The pros and cons of cannabis food
Anyone who likes to light up a joint also knows that there are drawbacks to smoking. Unfortunately, smoking is naturally bad for your lungs. But luckily there is the alternative of cannabis food, also known as edibles. That way you can get high without hurting your lungs. And you also have the advantage that you can choose all kinds of delicious snacks. There are various advantages and disadvantages to cannabis food, and we list them in this blog.
The difference between smoking cannabis and eating it
Cannabis food can be a good alternative to smoking weed. The edibles come in all kinds of different flavours and types. Most people know the space cake, but there is also cannabis chocolate, cookies, and candies. You can actually put all your creativity into cannabis edibles yourself. Make whatever you like (from sweets to salad or dinner) and add your favourite cannabis oil to it.
What makes cannabis food different from smoking is not only the fact that it does not damage your lungs, when you take edibles. THC has to get into the blood through the digestive system. That is why it takes longer before you can notice its effect. It is also more difficult to dose THC. Do you want to use cannabis edibles? Then first read what the advantages and disadvantages of cannabis food are.
The benefits of cannabis food
If you're thinking about using cannabis edibles, you may be wondering if that's a good idea. In any case, they bring a large number of advantages. Below you can see the 5 benefits of cannabis food.
1. No negative impact on your lungs
If you want to get high, you can smoke a joint. But by now, everyone is aware of how bad smoking is for your lungs. Cannabis does not appear to be as harmful as tobacco. But smoking cannabis can cause some complaints, such as coughing and wheezing.
Edibles pose no risk to your lung health. You get THC through food, and your lungs don't get involved at all. So whether you use weed recreationally or for therapeutic effects, cannabis food is a much safer alternative than smoking.
2. Making your own at home is cheap
Cannabis food can be bought ready-made and that is certainly easy, but also quite pricey. However, you can also make edibles yourself: according to your own taste and preferences. Then you are cheaper. You can use your own grown weed and the ingredients you have in your pantry or fridge. Not only cheap, but also a lot of fun to do.
3. Always tasty and lots of variety
One of the biggest advantages of cannabis food is that you have a lot of variety. You can add weed to almost anything, so you can always pick something you like. Love chocolate, cake or gummies? They are all available or related to cannabis. But you can also add weed to your favourite pasta dish, salad or vegetable. There are practically no restrictions, so go wild with cannabis food.
4. A different high than smoking
You could read earlier that THC enters your body in a different way when you eat edibles than when you smoke. The effect of cannabis food is therefore different. In your body, THC is converted into a more potent compound, allowing you to experience a more intense high. Also, the high longer than when you smoke, usually about 6 to 8 hours. You can see that as an advantage. But it's definitely something to keep in mind when preparing edibles.
5. Unobtrusive way to use cannabis
Cannabis food is the ideal way to consume cannabis without being noticed. Although we are fairly free to use cannabis here in the Netherlands, you can still run into a lot of prejudices. In addition, you are not allowed to light a joint everywhere. A cannabis edible makes it possible to enjoy weed anytime, anywhere.
The disadvantages of cannabis food
Besides benefits, cannabis also has some drawbacks. We discuss them below.
1. Making edibles yourself is not that easy
As you could read before, you can make delicious cannabis food in your own kitchen. That's just not as easy as making normal cookies or cake. For example, you need cannabis butter for cookies, and you have to decarboxylate the weed for this. Some more complicated operations are required. That can reduce the threshold to self-edibles to increase. But luckily, you can also make sure that you always have ready-made cannabis food at home. Then you don't have to plan anything!
2. High rises less quickly
Cannabis smoking causes a fast onset high. You usually feel a sense of relaxation and cheerfulness within 10 minutes. With edibles, it takes a lot longer before you feel anything. That can be half an hour, or even an hour. That's because the cannabinoids in your edible first have to pass through the stomach. After that, the substances still have to be broken down by the liver. That takes more time than when you smoke, where the THC is absorbed directly from the lungs into the bloodstream and then ends up in the brain.
Beginners sometimes make the mistake of eating too much of the cannabis food because they think they should feel something. Be aware that it can take longer, and only take something extra if you still don't feel anything after an hour.
3. More difficult dosing
To make cannabis food yourself, you have to decide how much THC your edible will contain. It is just much more difficult to dose. You can use a calculation to determine the amount of THC. First, you need to know the THC percentage of the strain. That could be 15%, for example. Multiply this by 1000. 1 gram of buds, in that case, contains 150 mg of THC. This allows you to calculate how much you will use in your edibles and how much will be in a serving. However, this is still some finger work and a calculation error can quickly happen. Be careful with homemade edibles and the dosage.
4. How do you keep track of how much you use?
Cannabis food is simply very tasty. And once you're high, you might get the munchies. It's not hard to see that it's easy to take too much, and it's quite difficult to keep track of how many of your tasty edibles you have eaten. One of the disadvantages of cannabis food is that you take too much.
So there are some drawbacks to cannabis food, but the benefits far outweigh them. Did you get hungry after all this reading? Then take a look around at our cannabis food. There is plenty of goodies to be found. Those who like sweets go for cannabis candy, but also cannabis biscuits are delicious. Something for everyone.
