# Proper Dosing of Canadian Cannabis Edibles? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 24, 2019, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proper-dosing-of-canadian-cannabis-edibles/837538 "2019-07-24T10:52:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2019, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proper-dosing-of-canadian-cannabis-edibles/837538/21 "2019-07-24T17:08:41Z")
> [@MichaelEmouse](#): > > Don’t you smoke pretty much everyday? I think that counts as a heavy user. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Cite for that please. I know people who micro-dose throughout the day and yet consume less in a week than I do in one evening. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2019, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proper-dosing-of-canadian-cannabis-edibles/837538/22 "2019-07-24T17:08:43Z")
> [@MichaelEmouse](#): > > Don’t you smoke pretty much everyday? I think that counts as a heavy user. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Every night, yes (never during the day). And even so, I know of users who burn through a quarter a night. I could make a quarter last a week. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2019, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proper-dosing-of-canadian-cannabis-edibles/837538/23 "2019-07-24T17:16:03Z")
Not for nothing, color me surprised that this thread is still ongoing. I guess it’s because we’re playing the game I play at the head shop, where the retailer and I talk about “it” without actually _talking about_ it. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2019, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proper-dosing-of-canadian-cannabis-edibles/837538/24 "2019-07-24T17:18:44Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > Not for nothing, color me surprised that this thread is still ongoing. I guess it’s because we’re playing the game I play at the head shop, where the retailer and I talk about “it” without actually _talking about_ it. Now that my state offers Medical Marijuana, I find myself in dispensaries from time to time. I’m still not comfortable talking with the budtenders out in the open, but I’m getting there. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2019, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proper-dosing-of-canadian-cannabis-edibles/837538/25 "2019-07-24T17:19:20Z")
Although no longer in GQ, I will still point out that, like so many substances, THC and its metabolites are metabolized (inactivated) by [the family of liver enzymes known as the CYP system](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cytochrome_P450). In the case of THC, the specific forms of the relevant enzyme are [CYP2C9 and CYP3A4](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0024320507000495). I mention this to emphasize that is quite plausible, indeed probable, that different people, with their different levels/activities of the various CYP enzymes, will metabolize THC differently. This would be expected to lead to different biologic effects for different people even when given the same dose of THC. Note also the [huge potential for medications](https://www.aafp.org/afp/2007/0801/p391.html), whether prescription, ‘over the counter’, or as a supplement, to interfere with the activity of specific CYP enzymes (sometimes to inhibit their action and sometimes to augment it). Ingesting grapefruit juice can also have a powerful effect on your CYP enzyme activity. All of this is one more reason to start low with THC. Together, the genetic makeup of, and the environmental influences on, your CYP enzymes are essentially unique to you. ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2019, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proper-dosing-of-canadian-cannabis-edibles/837538/26 "2019-07-24T17:34:41Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > Not for nothing, color me surprised that this thread is still ongoing. I guess it’s because we’re playing the game I play at the head shop, where the retailer and I talk about “it” without actually _talking about_ it. What is “Not for nothing” in response to? What’s that game? I haven’t encountered it but I guess I can be more direct than most people. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2019, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proper-dosing-of-canadian-cannabis-edibles/837538/27 "2019-07-24T18:14:30Z")
> [@MichaelEmouse](#): > > What is “Not for nothing” in response to? > > What’s that game? I haven’t encountered it but I guess I can be more direct than most people. In Illinois and Missouri dispensaries, if you say any of several words, you’ll be shown the door. Which means you have to talk around the subject without actually talking about it. ---
