Why Don’t Edibles Get Me High?

When most people take cannabis edibles, they have intense experiences that are often stronger than a normal smoke sesh. What should you do if you pop a THC gummy or two and aren’t feeling any effects at all?

Getting high from cannabis edibles is far from an exact science. While it’s possible that edibles just might not work with your body’s chemistry, there are also some other factors that could be in play.

How THC Edibles Work

Your body needs to digest your edible and metabolize it before its effects begin to kick in. Each person’s metabolism is unique, which can change how the edible gets broken down.

When you take a bite of a cannabis brownie, your body turns the THC into a compound called 11-hydroxy-THC, which can be much stronger than the normal THC you’d absorb when you smoke. That’s why many people have a much different and more elevated experience with edibles.

After you take an edible, it is first absorbed by your intestines before passing through the liver. The liver performs a process called “first pass metabolism,” which filters foreign substances like cannabis out of your blood.

From there, the remaining THC enters the bloodstream and gets you high. However, there are some reasons this process might not occur or won’t be as strong as you had hoped.

Reasons Your Edibles Might Not Be Working

You Took a Low Dose

Dosing THC edibles can be very tricky. You want to strike a balance between experiencing positive effects and avoiding possible negatives from a bad high like paranoia or anxiety.

The best thing to do is start with a small dose and work your way up from there. An average dose of THC is about 10 mg. If you’ve never taken them before, it’s generally better to start with 5 mg.

If you take a smaller dose and don’t feel anything, you can try a higher dose on a different day to see how it affects you.

You might find that you need a higher dose to get high than some of your friends do. As long as you’re not experiencing any side effects from higher consumption, it’s okay to take a little more. It may take time to experiment and find the right dose for you.

You Didn’t Give Them Time to Activate

There’s a chance you’re reading this article a short time after taking cannabis edibles for the first time, wondering why they’re not working yet. If it’s been less than an hour since your first dose, you don’t need more THC. You need patience.

THC edibles can take anywhere from 30 minutes to two hours to fully take effect. The activation time will vary greatly depending on factors like your metabolism, what product you’re using, how much food you’ve had beforehand, what dosage you took, and other factors.

Although it might be tempting, don’t eat another brownie or gummy until at least an hour after consuming your first dose. If you do, you run the risk of taking far too much weed and having a negative experience.

You Didn’t Decarboxylate Your Cannabis

Making your own edibles at home can be fun and rewarding, but you can’t just grind up your cannabis and throw it into a batch of cookies.

The THC used in edibles needs to be activated and turned into its bioavailable form before consumption. You need to apply low heat to the cannabis for a while so it can activate in a process called decarboxylation.

Decarbing your weed is pretty easy. You can set your oven to 220ºF and bake dried cannabis for 30-40 minutes, stirring at least once. There are also machines that you can buy that complete this process more exactly.

Once your marijuana has been decarbed, you can use it to make infused oil or butter to create baked goods, candy, or gummies.

If you have the type of edibles you can buy online or in a dispensary, don’t worry; decarbing has already been completed and your edibles are ready to consume.

Your Edibles Were Inconsistent

Quality edibles that you can buy online from a dispensary should contain the same amount of THC in each dose. When it comes to black market edibles or ones you make yourself, the dosing can be very different from piece to piece.

In addition, some low-quality edibles are made by spraying gummies with distillate, which is an unreliable method. Make sure that you choose quality products from Happy Tree Buds or another reputable seller in Canada for best results.

Your Metabolism Is Too Fast

Your metabolism affects how you feel when you take edibles. It can be difficult to estimate how fast your metabolism works, but those who have a higher metabolic rate are more likely to have problems getting high from edibles.

When you eat a cannabis product, the majority of the THC breaks down in the liver. However, in most cases, there’s still enough active CBD & THC to travel to the brain and produce a high.

People with very strong metabolisms may break down more of the THC in their liver before it can enter the bloodstream. They may feel a high that starts more quickly, stops sooner, and is weaker.

Most of the time, having a high first pass metabolism is a huge plus for your body. You’re just getting the short end of the stick when it comes to your marijuana consumption.

You Just Can’t Get High From Edibles

There are some people who are simply unaffected by cannabis edibles, or they need extremely high doses to feel anything from them at all. This is called being “ediblocked.”

Scientists think that some people become “ediblocked” because they have a variation of a liver enzyme that makes their body process THC too effectively, ridding your body of the drug completely before you can get high. 

There’s also an uncommon CYP2C9 gene that breaks down the cannabinoids in CBD & THC so fast that the person feels nothing when taking weed edibles. This is uncommon, but could be the issue you’re having.

There’s nothing wrong with your body if you can’t get high from cannabis edibles, but if you want to keep partaking in cannabis, you’ll need to find another method of consumption.

Other Methods to Try

If you haven’t had any luck getting high using cannabis edibles, no matter how hard you try, don’t worry! There are plenty of other ways to enjoy THC.

You can try a sublingual cannabis product, which lets the THC absorb through the mucous membrane of your tongue. You put a drop of the product under your tongue and let it dissolve, and it has a similar effect to edibles.

Many people want to use edibles because they don’t like smoking. Vaping cannabis, either using concentrates or a dry herb vape, is generally considered safer and less invasive than smoking because you aren’t inhaling toxins like tar into your lungs.

Before you settle on one way to use cannabis, consider trying a variety of options. You might find that you have the best high in a way you wouldn’t expect. After a while, you’ll see that you don’t even need edibles to have a great cannabis journey.

Want to try edibles or a new cannabis use method for the first time? You can purchase every type of weed item online in Canada from Happy Tree Buds.

We offer a wide variety of cannabis products, including flower, vapes, tinctures, capsules, concentrates, and more! Once you’ve picked out your new cannabis goodies, we can ship your items discreetly to your door at any address in Canada. 

Enjoy, and ride the high!