Why dont edibles get me high

Why dont edibles get me high

In the modern era, cannabis edibles are more than just pot brownies. Nowadays they come in all shapes, sizes, and flavors. Cannabis-infused edibles can be either foods or beverages, including things like candies, breads, teas, sodas, etc.

Edibles can be a great source of medicine for patients who prefer not to inhale smoke and they can be a fun experience for recreational users to try something different.

In general, an edible will provide its users with a long-lasting, strong high; but not always. Believe it or not, some people may not feel any effects from an edible and not necessarily because of a lack of trying.

How does the body process edibles?

Why dont edibles get me high

The body processes edibles differently than any other method of weed consumption. When cannabis is smoked or vaped, you inhale it directly into your lungs. When the cannabinoids enter the lungs they almost immediately absorb into the bloodstream and then travel to the brain. This leads to a rapid onset time of just a few minutes.

For edibles, on the other hand, it will take anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours before you start feeling the effects. If 3 hours have passed after consuming an edible and you still feel no effects then either the edible was a dud or your body just does not react to them.

Finding an effective dosage

Finding the perfect dose of a weed edible is all about experimentation. In general, 10-15 milligrams of THC per dose is considered a standard dose. Some people need more to feels their desired effects and others need less; you will not know the perfect dose until you try.

Another aspect to consider is that weed has a variable effective dose range. What this means is that each person has a specific amount of THC that they can take until they begin to feel any effects at all. Some people only need a minimum of 3 mg THC until they begin to feel something. Others may need at least 30 mg.

Because of this variable effective dose range, some people might not be consuming enough THC to feel high without realizing it. They may think the edible does not work but in fact, they just have not consumed enough.

How your metabolism affects your high

Metabolism involves more than just your body figure, it also determines how your body breaks down drugs. First pass metabolism effect helps to explain how this works.

First pass metabolism is the process of your liver filtering out foreign substances from your bloodstream before the blood circulates throughout the rest of your body. When it comes to the entire metabolism, everyone is different and therefore processes drugs differently.

When a person ingests an edible, a majority of the active THC breaks down in their liver before it gets a chance to travel to the brain and cause any psychoactive effect. Luckily, enough active THC still makes it to the brain to induce the effects of being high.

A person with a very strong first-pass metabolism can break down the THC in the liver to the extent that it is too diluted by the time it reaches the brain to create any sort of psychoactive effect.  This means no matter how strong your edible is, it may become ineffective.

If you believe this may be an issue for yourself, try taking THC via sublingual absorption. If you allow THC to absorb underneath your tongue, the cannabinoids enter the mucus membranes and glands of your mouth, penetrating the bloodstream directly while bypassing the liver and its metabolic functions. The high from sublingual consumption will not last as long as edibles but is longer than smoking.

Inconsistencies in edibles

Whether it is taste, potency, or amount needed to get high, edibles especially on the black market are notoriously inconsistent. This aspect can scare people away from edibles and rightfully so. There are countless stories of people eating an edible from a friend that turned out to be way stronger than anticipated.

If you still plan to eat your friend’s homemade edibles, just be aware of how potency works for batch making. For example, in a tray of weed brownies, some pieces will end up containing more THC content than the others. Your friend might eat a brownie that contains roughly 20 mg of THC and your piece only has 10 mg. Additionally, the cannabis material and infusion type of an edible makes predicting effects nearly impossible.

With the rise of dispensaries becoming the main source for cannabis products, there are industry standards that did not exist pre-regulation. In the current market, companies that produce and sell weed edibles are mandated to test their products in a lab before they can hit the shelves.

Edible manufacturers are beginning to use uniform starting materials to ensure guaranteed consistency for medical and recreational users alike. Using specific strains per product is also key for consumers to identify which edibles may work better for them based on their familiarity with the strain.

Lastly, edible manufacturers are beginning to utilize the impact of the “entourage effect” by formulating edibles in a very specific manner.

The “entourage effect”, is the principle of using all the compounds in cannabis to make diverse and unique products. These compounds include cannabinoids, flavonoids, and terpenes among various other elements. The combination of all these elements produces distinct, nuanced effects and potentially more benefits than products that only contain a single isolated compound like THC or CBD.

It just may not be suitable for you

Edibles are like any other drug in that they may or may not work well with your body chemistry. For some individuals, edibles do not work at all to get them high. If this is the case for you then you may feel like you are missing out. Luckily, there are new cannabis products coming out every year which should leave you with plenty to experiment with.

If you are a medical patient that does not get relief from edibles and you can only consume cannabis via digestion then consider speaking with a medical professional for some alternative suggestions.

Why dont edibles get me high

Have you ever shared some edibles between friends, only to discover that one of you is feeling nothing at all? Well, Al McDonald has. The Boston Globe presented Al McDonald’s story as an example of a situation where a group of friends shared “a strong batch of pot-infused cookies” but he got absolutely nothing from them. McDonald even stated that he sat there like “aww man… everybody’s Hoverboard works except for mine.” McDonald represents the group of people who have a hard time getting high from edibles, which seems to have stumped scientists. 

