculation continues: per gram cake is 0.006 grams of cannabis x 0.20 = 0.0012 grams or 12 mg THC. 

A usual dose for users who do not have much experience is between 2 and 6 mg THC. Strong doses are between 4 and 8 mg THC. 

Tip: Use a precision scale to weigh your cannabis! At Sirius you'll find professional and affordable models that are very accurate.

How do I make cannabutter or cannabis butter?

Cannabutter is widely used in the stoner's kitchen. Below is a short and simple recipe so you can make it yourself at home. Alternatively, you can also make your own cannabis concentrate or make cannabis oil. 

Cannabutter recipe

• 6 grams of cannabis
• 115 grams butter (or coconut oil)

Step by step

1. Divide the butter into three equal pieces. In a skillet, melt some of the butter over medium heat. Then add the crumbled cannabis. Let this simmer for a few minutes, stirring everything well so that the butter can absorb as much of the weed as possible.
2. Remove the mixture from the heat and pour through a sieve, leaving the pieces of weed behind. Then repeat the process twice more with the remaining pieces of butter: melt one part, add the same weed to this again. In this way you can keep extracting up to three times. After this most of the active substances from the cannabis have found their way into the butter and you can discard the used cannabis.
3. Your cannabutter is now ready! Label the butter in a clear manner so that mistakes in the kitchen are not possible. Keep out of reach of children.

Tip: You can use fresh weed, cutting waste but also the weed from your vaporizer! This still contains usable active material.

Elena Experience expert (psychedelics and psychoactive & medicinal plants), blogger, passion for healthy food

Elena studies Organic and Biodynamic agriculture because, besides psychedelics and psychoactive & medicinal plants, she also has a passion for healthy food. Learning about the endocannabinoid system, different cannabinoids and terpenes is super interesting.

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