Edibles are popular. They’re discreet, they don’t hit the lungs and they’re just a different kind of high. Edible cannabis products took a little longer to arrive in Ontario’s licensed cannabis market – but once they arrived there were two distinct reactions:
“Woooo hooo!” and “Are you kidding me?”
Lots of people were just happy to have edibles available. In the unlicensed market, some of the unregulated edibles offer questionable ingredients and inconsistent dosing – plus a concern about the conditions of the kitchen they were created in. (Side note: At a 4/20 celebration, pre-legalization, my husband was given a “canndy.” Long and kind of weird story later, he had to be raced to the hospital with an anaphylactic reaction and spent the night. And he’s never eaten an unlicensed edible since!) Some unlicensed sources were definitely better than others. Many of the really good ones have obtained their licenses (Hello Blessed and Fritz’s, I’m smiling at you!) and transitioned over to the licensed market.
While there are many happy customers, some regular edibles consumers were unhappy to find the government put a 10mg maximum of THC per package.
Now many people find ingesting 5mg or 10mg enough to achieve the high they want, but many others want 20mg, 50mg, 100mg+ at a time. In the unlicensed market it’s common to find 250mg, 500mg and 1000mg edibles, though with recent testing we’re actually realizing that those wildly huge doses aren’t accurate (check out this recent report) and reported strengths tend to be much, much lower than suggested.
But some people need more THC; they have a higher tolerance, they just like to get higher than average, and then some just don’t absorb THC and need heroic doses just to feel what I feel at 10mg.
Beyond wanting higher doses, the fact is, it’s way more cost effective to buy larger quantities. The licensed market doesn’t prohibit buying large amounts of THC edibles, it just can’t be in one package. Essentially if you’re after 400mg you can buy 40 of the 10mg chocolate bars in one purchase – actually you max out at 43 chocolate bars as the legal limit – but you’re going to spend over $200 and you’re going to have a massive stomach ache if you attempt to eat it all in one sitting.
It’s the number one question about edibles – followed by “Why is there no limit at the liquor store?” By the same logic, alcohol should only be sold by the ounce – and alcohol can be lethal. It makes you wonder.
We’re hoping to see this max changed soon.
But for those who have found happiness in the edibles market, it just keeps getting better! New flavours, new formats, new ways to consume.
First – look at the growing list of products. Originally we had a couple of soft chews and a few options in chocolate. Now we have those, plus hard candies, caramels, cookies, mints, pretzels, coconut clusters, brownies, cake, dried fruit, coffee, hot chocolate, truffles, hot sauce, infused sugar and even honey sticks! There are sugar-free options, savoury selections and numerous ways to infuse your own foods.
With so many flavours to choose from, there are also different cannabis products used. Most edibles use a straight up distillate – pure THC concentrate. It’s cost effective and doesn’t have too strong a flavour. There are now edibles that use hash and others that use live rosin. These incorporate the whole plant instead of the stripped down THC.
What is it that you like about your edibles. What did I miss?