Questions to ask Before Eating Edibles

WHY I DON'T F WITH EDIBLES 

Sweets, chocolates, sodas, baked goods, Cannabis companies have found a way to turn your favorite snacks into an elevated experience. 

Lots of people love to try edibles when they are in a legal state, especially tourists. Edibles are discreet, fun, tasty and an easy way to consume right? WELLLLLLL 

NOT ALL THE TIME. Sometimes, more often than not, your edible experience can take a turn for the WORST. and I personally have many many many (too many) stories of friends or relatives who have had a bad, bad, BAD edibles “trip”. And you probably do too. It's common and i'll explain why...

If you enjoy edibles, keep enjoying them. They might work for you, but can be dangerous for those inexperienced with infusions. If you are hesitant to try an edible please read this post first and why you might want to find a different way to consume cannabis especially if you are visiting a legal state and planning on trying some edibles for the first time. Check out the guidelines at the bottom of the post to lay the foundation for a good edible high. 

The bad experiences

You might think they could be chalked up to INEXPERIENCE…in some cases that is absolutely a factor. When edibles go wrong the dosage is usually too high. All of your happy chemicals are released for the high part then they are completely drained and you are at the lowest of lows. A feeling of morbidity, paranoia, dizziness (the spins), nausea and that you are never going to feel not mega high again could occur. Many times you want to tell your friends to take you to the hospital or call 911, remember you are ok. I will do another post on that whole situation and how to try and help the person experiencing it.

 To avoid that reality and keep the good times rolling  ask the questions below. 

Another scenario is that you eat something that you straight up did not know had cannabis infused in it. Don't take candy from a stranger, or a friend! I think it is completely uncool for someone to give an infused product to a person unaware of what they are getting themselves into. Always ask if it is infused before eating. STORE YOUR EDIBLES AWAY. Like locked up not even in a place where someone would think it's a snack, not in the kitchen maybe in the liquor cabinet. I keep mine in their packaging in a bag in the freezer. 

What you should do before eating an edible... 

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WHAT's in the EDIBLE? 

Ingredients of an edible are listed in some regulated legal markets, up until this year California did not regulate or require a list of ingredients on edibles. SO what you are even getting in the edible that you are purchasing ingredients-wise is very vague. Not to mention the cannabis that is within the product. 

Questions you should be asking: 

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• What kind of cannabis is in your edible?

  • Is it cannabis flower? (An infusion with a fat carrier, ie. cannabis butter, coconut oil, etc.)
    

  • Is it a concentrate?

    • What kind of extraction was used for the concentrate?

    • What is the percentage of THC the concentrate is tested at?
      

• What other ingredients are in your edible?

  • Are they vegan? (If that matters to you) if you're getting a gummy unless it states it's vegan they have gelatin (animal bones).
    

  • Are there weird ingredients that you don't recognize? Don't compromise your values for what you put into your body to get a cannabis high from an edible, there are so many other ways to consume cannabis that don't have yellow #5 or PROPYLENE GLYCOL
    

  • Coffee beans/grinds-We all love a good coffee flavor, even the girl who doesn't drink coffee (ME) BUT the reality is cannabis can give effects that can be both stimulating and depressing, caffeine is a DRUG. Don't mix drugs. Enjoy your cannabis high and enjoy your caffeine high on separate occasions. If you toke every AM with your cup of Joe get after it, but if you haven't consumed both at the same time don't take the risk of something negative happening.
    
    

• Extraction Methods and PETROLEUM PRODUCTS

  • There could be Proplyene Glycol that is cut in the cannabis concentrate that your edible is infused with and listed (or unlisted) as an ingredient.
    

  • ETHANOL for extraction or as a carrier (Rick Simpson Oil) The technology and industry has evolved so much this method for extraction and infusion is unrefined and can be left in the past. Rick Simpson was a TRAILBLAZER and did a great thing for the cannabis industry and those looking to heal themselves and make a safe cannabis extraction...20 years ago. Now safe concentrated products are widely available so this method is not necessary and can cause more problems than benefits.
    

  • Propane Extraction-PHO and Butane Extraction - BHO, just no. These gases are not something that you should be consuming. CO2 is a much cleaner and safer form of extraction that you should look out for.

INDIVIDUAL FACTORS 

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Sooo you dove into the ingredients of your edible, everything checks out and your ready to eat it. Not just yet.

Obviously every person's body metabolizes food differently, and edibles are no exception. How quickly you digest the edible will factor in to your experience. As will other  things you've eaten that day, how recently you ate other foods, how fatty those foods were, etc. 

Digestion is obviously a part of your experience and something that can go terribly wrong here is you get impatient with your digestion rate. You take the edible, you wait the amount of time the budtender told you to, you still don't feel it, you take more then it ALL hits you and you are out for the count. 

BE PATIENT when you are eating edibles, always start with a low dosage and wait, wait ,wait for the effects to happen. 

DOSAGE

This brings us to dosage. THE MAJOR FACTOR THAT CAN TURN YOUR EDIBLE EXPERIENCE FOR THE WORST. You need to ask the questions above to get to this point. Once you find out what the cannabis that it is infused with is extracted with you ideally would like to know the percentage of THC. This will then help to determine what your dosage should be. 

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Cannabis edibles come in a range of THC milligram doses from 5mg to 50mg per serving. Depending on your regular dosing requirements you can determine how much to consume. Most budtenders I have encountered recommend starting with 10mg dosage, I always recommend everyone start with half or 1/3 of that. Unless you consume a copious amount of cannabis on a daily basis you should start with 2.5- 5mg dosage of an edible. 

Read the instructions on the package, they usually say to eat one serving (10 mg) I SAY LESS THAN THAT, then WAIT, WAIT WAIT as we talked about above. 

My number one piece of advice towards edibles is....

YOU CAN ALWAYS EAT MORE, BUT YOU CAN'T TAKE IT BACK IF YOU'VE TAKEN TOO MUCH. 

Start small, try 2.5 up to 5 mg, wait AT LEAST 1/2 hour - 1 hour, if you still don't feel anything increase your increment by another SMALL dosage 2.5- 5 mg depending on your usage. 

I say microdoses of 2.5 mg because yet ANOTHER factor that can be effected by edibles is production. Edibles that are mass produced for successful cannabis companies in legal states are made in large batches and infused in large batches. How can they guarantee the dosage? How do they confirm that 1 block of chocolate is 10mg? How do they know a lot or little of oil settled in one place of the infusion? 

Better safe than sorry, so I HIGHLY advise starting with a lower dosage or even a microdosage, you can always eat more! can't take away!  

All edibles aren't bad there's a lot of great brands doing the right thing and creating new and improved products every day.  A lot of people go into the edible experience without knowing or thinking about these things. I hope I can help someone avoid a negative experience on edibles with this post.  Please let me know if you have any questions or further information on the subject. 

You can make your own infusion with Gigi's coconut oil infusion and then use that for some healthy cannabliss apple chips

I will do an entirely new post on what to do when it's too late and someone has eaten too many edibles. Spoiler alert: You don't call 911.