What Are Edibles?

Edibles Definition:
Foods infused with cannabis. 

Cannabis edibles are food and drink products infused with cannabinoids — most commonly THC, CBD, or both — that you consume orally rather than smoke or vape. When you eat an edible, the cannabinoids are processed through your digestive system and liver, which is why the experience feels distinctly different from, and often more intense than, smoked cannabis.

A lot of people think gummies, cookies, and brownies are the only things that can constitute a cannabis edible. These are the most popular choices at dispensaries around the country, but the fact is, almost ANY food or recipe can be turned into a cannabis edible.

How To Consume Edibles

Consuming cannabis edibles means eating or drinking a cannabis-infused product and letting your digestive system process the cannabinoids. Because edibles are metabolized through your liver rather than your lungs, onset is slower — typically 30 minutes to 2 hours — and the effects last much longer than smoked or vaped cannabis.

• Dosing is important and HIGHLY individualized.  More on this important topic later on this page, but know that a 5 mg THC dosage of edibles is too much for some people and a 100 mg THC edible dosage is not enough for others. Take the time to figure out your individual dosing needs before chowing down with gusto. Cannademy’s FREE edibles dosing class or $5.00 dosage calculators (that do the math for you) can help you figure out an edibles dosage that is right for you. 
• Cannabis metabolizes best with fat.  Likewise, foods made with fats tend to have better/stronger effects than fat free marijuana edibles.  If you must consume a fat-free cannabis edible, for best results try to consume it along with another food or drink that does contain some fat.
• You will likely feel the effects of edibles consumed on an empty stomach more than those taken after eating other foods.
• You don’t actually need to feel high to get medicinal benefits from marijuana edibles!  In fact, some people, especially those who need to stay alert for their jobs, prefer to manage their medical conditions by eating tiny amounts of weed edibles throughout the day.  This is known as micro dosing edibles.  People microdosing THC edibles never feel high, but those small spaced out edibles dosages can help manage pain, nausea, inflammation, anxiety, and a host of other conditions.

How do you Dose Cannabis Edibles

There is no such thing as a single optimal edibles dosage that works for everyone.  NO SUCH THING!  A 5mg serving is more than enough for some people, while others need 100mg or more to feel any effect. Your ideal dose depends on your individual metabolism, tolerance, body chemistry, and what you're hoping to achieve.

Everyone wants an easy one size fits all answer.  But sadly, it just does not work that way.

It will take some personal experimentation to figure out what the optimal THC dosage is for your needs, metabolism, and medical conditions, but taking the time to figure that out is worthwhile.  In fact, it can be life changing.

Determining an optimal THC dose can be a little challenging as unlike with smoking or vaping cannabis where you feel the effects right away, with edible cannabis it can take an hour and a half or more before you ever feel anything.

Also, know that your edibles dosage needs will change over time and with changing health conditions.  That’s a good thing.  But know that proper edibles dosage is an ever evolving process for cannabis users.

Get a handle on this by taking Cannademy's FREE Edibles Dosage Class, or by using our Dosage Calculators that do all the math for you (just $5.00)

What Effects Do Cannabis Edibles Produce?

Cannabis edibles produce effects that are typically more intense and longer-lasting than inhaled cannabis — most people can expect 4 to 8 hours of effect, sometimes more. The specific experience varies based on dose, strain, your metabolism, and your individual body chemistry, but relaxation, euphoria, and sedation are the most common outcomes.

However, the wrong dosage or the wrong strain can cause anxiety or even paranoia in some people. Mostly it is too strong a dose that's the culprit in these cases — another reason why you should pay a lot of attention to dosage.

The second most common effect of edibles is sleepiness. Not only can edible cannabis help you fall asleep faster, it can help you stay asleep through the night.

Of course when it comes to medicinal effects, edible marijuana has LOTS of uses, including but not limited to relief from pain, nausea, insomnia, cramping, anxiety, depression, decreased appetite, diabetes and weight control, and a host of other conditions. Yes, it might seem like some of the symptoms contradict each other, and it may sound hard to believe that one plant can help things as opposite as decreased appetite and obesity. However, since the body's endocannabinoid system maintains homeostasis throughout all the body's other systems, cannabis has the unique ability to perform in different ways when needed.
To be sure that cannabis is right for you and your medical conditions, consult your doctor before using cannabis for medical purposes.

