I have questions about this THC product.

December 4, 2018 3:19 PM

This is the product in question => Imgur link. I've never used any THC/Marijuana product before.

So, a couple of questions about this.

1. Is this a good product to use for the first time? I can’t smoke marijuana so I figured an edible product would be good.

2. What effect will this have? How long will it last?

3. Any advice for a first-time user?

4. Finally YANMD, but I take many medications. Some for my mental health, some for my physical health. How do I talk to my docs about using THC/CBD when I live in a state where this product is illegal and I’m on state insurance. Medical marijuana will be legal in my state in many months.

posted by dork enlightenment to Health & Fitness (8 answers total)

Kinda hard for me to say, but I'll try. Maybe someone else will have a better take but here's what I see:

It's technically a topical, not an edible. I'm assuming it will act much like an edible, but I could well be off base—I have no direct experiemce with topicals. I would tend to assume it will last about eight hours and take two hours to kick in, but since it's a topical it may enter your system faster than that. There's a lot of variation though in any case among products. Timing may vary based on how full your stomach is, with an empty stonach giving faster/shorter times. However they recommend waiting twelve hours before re-dosing if the initial dose is unsatisfying, which may indicate a longer than usual duration or may be CYA. Either way, clear your schedule before trying this.

The doses aren't very high. I'm a regular user so I have some tolerance, but I have been known to consume up to 50mg of THC in a sitting. That's a lot for me (50mg makes me very high indeed) but also I'm not that heavy a user; just among my personal acquaintances, I can think of several people who consume more. 5 or 10mg sounds reasonable for a non-user to start with. It may take a few sessions before you have a good sense of how this dosage affects you. There are only a few doses in the vial though, so by the time you have a good handle on it you'll probably be out.

There's a lot of CBD in this; it's a 1:1 THC:CBD blend. Many people find that CBD makes them sleepy. That can be good or bad, obviously. Just depends on what you want.

Bottom line: try it, but make sure you have nothing to do for the rest of the day. Be prepared for it to take a few tries to get the dosage right. Be prepared for it to take hours to kick in, although it may be much faster. Hopefully someone with more experience of topicals can give better advice. Give it a shot though, it won't hurt you.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 3:53 PM on December 4, 2018 [4 favorites]

1. 5mg/dose is a typical "low dose" edible amount. I think this should be okay for you. Add it to a beverage or drip on a cookie. It might taste a bit nasty "straight".

2. You'll get high. 5mg THC is enough to do the trick for a new user. Expect giggles, a different perspective, a bit of a light-headed or buzzy feeling. You'll probably get both dry mouth and munchies, so have healthy snacks and drinks on hand. Turn on some pleasant feel good music, and have some low-impact TV or movies handy. I tend towards things that are funny or have fun visuals. Things like nature documentaries, music documentaries, art films, and comedies are going to be good.

Expect effects to kick in 45-120 minutes after taking; an empty stomach will be quicker. Edibles usually last 3-4 hours, but maybe a touch longer. Depends on the person and many other factors. You may find yourself sleepy, especially with the CBD, so have a blanket and a pillow nearby.

3. Do NOT think "this isn't kicking in, I'll have a second dose" until at least a few hours have passed. This thinking is what gets people into trouble with edibles. Take only one dose to start with. Over time, you may find you need a higher dose, but worry about that some other day. today isn't that day. Take only one dose.

If you do wind up "too high". Don't panic. Have a sugary snack. Breathe. This will pass soon, and you'll be fine. You'll be having a nap in no time.

