Can you overdose on marijuana? What is a THC overdose?

Fifty years ago, weed was much less potent. Weed samples from the 1970s averaged at 3-4% THC. Today cannabis growers regularly produce weed strains that have THC levels over 30%. Not only has weed gotten much stronger, but we have also invented new ingestion methods and product types that allow us to concentrate a huge quantity of weed into an easily consumable format. If you consume super-potent weed products like edibles, dabs, Rick Simpson oil, and moonrocks, can you overdose on weed?

Can You Overdose on Weed?

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, a drug overdose is defined as an incident “when a person uses enough of a drug to produce life-threatening symptoms or death.” Based on this definition, it is not physically possible to overdose on weed. However, it is possible to ingest too much cannabis or THC and experience adverse effects. But first, why is it effectively impossible to overdose on weed?

Can Marijuana Kill You?

A 2019 toxicology report released by a coroner in New Orleans claimed to have documented the first death attributed to marijuana. However, experts are highly skeptical of this claim and the official number of deaths due to marijuana overdose is still zero. According to Keith Humphreys, a former senior policy advisor at the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, “We know from really good survey data that Americans use cannabis products billions of times a year, collectively… That means if the risk of death was one in a million, we would have a couple thousand cannabis overdose deaths a year.” Obviously, that is not the case. There is a lethal dose of weed—at least in theory. But ingesting enough cannabis to kill you is effectively impossible. Dr. Jeffrey Chen, executive director of the UCLA Cannabis Research Initiative, explains, “there is a theoretical limit that THC could lead to an overdose, but it’s basically impossibly to consume a level that high…You'd have to smoke several hundred pounds of cannabis in an hour for your blood levels to hit that theoretical limit." Why is it so hard to ingest a lethal dose of weed? Cannabis affects your brain differently than drugs like opioids or alcohol do. Opioids and alcohol interact with the pre-Bötzinger complex, a region deep in the brainstem that governs the “fundamental drive to respiration.” When alcohol and opioids interact with the pre-Bötzinger complex deep in the brainstem, these drugs cause the body to forget to breathe. Cannabis interacts with cannabinoid receptors. Luckily, cannabinoid receptors are found in small numbers in the pre-Bötzinger complex, instead appearing in high concentration in regions of the brain that control cognition and movement. As a result, smoking too much weed or ingesting a high dose of edibles may distort your cognition and impair your movement, but it won’t kill you.

What Does a THC Overdose or an RSO Overdose Feel Like?

While it is not possible to fatally overdose on weed, it is possible to take too much cannabis and experience a THC overdose. Certain ingestion methods and product types are more likely to lead to overdose. Most people who have had a THC overdose were consuming edibles or orally consumed concentrates like Rick Simpson Oil (RSO). RSO is an extremely potent product used by many medical marijuana patients to help them manage pain. RSO overdose is common because RSO delivers a high dose of THC in a very concentrated format. So, what does a marijuana overdose or a THC overdose feel like? Common symptoms of a THC overdose include anxiety, paranoia, racing heartbeat, and impaired movement. These symptoms can surface in different ways. For example, impaired movement often translates to uncontrollable shaking after eating edibles. While it is alarming to experience uncontrollable shaking after eating edibles, this symptom is usually caused by THC binding to cannabinoid receptors in areas of the brain that govern movement. It is worth noting that while impaired movement on its own is not dangerous, it may increase your risk of physical injury.

What To Do If You Get Too High

If you are experiencing an RSO overdose, or if you took a huge dab and suddenly feel paranoid, what are some things you can do to feel better after a weed overdose? Please note that cannabis can produce changes in blood pressure and heartbeat that could be dangerous for some individuals based on their medical history. If you feel you are experiencing a medical emergency, it is important to contact your doctor or go to the Emergency Room. But if you just smoked too much weed or ate more of an edible than you had intended and just want to mellow out, experts recommend distracting yourself with a good TV show or a song, talking to a trusted friend who can assure you that you will be back to normal shortly, or taking a purposeful dose of CBD. CBD acts on the same receptors that THC does, but it partially antagonizes them, decreasing the activity of THC in the brain. Many cannabis users use CBD to relax after consuming too much weed and experiencing a THC overdose.

Can You Overdose on CBD?

CBD is non-intoxicating, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t consume too much. There is no known lethal dose of CBD and consuming a large dose of CBD is unlikely to produce adverse effects aside from gastrointestinal distress or nausea. Most people tolerate high doses of CBD oil without any adverse side effects. Human trials on CBD have used between 20mg-1500mg per day, so CBD has a wide dose range depending on your wellness goals. The best way to avoid the unpleasant symptoms of consuming too much cannabis or CBD is to use the Jointly app to find your optimal dose for each of your wellness goals.

Discover Purposeful Cannabis Consumption with Jointly

Jointly is a new cannabis wellness app that can help you track and optimize the 15 factors that can impact your cannabis experience. These 15 factors include your dose, the time of day that you consume cannabis, your wellness goals, how much sleep you got the night before, and more. Curious about tracking and optimizing how you use cannabis and CBD? Download the Jointly app on the App Store or the Google Play Store to get started on your cannabis wellness journey.