Dear Stoner: How Are Edibles Measured?

Dear Stoner: I am a tourist here on my honeymoon. I’ve checked into elixirs, but noticed one of the bottles says “one fluid ounce.” So does that count the same as flower?
Phurious

Dear Phurious: Everything you can buy in a dispensary is measured by weight, but only in terms of marijuana product, and as an out-of-stater, you are legally allowed to buy seven grams of marijuana product per day — but the strength of those products can differ significantly. A gram of flower at 17 percent THC and a gram of wax at 80 percent are both considered the same in weight no matter how much higher one gets you than the other. Edibles are a little more strict: Every recreational edible, drinks included, must be sold in single servings of ten milligrams of THC, which is why you saw an ounce marker on that bottle. Edibles can be sold in packages containing up to 100 milligrams, but each ten-milligram serving must be marked.

If there are 1,000 milligrams in a gram, and you can buy seven grams of pot products per day, you could theoretically buy a shitload of edibles — but some dispensaries count each edible as a half-gram or more so that you can’t buy out their stock. You can buy all sorts of combinations of edibles, concentrates and flower if you’re over 21, but with a seven-gram limit and some math involved, you might want to bring a calculator.

Dear Stoner: A dispensary I was recently in said they juice pot leaves for their medical patients. Is that for pain just like edibles? Do they get you high?
Bowlverly Clearly

Dear Bowlverly: Juicing cannabis leaves for medicinal proposes has started to gain some traction, as attaining said leaves becomes easier around the country. At Clover Leaf University’s recent conference, “Sports, Meds and Money,” local chef Scott Durrah said he routinely juices raw cannabis for athletes looking for pain relief in their joints, though he declined to name the athletes. Because the leaves contain THC-A, CBD-A and other acids that require heat application to activate the psychoactive effects, juicing them won’t get you high, and proponents swear by the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties drinking cannabis juice gives them. If you have arthritis, lupus or other debilitating conditions, it might be worth checking out. Try to learn about the grow your juicing leaves come from, though. With all the pesticide and chemical rumors going around the industry, you don’t want to be drinking anything toxic.