Halloween brings out the best spooky stories and urban legends. In our world, most of the scary stories we hear are related to your past experiences with edibles, the ones you tried before adult-use legalization. In the time since 3Leaf launched two years ago in California’s legal market, many of you have shared your spooky stories with us about the edibles you tried when you were younger. In honor of Halloween, we want to share a few of these scary edibles stories – without naming names, of course. The goal is to learn from their mistakes so that we can all have enjoyable, positive experiences with edibles from here on out.
Spooky Edibles Story #1
Girl sees a tray of brownies at a house-party. She immediately eats five. Remember when our metabolisms could tolerate five brownies in one sitting? Unfortunately, they turn out to be homemade pot-brownies. The girl proceeds to sit on the couch for the next twelve hours without saying a word to anyone.
The first problem here is that the host didn’t give any sign that the brownies had cannabis in them. Because edibles don’t just resemble food, they are food, it’s easy for people to assume that a brownie is just a brownie. A simple rule of etiquette is to never dose your friends without their knowledge.
If you are going to set out a tray of edibles at a party – wonderful idea for the holidays – make sure to let people know that they are, in fact, cannabis-infused edibles. Here’s a 3Leaf hosting tip: Announce it as you offer the edibles around, or leave the packaging near the tray so that guests can read the ingredients and find out the dose of cannabis in each edible.
To know the dose is to have a good edibles experience. Homemade edibles of the past were often inconsistently dosed. One brownie could have 20 milligrams of cannabis while the other could have 5 milligrams. It was a terrible guessing game, and guessing games are for playing with your kids, not for edibles. Today, products from the legal cannabis market must list the dose per serving and per package on the label. This takes away the guessing game, and it allows you to choose products with a dose that’s right for your needs.
You can see here on the package of 3Leaf’s Blood Orange Fruit Jellies that each jelly has 5mg of THC. And the total is listed as 20mg of THC because there are four jellies per package.
Edibles can contain up to 10mg of cannabis per serving, and a package can contain up to 100mg of cannabis in total. These rules are in place to ensure that you have a positive and safe cannabis experience. It’s been determined that 10mg offers an effective dose but mitigates the risk of consuming too much in one serving. Too high a dose can lead to “couch lock” as our friend in this story experienced. But a low-dose of cannabis, such as 10mg of THC, offers elevating and relaxing effects. You’ll be relaxed but still social at your Halloween party.
Spooky Edibles Story #2
Boy is curious about cannabis, but he doesn’t want to smoke. He’s afraid that his parents will smell it. So, he grinds up a handful of cannabis flower and throws it into a batch of pancake batter. When the pancakes are ready, he finds that they taste terrible – they’re grainy from the flower and the full cup of syrup still can’t mask that earthy taste. And, even though he added in a hefty amount of cannabis flower, the effects never kick in.
This person was right in recognizing that edibles are a discreet alternative to smoking cannabis. However, to experience the effects of edibles the cannabis must first be decarboxylated. Decarboxylation involves heating cannabis for a long period in order to activate the THC, which offers euphoric and elevating effects primarily. The process of decarboxylation converts THCA into THC. THCA and THC are cannabinoids found in cannabis, but THCA is non-intoxicating and must be heated in order to produce the elevating effects that make THC desirable. The character in this spooky story added the cannabis flower to the batter without first “decarbing” it, as it’s often called. The THCA in the flower wasn’t heated enough and therefore was not converted to THC. No decarbing means no elevating effects.
The part of this story that makes our skin shiver the most is the fact that this person had to eat his grainy, earthy tasting edibles. Edibles in today’s legal market uphold a much higher standard. You can find delicious tasting edibles infused with various forms of cannabis other than flower.
3Leaf edibles, for example, are infused with cannabis distillate. Cannabis distillate is a viscous oil that can resemble honey. We use distillate in the recipes for all six 3Leaf edibles because:
- Distillate is one of the purest, most effective cannabis extracts – it can reach up to 99% potency.
- As an oil, it blends perfectly into our recipes so that each edible is consistently dosed.
- It doesn’t leave a grainy texture, again, because it’s an oil.
- It creates delicious tasting edibles, because we use a distillate that has no cannabis taste or smell.
The key to enjoying an effective and tasty edible is to choose products from licensed cannabis retailers. Products from the legal cannabis market are made in certified production-grade kitchens, and they have to be lab-tested to ensure that they’re safe, effective, and dosed properly.
Spooky Edibles Story #3
This tale is more current. A person who’s new to edibles buys a cannabis-infused chocolate bar from a licensed dispensary. At the end of the day, they eat a piece of chocolate, which contains 10mg of THC. Twenty minutes pass and they don’t feel anything, so they eat two more. Another 15 minutes, and still nothing. They eat two more. It’s been an hour since they ate the first piece, and now all 50mg of THC take effect. They feel too high; they’re paranoid and anxious. They call a friend to come over and luckily the effects mellow after a few hours.
The lesson here is to start low and go slow. This character did in fact start low with 10mg of THC, but they failed to go slow. The onset time when you ingest cannabis can take up to two hours, which is why you should wait at least two hours before ingesting more.
When you eat a THC-infused edible, the THC is metabolized through the liver. This process converts the THC (chemical name: Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol) to 11-hydroxy-THC, which is significantly more potent. Just as decarbing cannabis to convert THCA to the more potent THC, our own liver facilitates a conversion process that creates an even more potent version of THC. Fascinating, isn’t it?
Edibles offer not only a more effective, but also longer lasting experience. The effects of edibles can last for up to eight hours. With edibles, you don’t have to consume as much or as often to enjoy an effective cannabis experience.
The moral that you can take from all these spooky stories is to purchase licensed cannabis products from licensed retailers. This will ensure that your edible is dosed properly, tastes delicious, and ultimately, that it’s a safe and effective product. And remember, start low and go slow!
Halloween is for spooky and scary stories and tricks and treats. Since we took the scary out of these edibles stories, let us make up for it. Head to Flower to the People in San Francisco where you can buy 2 3Leaf Edibles and get $1 off, or buy 3 3Leaf Edibles and get $2 off! Enjoy and have a safe and happy Halloween!
Offer available in-store at Flower to the People until November 3.
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