Westword
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Dear Stoner: What lasts longer in my body, smoking weed or eating it?
Stefon
Dear Stefon: Smoking and ingesting cannabis deliver different highs for different durations, so it should come as little surprise that they enter your bloodstream differently. Smoking pot sends THC directly to your brain, giving you a faster, shorter high and creating a quick spike of THC in your blood, according to numerous medical studies. Although that spike fades almost as quickly, smoking still sends much more THC into the bloodstream than edibles, which slowly send smaller amounts of the cannabinoid into the bloodstream as it’s processed through your liver.
Immortal words from OutKast: “The United Parcel Service and the people at the post office didn’t call you back because you had cloudy piss.”
BaLL LunLa /Shutterstock
Does that mean that smoking marijuana will leave THC in your blood longer than eating marijuana? Not necessarily. Infrequent users can generally pass a urinalysis test one to three days after smoking a joint, but edibles can last upwards of a week for the same person. Still, most of the tests studying an edible’s shelf life in urine date from long before microdosing became popular, so a ten-milligram cookie might not last as long – but don’t hold me to that if you fail a test!
Send questions to marijuana@westword.com.
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