**Author:** ![Royal\_Nonesutch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecb155/32.png) [@Royal\_Nonesutch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Royal_Nonesutch)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2019, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proper-dosing-of-canadian-cannabis-edibles/837538/28 "2019-07-24T18:16:37Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > In Illinois and Missouri dispensaries, if you say any of several words, you’ll be shown the door. Which means you have to talk around the subject without actually talking about it. ??? I know that “Head Shops” play this game (at least the ones in Utah) but how on Earth can a dispensary that legally sells cannabis forbid you from talking about it? ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2019, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proper-dosing-of-canadian-cannabis-edibles/837538/29 "2019-07-24T18:26:10Z")
> [@Royal\_Nonesutch](#): > > ??? > > I know that “Head Shops” play this game (at least the ones in Utah) but how on Earth can a dispensary that legally sells cannabis forbid you from talking about it? I’m talking about head shops, where you buy bongs (er, water pipes), one-hitters (er, pipes), and other paraphernalia that you can’t actually call paraphernalia. Not talking about dispensaries. Two different things. [Head shop](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head_shop). ---
**Author:** ![Royal\_Nonesutch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecb155/32.png) [@Royal\_Nonesutch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Royal_Nonesutch)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2019, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proper-dosing-of-canadian-cannabis-edibles/837538/30 "2019-07-24T18:31:13Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > I’m talking about head shops, where you buy bongs (er, water pipes), one-hitters (er, pipes), and other paraphernalia that you can’t actually call paraphernalia. Not talking about dispensaries. Two different things. > > [Head shop](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head_shop). I guess I was confused, perhaps because you wrote “dispensaries” NOT “head shops”. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2019, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proper-dosing-of-canadian-cannabis-edibles/837538/31 "2019-07-24T18:38:13Z")
> [@Royal\_Nonesutch](#): > > I guess I was confused, perhaps because you wrote “dispensaries” NOT “head shops”. Oh shit! My bad, friend. Oops. _Mea culpa_. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2019, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proper-dosing-of-canadian-cannabis-edibles/837538/32 "2019-07-24T19:42:17Z")
**TLDR, 10 -20mg probably, but read on. DOSING CAN BE HIGHLY VARIABLE.** I live in California where cannabis is legal. Dispensaries don’t give firm advice to try specific doses because it’s different for everyone. As mentioned above, less is better than more if you are unsure. Budtenders will steer you towards a lower amount and I don’t blame them. **I vape daily** but if I were to eat it, I would use 100mg for a moderately strong high lasting maybe 6 hours (2-3 of them pretty stoned). **THAT IS FOR ME PERSONALLY ONLY, as I know my tolerance**. The first time I ate some after a break of a decade I started with 10mg and it was pretty low for me. I would guess 40mg would have been good that day (for me). It’s tough because while “they” say you can always wait an hour or two and eat some more, I find that by that time, you’re probably just prolonging the high more than intensifying it (unless you take a great deal more). You should consider the duration and environs of your “afterward”. If you’ve got lots of time afterward to “recover” in a comfortable place you can afford to be a bit more daring, IMO, but that might mean trying 20 mg instead of 10mg… not 80mg instead of 10mg. If you do eat too much it won’t be the end of the world and you can’t die, of course, but it may be unsettling. The ideal way to approach this is do it several separate times at least a few days apart. That way you can use the first time to get a ballpark idea of the dose, and the subsequent uses you can fine tune it. E.g. on January 1 you eat 10mg. 3-4 hours later you can assess if that was enough (it might be, or it might be too week). Then on say January 4 you do it again after talking to those in the know about your first experience. So maybe you try 20mg or even 30 or 40mg the 2nd time. My somewhat educated guess would be that the majority of people try between 5-40mg the first time. If you put a gun to my head and demanded my best guess for the OP I would say 20mg, maybe 30 but that is probably a bit more aggressive than most budtenders would advise you. PLEASE take this with a big ol’ grain of salt. Smoking may not be an option for you but perhaps vaping is? ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2019, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proper-dosing-of-canadian-cannabis-edibles/837538/33 "2019-07-24T20:23:56Z")
> [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](#): > > PLEASE take this with a big ol’ grain of salt. Does salt intensify the experience? ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2019, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proper-dosing-of-canadian-cannabis-edibles/837538/34 "2019-07-24T21:16:58Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > I always advise newbies to stick with a 20 mg dose their first time, and give it plenty of time to take effect. 