So, You Want to Get into THC Edibles? Here Are Some Dos and Don’ts According to Someone Who Eats a Lot of Them

Edible THC is a revelation. Lots of people don’t want to (and shouldn’t) smoke pot and, until pretty recently, they were limited to homemade baked goods that might contain 10mg of THC or 100mg of THC—who knows?! Not the teenager who bought a box of Betty Crocker brownie mix and dumped a bag of schwag into the bowl. If you’re canna-curious and you’ve been considering giving edibles a shot now that they’re legal (in one form or another) pretty much everywhere, allow me to offer a little bit of guidance.

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Am I an expert? No—there are researchers with doctorates and even high school dropout budtenders who know way more than I do about the ins and outs of edible cannabis (including edible hemp-derived THC). But based on my experience as an enthusiastic consumer of edibles, here are some pointers that I think can help people who are just getting into them. 

Do: Learn your cannabis varieties 

You don’t have to learn about individual strains, necessarily, but if you’re consuming cannabis edibles, it’s worth knowing the difference between indica and sativa and figuring out which makes you feel the way you want to feel. The tried-and-true stoner mnemonic is that “indica” sounds like “in-da-couch,” which should help you remember that it is known for producing a more relaxed, laid-back high, while sativa can be more energizing and can give you a more uplifting high. Increasingly, both scientists and budtenders will tell you that the indica vs. sativa stuff is bunk, but I don’t know—I’ve had sativa edibles give me a pretty edgy high in the past.

If you live in a state where only hemp THC is available, you can ignore this one. All hemp THC is sativa. 

Do: Start low and ramp up 

If you pretty much never consume cannabis, no one is going to be impressed if you take a 20mg edible and wind up feeling like you need to go to the hospital. Most edibles come in 10mg doses—although you should ALWAYS double check before you eat one; we all know someone who accidentally ate 100mg at once—so start with a quarter of one for around 2.5mg, then next time work your way up to half a gummy, and eventually you might be in the mood for a full 10mgs.

I’m a pretty heavy cannabis user and a 5mg edible can still do me right during the daytime. You’ll notice edibles can hit you differently depending on a number of factors, including time of day and how much you’ve eaten. 

Don’t: Take a second edible because you don’t feel anything 

Edibles can take a while to kick in. Don’t be impatient, even if it’s been a couple of hours. I personally wait several hours before supplementing with something else. 

Don’t: Buy junk

I have been to some sketchy dispensaries here in California and it’s not just that the vibes were off or that the staff was condescending. Some stores sell edibles that are sprayed with THC rather than infused with it, and those tend to be lower quality and irregularly dosed. Do research in advance or ask a budtender if you’re unsure what’s what. One obvious red flag: Edibles that are emblazoned with brand names, like Skittles or Starburst. Big-name candy brands are NOT licensing their names to weed companies. God only knows where those things came from. Sketch City, probably!

Don’t: Worry about flavor

You’re not eating weed gummies like Haribo gummy bears—if they don’t taste exactly like delicious candy, you’ll live. Some edibles taste weedier than others, and that might mean they’re really good quality! Take your medicine (literally).