Cannabis edibles
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Cannabis edibles are manufactured foods and drinks that contain an extract of cannabis. They are sold chiefly where cannabis is legal for medical or recreational use, as baked goods, sweets, gummies, chocolates, lozenges and drinks.[1]: 2 The extract carries the plant's cannabinoids, among them THC, the compound that causes intoxication, and cannabidiol (CBD).[1]: 2 Food and drink made with cannabis in traditional practice is the subject of Cannabis cuisine, and foods made from the seed of low-THC hemp fall under food law of their own.
Swallowed THC acts later and for longer than inhaled THC, and the liver converts part of it to a more potent compound before it reaches the brain.[1]: 5 The American states that license edibles, and Canada, cap the THC in a serving or a package, require packaging that children cannot open and forbid products and packs made to appeal to them.[1]: 6–7, 10[2] Hospital studies in Colorado and Ontario found more emergency visits after eating cannabis than sales of edibles would predict, and more young children treated for cannabis poisoning once edibles went on sale.[3][4]
From the kitchen to the licensed market
A recipe for Haschich fudge, sent to the author by the painter Brion Gysin, was printed in The Alice B. Toklas Cook Book in 1954.[5]
Edibles became a popular product of the legal cannabis markets of the United States, which the RTI International review of 2016 called "quite lucrative for states, dispensaries, and manufacturers".[1]: 11 California allowed medical use of cannabis in 1996.[1]: 1 Voters in Colorado and Washington approved sale to adults aged 21 and over in 2012, and licensed stores opened in 2014; in Oregon the retail sale of edibles began on 2 June 2016.[1]: 9 Colorado's buyers took 1.96 million units of medical edibles and 2.85 million units of retail edibles that year, according to the state's Department of Revenue, which the same review puts at about 45 per cent of cannabis sales.[1]: 2 Counted by weight of THC rather than by units, edibles made up 0.32 per cent of the cannabis sold in Colorado from 2014 to 2016, on the estimate of a team at the University of Colorado.[3] Canada allowed the sale of dried cannabis, seeds and oils in October 2018 and of edibles a year later;[4] the sale of edible cannabis was authorised from 17 October 2019.[2]
Potency and the label
The plant holds most of its THC as tetrahydrocannabinolic acid (THCA), which does not intoxicate. Heat turns the acid into THC by decarboxylation.[1]: 2 The acidic cannabinoids break down when exposed to heat or light, in smoking, baking or refluxing.[6] For food, the flowers are heated in an oil-based liquid, into which the THC dissolves with the plant's other cannabinoids, and the plant matter is then discarded.[1]: 2 The many methods of cannabis extraction differ in how much of each cannabinoid reaches the finished product and how evenly it is spread through it.[1]: 7 Canada's regulations count THCA as THC when they set a product's limit, "taking into account the potential to convert THCA into THC".[7]
In early 2014 The Denver Post reported that the THC in retail edibles often differed widely from the amounts on their labels. In the middle of that year Colorado required the THC content of retail edibles to be tested and stated on the label, but the potency testing it required was a threshold test, which shows only that a package holds no more than 100 mg of THC and does not measure the label's accuracy.[1]: 8 A study of medical edibles bought in California and Washington, published by Ryan Vandrey and colleagues in JAMA in 2015, found 83 per cent off their labels by more than 10 per cent, more than half with less THC than claimed and nearly a quarter with more. Many products sold as containing CBD held little or none.[1]: 8
Delay and overconsumption
Swallowed THC is absorbed from the gut and passes through the liver before it reaches the rest of the body. There enzymes convert part of it to 11-hydroxy-THC (first-pass metabolism), which is more potent than THC and is found in the blood in larger amounts after eating than after inhaling. The RTI reviewers held that it may account for the stronger and longer effect of edibles. Only 6 to 10 per cent of the THC in a product reaches the bloodstream.[1]: 5 Inhaled THC acts within minutes and peaks after 20 to 30 minutes. Eaten, it takes 30 to 90 minutes to act and peaks after two to four hours.[1]: 5