20mg is way too high. Supposedly psychotropic effects start at 2mg. I saw your post earlier, but still. > **[Edibles Dosage](https://tripsafe.org/edibles-dosage/#start-with-5mg-of-thc-or-less)** > > Dosage info for edibles. Start low, go slow! > [@](#): > > Edibles Dosage Guide > Tolerance THC mg > Users with no tolerance 1.5 - 5 mg > Users who smoke multiple times per week 2 - 12 mg > Users who regularly eat edibles and have tolerance to edibles 10 - 30 mg > High tolerance to edibles 30 - 60 mg > Very high tolerance to edibles 60 - 100 mg+ > Start with 5mg of THC or less. > As a very rough approximation, smoking a 1⁄2 gram standard joint by yourself would lead to similar levels of highness as a 10 mg THC edible. > > 5mg will get most people without a tolerance “solidly high” - perhaps a 7-9 / 10 > > Even doing 2mg will get people without a tolerance high - at this dosage you may still find it reasonably easy to have conversations with people, and as the dosage goes beyond 5mg conversing will get increasingly difficult for most people. > > �� If you don’t have experience with altered states of consciousness or are concerned about possible anxiety, try 2mg of THC for your first 3 times, and then try 5mg, before going any higher. > > If 5mg isn’t enough, wait 2 hours to make sure it’s taken effect, and then try taking another 5mg. Don’t add on 10mg - you’ll still have much of the 5mg in your system. > > If 5mg wasn’t enough, next time start with 7.5mg or 10mg - don’t jump to 20mg. It would be even smarter to try 5mg two more times, as about 40% (anecdotal reports) of weed users find it hard to get high the first few times they use. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2019, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proper-dosing-of-canadian-cannabis-edibles/837538/35 "2019-07-25T11:30:21Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > Oh shit! My bad, friend. Oops. _Mea culpa_. You gonna hold onto that all night? ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2019, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proper-dosing-of-canadian-cannabis-edibles/837538/36 "2019-07-25T15:55:08Z")
OK, so since edibles will not be readily available, what will be on offer in two weeks. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2019, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proper-dosing-of-canadian-cannabis-edibles/837538/37 "2019-07-25T16:30:19Z")
I tried some edibles in Seattle a couple of months ago. I bought a package of two little chocolate candies, also bought a package of 10 (maybe 12) gummies. None of that had any effect on me. Fortunately, I also bought some joints that were…very impressive. Didn’t care for the sativa, but the hybrid and the indica were awesome. I got about three decent buzzes off one joint. ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2019, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proper-dosing-of-canadian-cannabis-edibles/837538/38 "2019-07-25T16:32:20Z")
> [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](#): > > OK, so since edibles will not be readily available, what will be on offer in two weeks. Buds & oil, mainly. I wouldn’t bother with vaporizers. I’ve also seen edibles available online. I suppose it’s not technically allowed yet but not an enforcement priority. You can also make your own edibles using bud. I’m not sure the board rules allow me to provide instructions so either find a Youtube video or PM me. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2019, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proper-dosing-of-canadian-cannabis-edibles/837538/39 "2019-07-25T17:32:59Z")
> [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](#): > > OK, so since edibles will not be readily available, what will be on offer in two weeks. If available, get a 250 mg or 300 mg disposable pen. It is easy-peasy, draw to hit. No on/off button, you puffing on it turns on the heat. As far as what strain, get a high % THC strain. My current favorite is 707 Headband. Take a single hit and count to 30 before taking another hit. Oh, and if you’re a novice, take your first hit sitting down. Around here, one of the disposable pens runs $30. The battery lasts as long as the oil in the cartridge, and you can throw it all out when it’s empty. If I buy one and hit it every night, it last 10-14 days! > [@Oakminster](#): > > Fortunately, I also bought some joints You probably realize this, but buying pre-rolls is not a wise economic move. If you buy buds and roll your own it saves you $$. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2019, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proper-dosing-of-canadian-cannabis-edibles/837538/40 "2019-07-25T17:47:48Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > You probably realize this, but buying pre-rolls is not a wise economic move. If you buy buds and roll your own it saves you $$. I was just in Seattle for a couple of days. If I lived there I’d [del]probably put Cheech and Chong to shame[/del] buy bud and use a pipe. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proper-dosing-of-canadian-cannabis-edibles/837538.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proper-dosing-of-canadian-cannabis-edibles/837538.md?page=3)