Depending on your goal, condition, or disease, how do you know which cannabis is best for you?
And what is the right dose? Choosing the right dose of cannabis can be tricky.
Often people take too much because they think the amount of cannabis determines the effect.
They do not take into account the amount of active ingredients. After all, these make the difference.
In other words, the effects are as much about potency as quantity. A puff of weed with 20% THC contains four times more THC than a puff of another strain with 5% THC .
Well, how can you determine how much THC is right for you?
And how many times a day should you eat it?
THC dosage: how much should you take?
If you’re new to cannabis, you may have heard a general THC dosage recommendation: start low and increase slowly.
But how far and how fast should you increase your dose?
According to some, the best practice for new patients would be to start with around 2.5 mg of THC.
Others, however, will not notice any effect.
If you are a more experienced user – or less sensitive to THC – you can increase up to 5mg.
It’s a dose that most will likely feel. 10mg of THC is a suitable dose for experienced users if they do not find relief with lower doses. However, this dose is probably too high for inexperienced patients.
Consuming THC: how many times a day?
As with other treatments, you may be wondering what the right frequency is. In other words: how many times a day do you take a new dose?
Specialists indicate “somewhere between 15 and 30 mg of THC”, the desired total daily amount.
Clinical research indicates that just over 30mg per day is likely to increase the side effects of THC , while you are unlikely to notice any difference in the treatment of your symptoms.
Some research even suggests that higher doses may be less effective than lower doses are for treating pain.
Factors that influence the effectiveness of THC
These numbers are just a rule of thumb.
The effectiveness of THC can be influenced by other compounds such as CBD and various terpenes present in the cannabis plant.
Interactions with other compounds
For example, if your cannabis also contains CBD, depending on the amounts, you may be able to increase the amount of THC you can tolerate.
CBD may counteract some side effects of THC, particularly THC-induced anxiety . This is an example of the entourage effect theory .
This indicates that the various chemical ingredients in cannabis interact with each other and may affect user experience and therapeutic effects.
THC tolerance
Another factor that may come into play is your THC tolerance. Everyone has a different tolerance .
This is not necessarily related to the length of your cannabis use.
It may also be related to a concept known as “endocannabinoid tone”.
This refers to its unique endocannabinoid system profile which in turn is linked to genetic predisposition and your diet.
Administration mode
Another factor that can play a large role in influencing the effects is how you consume the cannabis.
How you take it can make all the difference. As mentioned, 2.5mg of THC is a great starting dose for many new users.
However, this is not an iron law either. The effects of inhaling 2.5mg of THC are completely different from taking the same amount orally or sublingually.
After all, the technique of administration can greatly alter the effects of cannabis.
Inhaling is affected by factors such as smoking vs vaping , how deep you inhale and how long you hold that breath.
When it comes to oral and sublingual administration, the absorption of oral cannabis medications can be greatly affected by what you have eaten recently.
Dosage according to mode of consumption
If you are using THC products, the time between when you administer them and when you start to feel the effects is called the onset of action.
The onset may vary from person to person, but is mainly determined by the method of administration you have chosen .
Inhalation (smoking/vaping)
Inhaled (smoked/vaporized) cannabis works very quickly. You can feel the effects within minutes, with peak effects around 10 minutes .
The effects can last 2-4 hours, so you can start with a puff or two and then wait 10-15 minutes to see if you get the desired effect.
Then repeat accordingly.
Sublingual (tinctures/oils)
Sublingual administration (tinctures/oils) is a common method of ingesting cannabis. These are said to start working under the tongue 15-45 minutes after ingestion.
As with cannabis taken orally, the effects last 6-8 hours. Sublingual cannabis products require you to wait at least 45 minutes before taking a second dose, if not longer.
Although it is widely reported that sublingual administration has a faster onset than oral cannabis, the limited studies available do not claim these.
Ingestion (food)
Ingested (edible) cannabis products take much longer to be absorbed and take effect, around 1-3 hours.
As with the sublingual application, the effects can last 6-8 hours, so remember to be very careful when increasing the dose with edibles.
It is completely normal for you to feel nothing for the first few hours. With edibles, patience is key.
Measure THC levels
There are thousands of strains of cannabis with different concentrations of THC. Your ability to judge the number of milligrams of THC contained in each puff, joint or bud is closely related to the concentration of THC.
If you have two different chemovars ( tribes ), one of which has a THC concentration of 6% and another has a THC concentration of 24%, then a joint of each will contain significantly different amounts of THC. a 1 gram 6% THC joint would contain 60 mg of THC, a 1 gram 24% THC joint from cannabis would contain 240 mg of THC.
In other words, taking one puff of the joint with the highest concentration of THC is equivalent to taking four puffs of cannabis with the lowest concentration of THC, so it’s important to know how concentrated the product you’re consuming is to ensure you get the results you want with your dose of weed.
Can you develop a tolerance to THC?
Some people can develop a tolerance to THC over time. Please note that you don’t necessarily need to be high or stoned to reap the benefits of cannabis.
Even if you develop a tolerance to the intoxicating effects of cannabis, the therapeutic effects can still occur.
It’s very different from what we see with opioids, where there’s a lot of dose escalation, increased side effects, addiction, cravings and all those issues.
However, a recent survey shows that “the dose of cannabis used to manage pain increased significantly over time”.
This is especially true for daily cannabis smokers who significantly exceed the above dosage recommendations.
The development of tolerance and increasing doses comes as no surprise to pharmacists, as most drugs are tolerated over time through what is known as down- regulation .
What makes cannabis unique is the body’s ability to resensitize to cannabis remarkably quickly. A short break of about 1 week is sufficient.
How do you dose CBD products?
The dosage of CBD products is another story. If you are considering pure CBD products (isolates) rather than whole plant or flower (flower) extractions.
And for some forms of severe epilepsy, CBD is dosed up to 25 mg per kilogram per day, or 2,000 mg of CBD isolate in an 80 kg adult.
A 2019 review of existing research found that the dose of CBD in various conditions – such as seizures, anxiety and Parkinson’s disease – ranged from 1 to 50 mg per kilogram per day.
Interestingly, as with the THC dosage, the entourage effect also plays a role in the CBD dosage.
We know from clinical research that the effective dose of CBD for epilepsy can drop by 20% if even a small amount of THC is added.
Unlike pharmaceutical treatments where you take a pill twice a day, for example, medical cannabis is a bit more complicated to dose.
First, because cannabis contains more than one active ingredient that interacts with different targets in your body.
Additionally, we all have different endocannabinoid systems.
For this reason, different people may need different doses.
Dosing is an individual process
Hopefully over time the research will lead to more information on how to properly dose cannabis.
The bottom line, however, is that the dose of cannabis required for any treatment will likely always vary from person to person.
So our advice remains to start low and build slowly to get the most out of your cannabis.