What happens if you eat weed? It’s a question that any cannabis enthusiast might ask. Raw weed, also known as green weed or uncured weed, refers to the plant before undergoing the curing process.
Curing is a technique commonly used in order to increase the longevity of your stash. It prevents it from rotting and optimizes its flavor, aroma, and effects. However, there are plenty of people who like raw weed for its raw taste and benefits.
In this article we will tackle everything you need to know about eating raw cannabis.
What’s the Difference Between Raw and Cured Weed?
There are many similarities between raw and cured weed, but the main difference is that raw weed is not cured. Curing is the process of treating and aging the cannabis plant in order to increase the longevity of your stash. The curing process also impacts the flavor, aroma, and effects of your cannabis.
Curing your weed can be done in a variety of ways, but the most common way is to hang your cannabis in a controlled environment in a dark, dry space. This process can take between 2 and 8 weeks, depending on the variety and environment. Curing cannabis is crucial for a few reasons, including preventing pests and rot, optimizing flavor, aroma, and potency, and allowing for longer storage.
How to Consume Raw Weed?
The first thing you need to know about consuming raw weed is that you can’t just put it into a joint or smoke it. To properly consume raw weed, you will have to cook it. Cannabis is a plant, and like all plants, it contains a chemical called thc acid. This is the compound that is responsible for the majority of weed’s effects.
When you cook the cannabis at a high temperature, you break down the compound and activate the THC, which makes the weed psychoactive and produces its effect on the body. When you smoke raw cannabis, you don’t have to worry about this because the weed is being heated to a high enough temperature to activate and break down the THC. Cannabis can be eaten in a variety of ways. Some people choose to bake with it, add it to their smoothie or stir fry, or eat it in the form of a cannabis-infused edibles.
What Happens When You Eat Raw Weed?
When you are consuming cannabis, you are consuming the plant in its natural form — unprocessed and uncured. Because the weed hasn’t been cured, it loses many of its benefits, but it does contain THC, which is why eating raw weed can be psychoactive.
When you cook the cannabis, you break down the compound, and activate the THC, which produces its effect on the body. As mentioned, when you consume raw cannabis, you don’t get as many benefits as you would get from cured cannabis.
The big benefit of eating raw weed is that you get the effects immediately. With cured cannabis, you have to wait for the chemical compound to break down, which can take up to a few hours. When you eat raw weed, the effects kick in almost immediately.
Are There Any Health Benefits of Eating Raw Weed?
As we mentioned, when you eat raw marijuana, you lose many of the benefits that you gain from cured cannabis. Cured cannabis has many benefits, including pain relief, reduced anxiety, and improved sleep.
However, eating marijuana does come with its own benefits, including an energizing high, appetite stimulation, and stronger taste and flavor.
Is Eating Raw Weed Dangerous?
Raw cannabis does come with some health risks, and eating it is not as safe as eating cured cannabis. When you eat raw cannabis, you run the risk of consuming harmful bacteria or pathogens that are naturally present in the plant.
These pathogens can cause food poisoning, which can be especially dangerous for people with weakened immune systems. Curing cannabis kills the pathogens in the plant, which is why cured cannabis is safer to eat.
Raw cannabis that is not cooked properly can also contain a chemical called thc acid. Eating raw cannabis that contains thc acid can trigger a false positive for THC on a drug test. Raw cannabis is not as harmful as other types of food, but it is important to be careful.
Final Words
Eating raw weed can be a fun and interesting way to try out new cannabis-infused recipes. You can make almost anything with cannabis, but keep in mind that the effects will be more intense. When consuming raw weed, it’s important to be careful with the cleanliness of your equipment. The main problem with edible cannabis products lies in the difficulty of determining an appropriate dosage. When smoking, cannabis smoke takes effect within a few minutes and peaks at around 20 to 30 minutes.
Raw cannabis contains a lot of natural oils and resins that can easily get stuck in your cooking utensils. If you are new to consuming raw weed, it’s best to start with a small amount and wait around an hour to make sure you don’t get a false positive on a drug test. Now that you know what happens when you eat raw weed, you can decide if that’s the experience you’re looking for.