A trial at Johns Hopkins University, published in 2020, gave 17 adults who had not used cannabis for at least 60 days brownies with 0, 10, 25 or 50 mg of THC, one dose per session. Effects appeared after 30 to 60 minutes and peaked between 1.5 and 3 hours. Performance on cognitive and psychomotor tests fell about as far as after similar inhaled doses, while THC in the blood stayed far below the peak levels seen after inhaling.[8] The authors noted that the low blood levels make it hard to identify an intoxicated person from a blood test alone.[8]
The RTI review links the delay to people taking more than they meant to before the first portion has acted.[1]: 5 Medical users have described eating a whole product after the suggested serving seemed to do nothing.[1]: 6 In March 2014 a 19-year-old man in Colorado jumped from a fourth-floor balcony and died after eating a whole cannabis cookie, of which the shop assistant had told him to eat one sixth. The autopsy found that cannabis intoxication had contributed to his death.[1]: 7 Colorado and Washington defined a serving as no more than 10 mg of THC. After the death Colorado limited a retail package to 100 mg with each 10 mg serving marked, and Washington set similar rules.[1]: 6–7 Colorado and Oregon required the label to warn that the effects can take up to two hours to be felt.[1]: 10 Canada gave the same reason for its rules of 2019: the risk of overconsumption "because of the delay in experiencing the effects of cannabis when it is ingested rather than inhaled".[2] Its regulations cap a package of edible cannabis at 10 mg of THC, limit alcohol in it to 0.5 per cent by weight and allow caffeine only from ingredients that contain it naturally, up to 30 mg a package. A cannabis drink is edible cannabis with no more than 3 per cent THC by weight.[7]
A chart review at the emergency department of the University of Colorado Hospital, covering 2012 to 2016, found 2,567 visits at least partly caused by cannabis, 238 of them after eating it. Edibles accounted for 10.7 per cent of these visits from 2014 to 2016, against 0.32 per cent of the THC sold. Visits after eating were more often for acute psychiatric symptoms (18.0 against 10.9 per cent), intoxication (48 against 28 per cent) and heart symptoms (8.0 against 3.1 per cent) than visits after inhaling, and 40.8 per cent of the patients lived outside Colorado, against 6.6 per cent of those who had inhaled. The authors suggested that edibles might be best limited to medical use.[3]
Children
In 2016 all four American states with retail sales (Alaska, Colorado, Oregon and Washington) required child-resistant packaging and forbade packaging that appeals to children. Washington and Oregon also forbade edibles modelled on children's sweets such as cotton candy and lollipops, or shaped like animals, people or characters, and Alaska forbade bright colours and cartoon characters on packs. Colorado and Oregon required the state's symbol for cannabis on the label.[1]: 10 Canada's 2019 rules aimed to reduce the appeal of the new products to young people and the risk of accidental consumption, on top of existing prohibitions on selling cannabis products whose appearance, shape or other attribute could appeal to young people.[2]
In Ontario, emergency departments saw 522 children aged nine and under for cannabis poisoning between January 2016 and March 2021. There were 81 visits before legalisation, 124 in the 16 months when only dried cannabis, seeds and oils were sold, and 317 in the 14 months after commercial edibles reached the shops in February 2020. In that last period 38.5 per cent of the children were admitted to hospital, against 23.4 per cent in the first period after legalisation. Allowing for the rising trend, the rate after edibles went on sale was 2.23 times the rate before legalisation. The authors noted that the rise came despite rules which, in their words, "largely exceed US regulations".[4]
Hemp-seed and CBD foods
In Australia and New Zealand the food standards code was changed in 2017 to allow foods made from the seed of low-THC hemp, from plants with no more than 1 per cent THC in the leaves and flowering heads. The change took effect on 12 November 2017 in Australia and a year later in New Zealand. The code sets maximum levels of THC and of CBD in the foods, and their labels may not claim a psychoactive effect, show images of the plant other than its seeds, or use the words "cannabis" or "marijuana". In tests of 201 products bought in 2019 and 2021, five hemp seed oils held more than the 10 mg of THC per kilogram allowed in the oil, and one seed product and two hemp protein products more than their limit of 5 mg per kilogram.[9]: 6–7
