Q&A Cannabis

Why do people get higher from edibles? Do people really throw up after years of cannabis use? Can someone get a DUI, even though there isn't a test for cannabis impairment? This week we answer some of your burning questions about weed. 

If there are questions that you'd like answered, let us know! Email lastcallwithsarahandmarissa@gmail.com, and we will get you an answer.

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Marissa: Welcome to the Last Call Podcast. My name is Marissa Whitaker, and I'm the prevention educator at SUNY Cortland.

Sarah: And my name is Sarah Magowan. I'm the assistant Director of Student Health and Wellness at Onondaga Community College. Our jobs are to educate students about potential risks associated with substance use.

Marissa: We approach substance use from a neutral of stance, and our episodes are rooted in public health with a focus on science and harm reduction.

Sarah: So welcome back to the Last Call podcast. Today's episode is dedicated to everything you wanted to know about canvas, but we're afraid to ask. So what we're going to be doing today is covering a couple of different topics that are either most asked about or maybe topics that you might be afraid to ask about in a professional or environment where other students might be around. But these are topics that we have found come up pretty consistently in conversations with students that might be beneficial to kind of explain a little bit more in depth if you are always wondering about these things.

Marissa: So our first question I get asked oftentimes by students is, I took edibles and I got really messed up. But that doesn't usually happen to me when I smoke weed. Why is that? People can process edibles at different levels, and the science surrounding the dosing behind the edibles is really lacking, especially how they're processed. Another thing with edibles that people often don't take into account is that it's going to take some time for them to take effect on a person. It can take up to 2 hours, typically anywhere between 30 minutes and an hour. But it could it could take up to 2 hours to take effect. So that meme. The edibles kick in when you think that they're garbage. There is some truth to that. So someone thinks, I took a gummy and it doesn't do anything. And then 15 minutes later, because typically when someone smokes, they would have been feeling the effects at that point. So then they take a couple more edibles, and then they've now had three servings when they should have just stuck with the one.

Sarah: Absolutely. Marissa, can you do a little serving size breakdown for us, maybe?

Marissa: Yeah. And I guess a huge disclaimer before we go into this is that this is definitely not a how to guide for how to take gummies. Again, the science is really lacking behind what a serving is, but generally speaking, between one and two and a half milligrams of THC is when someone may start to feel something, especially if they're a new consumer. So for someone who's never used cannabis or maybe they've smoked a couple of times, like took a hit off of a blunt, you're not going to want to dive in and take a couple of gummies, maybe take half, maybe start very small. You can always add two, but you can't take away once you've consumed them. So generally speaking, a safer place to start for a new consumer is around one to two and a half milligrams THC. Most servings that you'll find from a dispensary on the directions, it says five milligrams is a dose. So that's the most common dose for recreational consumers. When someone may be getting into the I'm starting to have a bad time territory, is when you're having ten or more milligrams of THC, especially for someone who is not used to consuming cannabis. This can have a strong effect and potentially some impaired coordination. Definitely not recommended for people who are starting out is this is when those symptoms of anxiety, some of those negative side effects, paranoia, even physiological effects start taking place. So some people may experience shaking. They may just feel like they're having an out of body experience. That's because they've taken too much THC and it's more than their body can handle.

Sarah: Marissa one thing that I just wanted to add, too, is when we think about serving size, I think when it comes to the platform, it's much easier to see. But when we're talking about serving size of edibles, that can be a lot more confusing. So we're talking about the milligrams of THC in things, but there are so many different products now with THC in it that it can be really confusing. And especially if you're not reading the package, you're eating one whole cookie, but the serving size is one third or one four of that cookie. So I think that's another really important thing just to kind of remember.

Marissa: Yeah, and you've even mentioned this in another episode, like, who eats one piece of a Hershey bar? Not a lot of people. So what you may eat of something like Rice Krispie treats is very different than how many Rice Krispie treats you would eat if there was THC in.

Sarah: It, especially if you're a regular cannabis consumer, too. Like thinking about eating just that one square and then feeling the effects instantly, that doesn't happen. So it can be kind of counterintuitive sometimes to think about waiting, because if you smoke, you feel the effects instantly, so that can be a big change.

Marissa: And especially, too, for some people that are waiting. How many times do you forget what you just did, like, a half an hour ago? So maybe if you're at a party and you've just taken an edible and then someone offers a round of shots and then you start having a couple of drinks, those edibles are still kicking in. And now you've introduced alcohol into the mix, too. So that's when people when I meet with students who have either had a negative experience or who are even medically assessed, oftentimes alcohol is also involved. So really, we've reiterated this in other episodes. Stick to one substance at a time, because that's when people oftentimes have a really negative experience.

Sarah: And to not know kind of when that edible is going to kick in, either. What are you going to be doing 2 hours from when you consume and making sure that you're not putting yourself in an unsafe or dangerous situation and.

Marissa: Switching back to dosing a little bit. Now that dispensaries are going to be opening up in New York State, there's going to be a lot more accessibility and availability of edibles. So one of the perks of dispensaries is that it is a little bit more of an accurate assessment as to what a dose is and how much THC is in a product. When we're talking about edibles that are homemade, your guess is as good as mine as to how much THC is in it and what a serving would be. There's equations to figure it out, but you need to know how much THC was in the plant that you used and then have consistent processing methods when you're making those products. What that means is that you're making the brownies the exact same way every single time, but again, a different strain, a different bag of weed that you have that you're making them with. That equation is going to change now. Okay, so Sarah, we're sticking to the topic of cannabis. Tell me a little bit about CHS. What is this?

