How long does it take to reset one's tolerance to marijuana?
April 9, 2010 11:49 AM   Subscribe

How long does it take to reset one's tolerance to marijuana?

Although increased tolerance isn't the reason I'm stopping my daily usage of the past year, I'm encouraging the change by anticipating more powerful highs from merely monthly indulgence.

So, three related questions:

1. Is a month long enough for all the THC to be expunged from one's system?

2. However long it does take, will tolerance continue to decrease after that time?

3. If so, would a sufficiently long abstinence achieve neurochemical virginity - or would gains level to zero before that?
posted by anonymous to Health & Fitness (5 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
The answer to question 1 will depend largely on how much you are currently smoking and for how long you've been smoking (a once a week to a couple times a month smoker is going to get the THC out of their system a hell of a lot faster than someone with a daily habit--but again, if you only have a daily habit for a week, then thats different too). To a lesser extent, the answer will also change based on your body size/weight and physical activity level.

This is a great resource for your questions: Erowid-Cannabis
posted by ejazen at 12:09 PM on April 9, 2010


  1. Probably not all of it (in your case, anyway). Get some urine tests from Amazon so you can see when you drop below "cutoff".
  2. Don't know.
  3. Perhaps :-)
"These data demonstrate that cannabinoid-induced decreases in CB1 receptor function persist for relatively long time periods after cessation of long-term drug treatment and that CB1 receptor signaling recovers more quickly in striatum/GP than hippocampus. Moreover, down-regulation of CB1 receptor binding sites does not seem to result mainly from transcriptional regulation, suggesting that adaptive regulation of CB1 receptors in brain primarily occurs at the protein level." (from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16760363).

"Few studies have examined the time course for the disappearance of tolerance to cannabinoid-mediated effects after the cessation of longterm cannabinoid treatment. Bass and Martin (2000) reported that the disappearance of tolerance to cannabinoid-mediated hypomotility preceded that of antinociception, suggesting that recovery of CB1 receptor function might exhibit regional differences. However, the time course of CB1 receptor normalization after cessation of cannabinoid treatment has not been assessed at the cellular level." (same authors).
posted by the Real Dan at 5:44 PM on April 9, 2010


a friend of mine (ahem) told me that going from once a day to once a month made a HUGE difference in the enjoyment of the high. it was not unlike if one had smoked every day for the previous month, except it hits you all at once! smoking for the first few times after a break of 5 years was pretty much exactly like doing it the first time, while quitting for 6 months, while lowering tolerance greatly, wasn't quite the same.

and while there may still be traces left in the bloodstream, decreases in cb1 receptor functions etc after a month, my friend's experience is that cutting back from daily to monthly or even weekly sessions helps get rid of the minor problems associated with regular usage, such as lack of motivation, feelings of addiction, etc.

hope that helps!
posted by messiahwannabe at 9:13 PM on April 9, 2010


My friend (ahem) has passed three or four drug tests over the past decade of smoking at least 3-4 times a week, sometimes daily, by tapering off to one or two times a week for a few weeks, then not smoking at all a week before the drug test. So that's about 7 days from last toke to THC expungement, but 3 weeks of total diminished smoking. She has fairly low body fat, drinks lots of water, and exercises frequently -- all factors that help the body clear THC from its system.

She stopped smoking regularly about two months ago, and seems to get a more intense high when she does smoke (less than 1x every 2-3 weeks). So whereas before she would have been pleasantly buzzed but functional pretty much no matter how much she smoked, she's now at risk of getting fucked up for a while after a really big bong hit.
posted by croutonsupafreak at 9:16 PM on April 9, 2010


haha. (ahem)
posted by croutonsupafreak at 9:16 PM on April 9, 2010


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