Mental health specialists have warned that gummy candies, chocolate and cookies are just as harmful as smoked marijuana – if not more so.
Marijuana you can eat – known as edibles – is often marketed as a less potent, ‘healthier’ alternative to inhaling the drug.
Many popular products are presented in brightly colored packaging and are shaped like teddy bears or jelly snakes.
But speaking to DailyMail.com, top experts have accused the companies that make the sweets of ‘misleading’ consumers into ‘believing they are safe’.
While not smoking cannabis will save you lung and heart damage, psychiatrists say eating it is more damaging to mental health.
Although weed gummies may seem less potent than smoke, they are easy to consume more quickly, and the psychoactive ingredient takes longer to enter the bloodstream – meaning you may need to consume more to aim for a greater effect.
Risks include serious mental illnesses such as sudden psychosis, schizophrenia and depression, according to a wealth of research.
A major 2019 analysis found that regular cannabis use was linked to a fivefold increased risk of severe psychosis.
“Edibles are in some ways more dangerous than marijuana,” Dr. Libby Stuyt, a board-certified addiction psychiatrist working in Colorado, told DailyMail.com.
‘With edibles, THC (the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis) takes a while to enter the bloodstream, compared to the quick peak you get when inhaling.
‘The delayed reaction – perhaps two to four hours after eating – often causes people to eat a lot more because they think nothing is wrong.
‘Then they get a good dose of THC, and the high lasts much longer.’
Additionally, she says consuming marijuana alongside fatty foods – including chocolate and cookies, popular edibles – can quadruple the potency of THC.
Cannabis edibles come in all kinds of forms: gummies, brownies, cakes and chocolate
“Fat helps the body digest the chemical so you absorb more of it,” she explains.
Edibles are also more ‘misleading’. ‘ They are packaged and look more like normal things, so people underestimate their potential.
“But there have been numerous cases of violent psychosis involving edibles.”
Online, retailers selling marijuana gummies claim that eating the drug-infused candies can actually alleviate some mental health issues, including anxiety and depression.
However, in May, a study of 68,000 US teenagers found that those who used cannabis recreationally were two to four times as likely to develop suicidal depression, compared to non-smokers.
Although the study does not prove a direct causal link (there may be another factor behind the psychiatric illness), the scientists say the strength of the link suggests cause and effect.
They add that other research shows that recreational cannabis use in adolescents can reduce volume in brain regions involved in motivation and emotion.
The mental health risks are believed to be due to the tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, in the marijuana plant, which affects chemicals in the brain and is responsible for the ‘high’.
The substance stimulates brain areas involved in mood, attention and memory – and activates the release of the ‘pleasure’ hormone dopamine.
In small, irregular doses, THC can cause little damage. But on bigger hits and if used over longer periods of time, it can disrupt signaling in key brain areas.
A large-scale review published in June 2023, which looked at the results of 101 studies on the health effects of cannabis, found that use of any frequency was associated with an increased risk of mental health problems and a worsening of psychotic symptoms.
The analysis, published in the British Medical Journal, included studies where the drug was both smoked and ingested.
A 2019 study of nearly 10,000 hospital visits by doctors in Colorado, where the drug has been legal since 2012, found that edible marijuana — in the form of gummies, brownies and chocolate — was associated with a higher number of psychiatric emergencies, compared with inhaled marijuana. hemp.
Another 2016 study noted that many of the recent reports of cannabis-induced psychosis were “following the ingestion of an edible.”
It has also been suggested that blood concentrations of THC may be higher with edibles than with smoking.
“It is estimated that 1 mg of D9-THC (the most common form of THC) in a CE (edible cannabis) can produce similar behavioral effects as 5.71 mg in inhaled cannabis,” according to a recent article published in US Pharmacist.
Experts have also raised concerns about the increase in potency of marijuana available in the US over the past two decades – both in edible and inhaled forms.
In 2018, experts in Colorado found that between 1995 and 2015, THC levels in marijuana flower increased 212 percent in the state.
According to the report from doctors at the University of Colorado Health Science Program, the most popular strains found in Colorado dispensaries in 2017 had THC levels of 17 to 28 percent.
By comparison, in the early 1990s, the average THC strength in the state was about four percent.
The experts’ warnings come a week after rumors surfaced online that infamous cannabis smoker and rapper Snoop Dogg was planning to switch from smoking the drug to eating it.
Snoop Dogg, whose real name is Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. is, claimed to have quit smoking marijuana, despite the habit being a big part of his personal brand. Fans speculated that he might switch to edible marijuana, such as gummies. In fact, his statement (below) was a PR stunt for cooking brand Solo Stove
In what turned out to be a PR stunt for fire pit brand Solo Stove, the 52-year-old announced on his Instagram page that he was ‘quitting smoking’.
It sparked a wave of rumors among fans, who took to Twitter to speculate on whether the rapper was sincere in his promise to kick the haul.
“This ends up being an ad campaign for gummy edibles or something, right,” journalist and podcast host Matt Binder tweeted in response to Snoop’s announcement.
“This is probably just going to be a viral campaign where he launches his own line of vapes or edibles or something,” read another tweet that received 19,000 likes.
It wouldn’t be the first time the star linked his name to a cannabis treat.
In October 2022, he teamed up with edibles company Tsumo Snacks and put his name (and face) on two new lines of THC-infused onion rings called “Snazzle Os.”
The 128 gram packs contain 100 mg of THC per bag – at least five times as much as in one joint.
Earlier this month, a Portland, Oregon pediatrician warned parents to keep cannabis edibles out of the reach of children — with recent data showing that 7,000 children under six had eaten them between 2017 and 2021.
Dr. Beth Ebel of the University of Washington told Yahoo News, “We see this all day.
In October 2022, rapper Snoop Dogg collaborated with Snazzle Os on a line of onion ring snacks that contain 100 mg of THC per pack – the same as about five joints.
“My friends in the emergency room see kids coming in and they’re trying to decide, does this child have a brain hemorrhage or a brain tumor? Or is this a child who really has a low level of consciousness because he has ingested something.
He added that the risks to children’s health could be “irreversible.”
‘One of the very worrying things is that these powerful products have a strong association with schizophrenia and psychotic disorder.
“I’ve seen kids in the hospital using some of these more powerful products: young kids who are doing well in school, and they come to (Harborview Medical Center) after a psychotic break.
‘Sometimes this is a lifelong onset of schizophrenia, and this can be accelerated by these powerful products.’
Recreational use of cannabis is legal in 24 US states, with Ohio being the latest to greenlight the drug in November 2023.