Can you overdose on weed?

Can you overdose on weed? 0:00

Can you overdose on weed? You can take far more than you can handle, and that can mean a miserable few hours, but nobody has found a dose of THC that stops a healthy adult's breathing. I'm Justin Hartfield, I've spent twenty-five years in cannabis, and the reason is where THC lands in your brain.

Can weed kill you? 0:18

Can weed kill you? That comes down to the lock THC turns in your brain, called CB1.

First, where that lock lives. Your brain is packed with them. The brighter the glow, the more there are.

But in the brainstem, the part that keeps you breathing without you ever thinking about it, there are very few. An opioid overdose kills by shutting breathing down, because opioid locks sit right in those breathing centers. That may be why even huge doses of cannabis are not lethal.

How much weed does it take to overdose? 0:49

How much weed does it take to overdose? In 2015, two researchers in Germany compared lethal doses from animal experiments with what people actually take. For a single user, alcohol, nicotine, cocaine and heroin all had a safety margin under tenfold, while THC was the only drug with a margin above a hundred.

Has anyone died from weed? 1:10

Has anyone died from weed? Researchers in England checked every death reported to a national drug-death program from 1998 to 2020 where cannabis turned up at post-mortem. In the hundred and thirty-six deaths where cannabis was the only drug, most were from injuries, and cannabis toxicity was cited in just one.

The other real risk is the heart, because THC speeds it up, and a 2019 review counted at least thirteen reported deaths with a cardiovascular cause. The English team concluded cannabis can prove fatal in people with heart conditions.

THC overdose symptoms 1:44

So what are THC overdose symptoms? The main ones are anxiety and panic, along with a racing heart and swings in blood pressure that can leave you dizzy or faint when you stand up. People call that greening out, which has its own answer, linked here.

Can you overdose on edibles? 2:00

Can you overdose on edibles? It's the easiest way to take too much, because an edible arrives so late that people take a second before the first has landed, and my edibles answer shows that clock.

Small children are a different matter, and in case reports on a hundred and fourteen children who swallowed cannabis by accident, nearly one in five went to intensive care.

In 2017, doctors in Colorado reported an eleven-month-old boy who died of heart inflammation after being exposed to cannabis, and they called the link possible, so keep edibles locked away from children.

Should you go to the ER if you're too high? 2:34

Should you go to the ER if you're too high? Most people don't need to, because it passes as the THC wears off. But go if there's chest pain, a faint, a seizure or vomiting that won't stop, or if a child ate some.

Cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome 2:48

Cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome is when heavy use makes some people vomit again and again, which runs against what THC normally does, because through CB1 it suppresses vomiting.

In 2004, doctors in South Australia described heavy, long-term users with bouts of vomiting who washed compulsively during attacks, and in the seven who quit cannabis, the vomiting stopped. Later case reports found about nine in ten got relief from hot baths or showers.

In a New York emergency room, a third of the patients who smoked at least twenty days a month met the researchers' criteria. Nobody knows yet why THC flips like this, and stopping looks like the best treatment.

It can turn dangerous too, and in 2019, pathologists in Canada reported two deaths they attributed to it, so if you can't keep water down, get medical help.

So you can't overdose on weed the way you can on opioids, because THC barely touches your breathing, but you can take far more than you want, especially with edibles. The whole film is on my site, linked below, and next, what greening out actually is.