Sarah: Sure. So one of the questions that I've been getting more and more of lately is what is CHS and what cures it? Students will say that they heard people can get really sick after smoking a lot of weed for a long time. Is that true? So CHS actually stands for Cannabinoid Hyperemesis syndrome. And it's when a long term or chronic cannabis user experiences cycles of vomiting, abdominal pain and nausea prior to consuming or using cannabis. So it's really interesting because the only thing that helps the symptoms or lessens them a little bit is taking a hot shower or a hot bath and if the person stops consuming cannabis. So while this may not be on your radar now, it's something to think about if you're a longer term cannabis user because it can come after consuming cannabis for a long time.

Marissa: Okay, so devil's advocating the situation for people that say that, well, cannabis helps with nausea, that's why they give it to people that are going through chemo. That's why they give it to people living with HIV. How does that fit into this puzzle?

Sarah: Absolutely. So it's really interesting because, again, like you said, Morass, many people think of cannabis for its nausea relieving or pain relieving properties. So when they are thinking about the things that could be causing CHS or D cycles of vomiting and abdominal pain, they don't necessarily tie their cannabis use to it because they feel like cannabis has been prescribed to people who have cancer for all these medical reasons. It couldn't possibly be causing it. It's also really interesting because I think even though cannabis has become legal in New York, there's still a huge stigma around being comfortable enough to have that conversation with your doctor or health care provider and actually let them know that you have been consuming. So that's one of the reasons why it's so hard to actually diagnose CHS. Kind of going back to what you said, Mary's, is that there's naturally occurring cannabis receptors in your body, and then if you are consuming cannabis on a regular or every day, multiple times a day basis, you're overstimulating those naturally found receptors in your body, and then that's what causes CHS. So your digestive system, your stomach, all those processes aren't working like they normally would. Ever since the legalized markets, not just in New York, but in places like Colorado, Oregon, California, have been up and running, and they've been able to have more open and honest conversations with people about their use and how this kind of presents sometimes on a college campus. Again, I'm not a doctor, I'm not a clinician, but I'll have students talk about that and say, the only thing that helps me feel better, like not be nauseous, is taking a hot shower, a hot bath, and then if they reduce their cannabis use on top of that. And that helps. That's another way to kind of tell, like, yes, your cannabis use can actually be making you sick. So it's very interesting. So it's always important if you're feeling symptoms, to be open and honest with your health care practitioner and also try to be as honest as possible about your use because if your provider doesn't know, they're not able to kind of tie the two things together. Unfortunately for those hardcore cannabis users, the only thing that helps with this is actually quitting or heavily reducing your use. So that's something kind of important to keep in mind if you've gone to that point. Quitting or heavily cutting back is the only thing that's actually going to stop those symptoms from happening.

Marissa: And there's just a plug there for taking a tolerance break every now and then.

Sarah: All right, Marissa, here's the next question. Is it true that because there isn't a breathalyzer for cannabis, you can't get charged with a DWI?

Marissa: That's a very good and a very complicated question. So right now, there is not a scientifically validated instrument to test that a person is currently under the influence of cannabis. So with alcohol, someone goes out drinking, they have four drinks, they might blow a .8, someone goes out and smokes a blunt, they're going to show that THC is in their system. But that could be from three days ago, that could be from 3 hours ago. We don't know right now. With how the testing currently is that follow up to your question. You absolutely could get charged with the DUI driving under the influence. So it's not just because weeds legal now. Everyone gets a free pass if somebody is impaired, fails a field sobriety test. If they fail an assessment by a drug recognition expert, they absolutely could get charged with driving under the influence.

Sarah: Martha, a question that I had for you. Is there a safe level for someone to, you know, you can consume this amount of cannabis and be safe to drive at?

Marissa: Another complicated question was, like, not the best answers, but in states that have legalized cannabis, they've set five nanograms per milliliter of THC in your system. Is someone that's what they've set as a legal impairment. However, people who are daily cannabis consumers, they might wake up and there's five nanograms already in their system. So five nanograms doesn't necessarily mean that they're impaired. It just means that there is THC in their system now with blood tests and just going to nerd out for a hot second. It is possible if someone takes a drug test in treatment centers, and you could theoretically do a blood test to see if those nanograms are decreasing every time they're getting a test. So that's how you can see if cannabis is leaving someone's system, but somebody could have five nanograms and not be impaired. So no matter how someone feels about legalization, whether you're for or against cannabis, it's a problem if we don't have an accurate assessment to see if someone's currently at this moment under the influence. So I hate to say the jury is still out, but we need better science to catch up with how people are using cannabis. If you're under 21 because zero tolerance law, we have that with alcohol. If you're 19 and you blow 0.2, that's in violation of zero tolerance. I would imagine that that five nanograms or any cannabis in someone's system if they're under 21 is in violation. So if you're underage absolutely would not be driving under the influence of those things if I was any age.

Sarah: All right, so that concludes our last common question for everything you wanted to know about cannabis, but we're afraid to ask. Just a quick little plug. So Marissa and I have a dedicated Gmail that can be used for students to kind of write in if they have questions that they'd like us to cover on the podcast or topics that they really are interested in hearing more about. We're happy to do the research for you and kind of break it down in a more digestible manner. So the email address is last call with Sarah and Marissa@gmail.com. We'd love to hear from you.

Marissa: Thanks for tuning in.