When you cook with marijuana you can reduce the amount that you need to smoke. By eating eat it in foods, it can give you a longer or a different effect than smoking it and it is also a convenient way of medicating yourself if you are in an environment where you cannot smoke.

What are some of the advantages and disadvantages?

Advantages:

It can reduce or elminiate the amount of marijuana that you smoke, which may leat to better lung health.

Some of the effects of marijuana are more pronounced when it is eaten.

The effects last longer, which means you do not have to take it as often.

It is easier to be discreet than when smoking it. You can eat food which contains marijuana in places where you cannot smoke it.

Disadvantages:

It is a more potent way of consuming marijuana, so you must be more careful with the dose.

It takes a lot longer to feel the effects. Therefore, it is trickier to control the dose and requires some trial and error to get it right.

It requires some practice and experience, and a lot of marijuana, which can be costly.

It can be time consuming to prepare.

If you use marijuana to relieve nausea and vomiting, you may not feel up to eating it.

What are the differences between eating and smoking marijuana?

Eating marijuana is quite different from smoking it.

You may already know this if you have eaten it before, or if you have taken some of the pharmaceutical cannabinoids that are available in pill form.

Compared to the effect of smoking, which is almost immediate and peaks within minutes, it can take up to an hour or more for the effect to come on when marijuana is eaten.

The effect of marijuana when eaten is also felt more slowly and gradually. The effect lasts for hours, sometimes 5 hours or more.

The effect also feels different from smoking. Some people describe it as being more “in the body”, which is good for those who use marijuana for pain.

Tips:

Be aware of your dietary requirements (for example, if you are a diabetic) when cooking with marijuana and select your ingredients accordingly. Speak with your nutritionist.

Eating raw herbal marijuana will not have an effect. You need to activate the cannabinoids with heat, either through cooking, smoking or vaporizing, or by dry heat conversion.
(See medical marijuana recipes)

If you did not prepare the food that contains marijuana yourself, make sure you ask about the potency of the product. For example, you may find out that a cookie contains about a quarter gram of marijuana. A good dose to start with is from 1/8 to 1/2 gram of marijuana until you find out how it affects you. If you are not sure, take less rather than more and see how it goes.

Marijuana is “fat-soluble”.  It requires some sort of fat or oil product to bind to when cooking with it. Water does a poor job of extracting the cannabinoids (THC and others). For example, if you make a marijuana tea, adding milk or soy milk to it and simmering it for a while on low heat on the stove will help extract the cannabinoids out of the herb.

Hemp or marijuana seeds do not contain any cannabinoids so they will not help you with your medicinal needs. They are, however, very tasy in a salad and good for you!

If you grow your own marijuana, the leftover leaves, or “shake” from your harvest can be used for cooking. This is a great way to make the best use of the plants you harvest. They also contain cannabinoids, though in lesser quantity that the buds (flowers).

Keep in mind that the strain of the marijuana, the potency, the part of the plant that is used (leaves or flowers), the body of the person consuming and the experience of the person consuming all come into play when considering a dose.

Here are some guidelines for starting doses for eating marijuana for a person of about 68kg (150lbs) who has some experience with marijuana:

• marijuana leaf (shake): 1/2 gram to 2 grams
• marijuana flowers (buds) with seeds: 1/4 gram to 1 gram
• sinsemilla flowers (buds with no seeds): 1/8 gram to 1/2 gram

Note that low doses work well to stimualte appetite.

Sore food that contains marijuana in the fridge or freezer, and label it carefully in case someone else finds it!

Never give good that contains marijuana to someone without their knowledge or consent.

Avoid using alcohol at the same time as eating marijuana.

Too much marijuana

It is possible to consume too much marijuana when eating marijuana, NOT in the sense that it will kill you, but too much marijuana can be an unpleasant experience.

You would have to consume 682 kgs (1500 pounds) of marijuana in 15 minutes to die of an overdose and even that has never been proven. Nevertheless, caution must be taken when consuming it in food.

Some people get impatient waiting for the effect and eat more, thinking that they need more. Make sure you wait at least two hours before consuming more, just to be sure.

A person who has eaten too much marijuana may be dizzy, agitated, nervous or paranoid. when this happens, the person has to be kept calm and reassured that this too shall pass.

The most intense feelings will last about an hour and the effect of the marijuana should wear off in about 4 or 5 hours. While they are not in physical danger, they may feel chilly. If so, keep them warm. Most people fall asleep quickly.

We have found the best video out there that shows you how to make butter, flour and cooking oil with marijuana. Click the arrow below to watch.

One of our patients found the best brownie recipe:

To make your butter fine grind the best weed 30grams/2 pounds butter.  I understand that it seems a bit much but “You get out what you put in!”  Melt your butter in a saucepan on the stove. In a slowcooker add butter+weed set on low.  Let it cook for app.4-5hrs. It should be a nice dark green.   Do not let it boil!   Strain through cheese cloth.  Give it a try you will not be disappointed.

          Ingredients

• 1 cup butter, melted
• 3 cups white sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9×13 baking dish.
2. Combine the melted butter, sugar, and vanilla in a large bowl. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each, until thoroughly blended.
3. Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, and salt. Gradually stir the flour mixture into the chocolate mixture until blended. Stir in the chocolate morsels. Spread the batter evenly into the prepared baking dish.
4. Bake in preheated oven until an inserted toothpick comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Remove, and cool pan on wire rack before cutting.