People Who Are ‘Ediblocked’ Are Unaffected by Edibles

McDonald forms part of an “unknown portion of the population that appears to be functionally ‘immune’ to edibles, or at least has exceptionally high tolerances.” The Boston Globe describes this group of people as being “ediblocked” but also explains that when they smoke cannabis, they experience it as normal. Persons who are classified as ediblocked are said to be able to consume quantities of cannabis that would send the majority of people on an intense trip, while they experience nothing.

McDonald was reported to have engaged in a rather “reckless experiment” where he consumed hash tea and only began to feel something at around 700 milligrams of THC. To put that in perspective, 700 milligrams is 140 times the standard serving in Massachusetts of 5 milligrams. Additionally, it is recommended that consumers of cannabis begin with 1-2.5mg of THC as well as capping it at 10mg under normal circumstances in order to minimize adverse effects associated with high THC potency. Cannabis should contain around 10% or less THC to be considered effective, low-potency, and a lower risk of adverse effects such as increased anxiety. 

The Boston Globe goes on to explain that researchers and medical professionals are aware of and acknowledge the phenomenon of being ediblocked but are not able to definitively explain it. They also explain that this can have “serious implications for dosing in medical marijuana treatment” as well as arousing questions on the validity of the blood tests which indicate cannabis-related impairment. 

Researchers Hypothesize That the Answer Might Be in the Liver

The director of the Marijuana Investigations for Neuroscientific Discovery programs at the McLean Hospital, Dr. Staci Gruber, stated that “we’re only just now starting to understand the cannabinoid system” and that “it’s already clear that it’s not just about what and how much you’re using; it’s about how you’re wired.” 

Currently, there is limited research on people with ultra-high tolerances to marijuana edibles, however, Dr. Gruber and other researchers have a compelling hypothesis. The hypothesis is that those who are ediblocked have an unusual variation of a “key liver enzyme” which could “essentially be too efficient at processing ingested THC, turning the compound into its ‘active’ high-inducing metabolite and then its inactive waste product before the active form can enter the bloodstream or brain.”

Why dont edibles get me high

However, there is another similar possibility which includes being “unusually inefficient at performing this process, with little THC getting metabolized in the first place.” Dr. Gurber explains that “it’s almost as if they’re skipping the intermediate step.” She also explains that the people with the uncommon CYP2C9 gene are breaking down the cannabinoid so fast that “it doesn’t have an opportunity to create the psychoactive effect.” 

What Is The CYP2C9 Gene and How Does it Impact THC Levels in the Body?

MedlinePlus explains that the CYP2C9 gene “provides instructions for making an enzyme that is found in a cell structure called the endoplasmic reticulum, which is involved in protein processing and transport.” They go on to explain that the CYP2C9 enzyme plays an important role in the metabolism and breaking down of drugs including warfarin and ibuprofen. The Boston Globe also explains that it also “encodes the enzyme that shepherds THC through its three-step metabolic transformation.” While Dr. Gruber adds that the individuals with the gene are “breaking it down so fast it doesn’t have an opportunity to create the psychoactive effect.” 

A 2020 study found that the levels of THC metabolites found in the consumer’s blood varied drastically “depending on which variant of the enzyme they had.” The research from this study “casts doubt on biological marijuana tests widely used by researchers, doctors, police, and employers.” These tests do not account for the “apparently vast and hard-wired variations in metabolic rate between individuals.” Dr. Gruber explains that “it underscores the need to understand people’s genetic profile, and that there are a lot of variables people haven’t considered” such as whether one has the uncommon CYP2C9 enzyme. 

The Problem With Being Ediblocked

Being ediblocked poses a problem for those who wish to medicate with cannabis by means of oral ingestion as opposed to inhalational methods. When one is unable to feel the effects of edibles or cannabis which is swallowed, they may experience ‘social FOMO’ or the inability to benefit from the pain-relieving and other medicinal properties which cannabis contains.  Edibles make for a great alternative means of cannabis consumption when smoking is not an option. 

When CYP2C9 acts on THC in the liver, the active intermediate is 11-OH-Δ9-THC – which is four times more psychoactive than THC. After this step, the 11-OH-Δ9-THC is inactivated by CYP2C-MALDO. Therefore, the secret of the ediblocked theory could lie in one or both of these steps. This ultimately means ediblocked people are unfortunately missing out on a stronger, more discrete, and cost-effective medical use altogether (1). The Boston Globe states that these ‘ediblocked’ individuals could benefit from the relief of cannabis through edibles if they took a “high enough dose, or if a supplement could be developed that slows their enzyme action”. 

While there is not enough research to support the hypothesis at the moment, the study and the researchers make valid points. Hopefully, research can be conducted to support the suggestions and findings so that we can find solutions for those individuals as well as for improving the means by which we measure cannabis impairment. 

References

1. Fugh-Berman, A., Wood, S., Kogan, M., Abrams, D., Mathre, M. L., Robie, A., Raveendran, J., Onumah, K., Mehta, R. S., White, S., Kasimu-Graham, J., & D’Antonio, P. (n.d.). An Introduction to the Biochemistry & Pharmacology of Medical Cannabis. Washington DC; Department of Health. https://doh.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/doh/publication/attachments/Medical%20Cannabis%20An%20Introduction%20to%20the%20Biochemistry%20and%20Pharmacology.pdf