Cannabis Edible Dosage Chart: A Guide for Beginners

There’s really only one thing you need to know about edibles. And that’s how they metabolize.

Once you understand how your systems process cannabis edibles, you can appreciate the importance of getting the dosage right.

Metabolizing cannabis edibles

The THCA in cannabis needs to go through decarboxylation before it becomes THC, the cannabinoid with psychoactive effects. When you smoke, the burning process triggers the decarboxylation. When you cook cannabis, you make the same thing happen.

Smoked cannabis is processed through the lungs. As it leaks from the lungs into the bloodstream, it reaches the brain and the Endocannabinoid System almost immediately.

But when you digest cannabis edibles, it goes to your stomach, not your lungs. In your stomach, the cannabis is processed like anything else in the stomach. The digestive system breaks it down into carbs, sugars, and THC.

The intestinal lining absorbs the THC and sends it to the liver for processing THC into 11-Hydroxy-THC, a high-potency THC. Researchers believe, but have not proven, that this metabolite crosses the blood-brain barrier quickly.

What you should notice is that the digestion/liver process takes more time than the lung process. So, your first dosing challenge is to understand that cannabis edibles take longer to deliver their effects.