4. I am certainly not your doctor, and I'm not a doctor at all. Don't take my medical advice. Here in my legal state, most doctors don't care, and didn't really care before the law changed. I know that in the Midwest you may get a completely different response. You've really got to know your doctor to know how they might react.
posted by Mister Fabulous at 3:56 PM on December 4, 2018 [3 favorites]

Oh, right, the doctor thing. I have had doctors who are totally fine with my cannabis use, and I have had doctors who have said that they cannot responsibly prescribe me medication unless I stop using it, due to a lack of studies regarding its safety. I have not had doctors who I perceived to be judging me on a personal or moral level. I have never personally experienced an adverse interaction between cannabis and another medication, but that doesn't mean much. For the doctor who said he couldn't continue to prescribe unless I stopped using cannabis, I just straight-up lied to him in subsequent sessions.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 4:19 PM on December 4, 2018 [1 favorite]

5mg edibles gets me very high. This is very roughly a 1:1 THC:CBD formulation, so it's supposed to have less of an anxiety producing effect. If you took the whole 0.8ml dose, you'd probably get couchstuck stoned and, if you're anything like me, paranoid and uncomfortable.

The best advice for a new comer would be to try half a dose or so and really put the rest away and not touch it. Then wait and see how it makes you feel and dont try a bigger dose until the next day. Upping your dose because you aren't feeling high on your first try is a surefire way to Maureen Dowd yourself. Don't do that.
posted by dis_integration at 4:21 PM on December 4, 2018

Regarding question 4, I myself would extremely not say anything, for a couple of reasons. First, because your doctor might personally react badly, decide you’re a drug seeker, and start cutting you off from prescriptions that also have possible recreational uses, even if you need them medically. Not the most likely thing in 2018, but some doctors absolutely do still think that way, especially in full-prohibition states.

Second, even if your doctor, personally, is totally chill, there are way too many ways that information can make its way into a database and follow you around in the electronic medical record era. If your doctor puts it in your record, and they practice as part of health system (as ever-more doctors do), it could end up being visible to the Emergency Department doctors if you present at one of their hospital emergency departments, which is exactly the situation I would most not want some random doctor who’s never seen me before deciding I’m too risky to give needed painkillers to.

In addition, cannabis use could get coded and submitted on the claims to your insurance and end up in one of their databases too, which would particularly concern me if I had Medicaid or another state insurance. Not 100% certain at all that it would make it through coding and get put on a claim, but it absolutely could. They won’t like narc you out to the cops or anything, but they could certainly use it to influence medical decision-making about you, especially if you’re on or have to move to a Medicaid managed care plan.

Personally, that’s way too much risk for something that’s just not very medically relevant for an adult occasional user, but your risk tolerance may very. I have heard from anesthesiologists that recent cannabis use makes a difference for anesthesia tolerance, so maybe if you’re having surgery, either disclose or abstain for a week or two beforehand.
posted by strangely stunted trees at 6:49 PM on December 4, 2018 [5 favorites]

The THC and CBD amounts are roughly equal. The effect will be a more balanced high than it would be with a higher THC amount.
posted by Thorzdad at 6:57 PM on December 4, 2018

I will be the dissenting voice. I don’t think edibles are a good choice for the first-time user. The delay in kicking in and the length of the high are both much longer than they are for smoking, so when you smoke it is much easier to control your dose. I would start off by smoking (or vaping).
posted by enn at 5:44 AM on December 5, 2018 [6 favorites]

Seconding enn, I find the effects of edibles to be both too unpredictable and too long-lasting; I wouldn't recommend it for a first time user. Vaping is a lot more controllable (and much more pleasant and less odiferous than smoking; I can't tolerate smoke either, but if you can breathe warm-to-hot air you can vape).

As with any psychoactive drug, try to make your first attempt in a safe and private location, with a non-partaking babysitter. I know it's "just" marijuana, and the risk of anything going actually wrong is wafer-thin, but it's good to have someone around who can remind you that everything is OK or distract you with snacks if you start going into a paranoid or otherwise unpleasant state of mind.

Re doctors: I'd wait until your state makes medical marijuana legal before talking to your doctor about it, and may not bother even then: there unfortunately isn't much useful information about drug interactions yet; the research simply hasn't been done.
posted by ook at 8:27 AM on December 5, 2018 [1 favorite]