Side Effects from Edibles

The most common side effects of cannabis edibles are dry mouth and red eyes — both mild and easily managed. More uncomfortable reactions like dizziness or anxiety are almost always the result of taking too high a dose, not an inherent problem with cannabis itse

That said the most common side effect of edible cannabis is dry mouth, also known as “cotton mouth” in stoner terms.  This can happen when smoking marijuana too, but it seems to be even more pronounced with edibles.  Have lots of liquids handy when consuming edible cannabis and there will be nothing to worry about.

Red eyes are a common side effect of THC edibles (CBD does not cause red eyes).  A lot of people think it is the smoke from cannabis that causes the red eye phenomenon, however edibles can too.  It is the THC in edibles (or smokabes) that is the actual culprit.  Check out this short video and article to learn more about it along with why red eyes from cannabis might actually be beneficial for you.

Any unpleasant side effects you might feel from edible weed is more likely the result of too high a dosage, rather than the cannabis itself.  But relax, it is never fatal.  Cannabis does not shut down organs or make you stop breathing, even in high doses.  Marijuana simply does not work that way in the body.

Regardless, there is no easier way to consume too much marijuana than by eating it.  This is another reason to take the Free Edibles Dosing Class and get a handle on your dosing needs.

Can You Overdose on Edibles?

You cannot fatally overdose on cannabis edibles — cannabis does not shut down your organs or stop your breathing, even in very high amounts. That said, taking too much can produce an extremely uncomfortable experience that may last for several hours.

Eating too much marijuana might make you feel dizzy, or disoriented, paranoid and/or nauseous. Should you or someone you know ever consume too much of a dosage of edibles, there are steps you can take to come down from that uncomfortable high almost instantly.  This article and video will give you details.

Are edibles bad for you?

Cannabis edibles are not inherently bad for you — whether an edible is "healthy" depends almost entirely on what it's made with, not the cannabis itself. You are not obligated to stick with sugary dispensary gummies; you can infuse cannabis into virtually any food you already enjoy.

A lot of people like to consume sugar laden edibles like gummies, and brownies, and cookies.  These can hardly be considered health foods, so in that respect, because sugar is bad for you, those types of edibles are bad for you.

However, you can medicate almost any food, so edibles need not be unhealthy.  Cannademy’s comprehensive online course Easy Cannabis Cooking for Home Cooks comes with hundreds of recipes for every course of the meal and every meal of the day, so there is no need to stick with unhealthy sugary edibles unless you choose to.

In fact, nutritionally speaking, cannabis is an antioxidant rich super food.  So far from being “bad” for you, adding cannabis to healthy foods and recipes can actually make them even healthier and better for you.

How to Make Edibles

Making cannabis edibles at home is more straightforward than most beginners expect — but it does require learning a few fundamentals that make all the difference between edibles that reliably work and ones that disappoint.

When you are a complete beginner learning how to make edibles, you will need to take time to assess your dosing needs, as we talked about earlier on this page.  It’s not difficult, but there is a small learning curve to getting it right that becomes second nature the more you make and consume edibles.

The same goes for learning the basic skills of cooking with cannabis.  They are not difficult to learn, but without this basic knowledge set and skills, your edibles will always be destined to disappoint.

However, once you learn the important elements of cannabis cooking  such as knowing how to properly activate your cannabis, what temperatures ranges to aspire to (and avoid), how to properly infuse cannabis into foods for the best effects and flavor, consistent accurate dosing, and more, the rest is just plain old cooking.

So while it make take a little time in the beginning to absorb this knowledge, once you understand the principles of how to properly cook with cannabis, you’ll turning out outstanding edibles as easily as you fry eggs for breakfast.

Honestly, one of the biggest obstacles would-be cannabis cooks need to overcome is all the inaccurate and conflicting information about cannabis cooking floating around on the internet. 

Cheri Sicard, creator and instructor for Cannademy’s Easy Cannabis Cooking for Home Cooks course, constantly gets emails from frustrated people who have made fatal flaws by following bad internet advice.  Bad edibles cooking advice often results in expensive batches of edibles being ruined and thrown into the trash.

When she created the Easy Cannabis Cooking for Homes Cooks course, it was to provide home cooks with ALL the knowledge they need to become canna chefs right in their own kitchens.   Without the frustration and waste that mistakes cause.

Cheri’s course is without a doubt the quickest and easiest way to become a great cannabis cook.  You’ll be turning out effective, great tasting edibles, perfectly dosed for your needs, the very first time you try.