In the European Union the European Commission treats CBD as a novel food. In 2022, with 19 applications to sell it as one under assessment, the nutrition panel of the European Food Safety Authority concluded that the safety of CBD as a novel food "cannot currently be established". It listed gaps in the data on its effects on the liver, the gut, the endocrine and nervous systems and reproduction.[10]
Bhang under Indian drug law
India's Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 defines ganja as the flowering or fruiting tops of the plant, "excluding the seeds and leaves when not accompanied by the tops".[11] The government's national policy on narcotic drugs states that bhang, made from the leaves, is not covered by the Act and that many state governments permit its production and sale. A licensee may make bhang only from the leaves of cannabis growing wild, never from the flowering tops or the resin, and anyone found mixing them into bhang is punishable under the Act.[12]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 1.20 Barrus, D.G.; Capogrossi, K.L.; Cates, S.C.; Gourdet, C.K.; Peiper, N.C.; Novak, S.P.; Lefever, T.W.; Wiley, J.L. (November 2016). Tasty THC: promises and challenges of cannabis edibles (PDF) (Report). Research Triangle Park, NC: RTI Press. doi:10.3768/rtipress.2016.op.0035.1611. PMC 5260817. RTI Press Publication No. OP-0035-1611.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 "Regulations Amending the Cannabis Regulations (New Classes of Cannabis)". Canada Gazette, Part II. 153 (13). 26 June 2019. SOR/2019-206. Retrieved 14 October 2026.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Monte, A.A.; Shelton, S.K.; Mills, E.; Saben, J.; Hopkinson, A.; Sonn, B.; Devivo, M.; Chang, T.; Fox, J.; Brevik, C.; Williamson, K.; Abbott, D. (16 April 2019). "Acute illness associated with cannabis use, by route of exposure: an observational study". Annals of Internal Medicine. 170 (8): 531–537. doi:10.7326/M18-2809. PMC 6788289. PMID 30909297.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Myran, D.T.; Cantor, N.; Finkelstein, Y.; Pugliese, M.; Guttmann, A.; Jesseman, R.; Tanuseputro, P. (7 January 2022). "Unintentional pediatric cannabis exposures after legalization of recreational cannabis in Canada". JAMA Network Open. 5 (1) e2142521. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.42521. PMC 8742190. PMID 34994796.
- ↑ Temple, Emily (20 November 2018). "Here It Is! Alice B. Toklas's Recipe for Hash Brownies". Literary Hub. Retrieved 29 October 2026.
- ↑ Wang, M.; Wang, Y.-H.; Avula, B.; Radwan, M.M.; Wanas, A.S.; van Antwerp, J.; Parcher, J.F.; ElSohly, M.A.; Khan, I.A. (2016). "Decarboxylation study of acidic cannabinoids: a novel approach using ultra-high-performance supercritical fluid chromatography/photodiode array-mass spectrometry". Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research. 1 (1): 262–271. doi:10.1089/can.2016.0020. PMC 5549281.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Government of Canada (1 October 2026). "Cannabis Regulations (SOR/2018-144)". Justice Laws Website. Department of Justice Canada. Retrieved 14 November 2026.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Schlienz, N.J.; Spindle, T.R.; Cone, E.J.; Herrmann, E.S.; Bigelow, G.E.; Mitchell, J.M.; Flegel, R.; LoDico, C.; Vandrey, R. (June 2020). "Pharmacodynamic dose effects of oral cannabis ingestion in healthy adults who infrequently use cannabis". Drug and Alcohol Dependence. 211 107969. doi:10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2020.107969. PMC 8221366. PMID 32298998.
- ↑ Implementation Subcommittee for Food Regulation (July 2022). Survey of low-THC hemp seed foods: Stage 2 (PDF) (Report). Food Standards Australia New Zealand. Retrieved 14 October 2026.
- ↑ EFSA Panel on Nutrition, Novel Foods and Food Allergens; Turck, D.; Bohn, T.; Castenmiller, J.; et al. (June 2022). "Statement on safety of cannabidiol as a novel food: data gaps and uncertainties". EFSA Journal. 20 (6) e07322. doi:10.2903/j.efsa.2022.7322. PMC 9172591. PMID 35686177.
- ↑ The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985(Act No. 61 of 1985), 1985, section 2(iii).India.
- ↑ Government of India, Department of Revenue. National Policy on Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (PDF) (Report). paragraphs 20–21. Retrieved 2026-08-11.