Ask a Stoner: Do Old Edibles Lose Potency?

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Dear Stoner: How long will edibles stay strong? I found a few lollipops and some chocolates in my coat that are probably almost a year old.
Tracy McGravy

Dear Tracy: From what we can tell, the vast majority of the other ingredients in edibles will degrade long before the THC or CBD does. According to edibles companies we’ve spoken with in the past, cannabinoids won’t degrade in edibles for at least a year, and will likely last longer. So even if those candies and other THC-infused goodies taste like crap after their best-by dates, they should still get you good and stoned. And for anyone who has ever eaten special mushrooms, eating a crappy-tasting edible should be a breeze.

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The chocolate will go bad before the cannabinoids in your marijuana edibles.

Jacqueline Collins

Still, anything with dairy in it — cheesecake and milk chocolate, for example — will eventually spoil, even with refrigeration, so don’t sit on those items too long. Most baked goods, like most cookies and brownies, will last much longer than cheesecake, though they’ll obviously get stale after a week or so. It should be noted that freezing edibles won’t kill their THC or CBD, either, so put anything you’ve been nibbling slowly on ice.

Send questions to [email protected].