Edibles have emerged in recent years as an appealing alternative to smoking. Unlike cannabis inhaled through smoking or vaping, edibles have a slower onset and duration of effects. Inaccurate product labeling and inconsistent dosage control during manufacturing, coupled with users not reading product labeling, have contributed to unintentional over consumption among adults.
Moreover, edibles packaged to appeal to children have led to unintentional consumption and a related increase in calls to poison control centers in states that have decriminalized cannabis. A review of research on the health impacts to children of unintentional exposure to cannabis suggests that lethargy is the most common symptom.
With headlines such as “Marijuana ‘edibles’ pack a wallop”, the news media has covered edibles cases extensively. Often shared for entertainment, these stories also offer a window into studying a range of bad edibles experiences including those experienced by law enforcement as they test the products they police. For example, one such story features Toronto police officers eating stolen edibles , while in another viral video a Michigan police officer calls 911 after consuming homemade brownies.
Taken together, changes in laws, access, mode of ingestion, product information, and consumer knowledge create challenges and opportunities for public health professionals and policy makers concerned with youth cannabis use.
With the recent Canadian legalization of cannabis, it is important that user experiences with edibles be carefully examined. Just last year the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine called for more research into the benefits and harms of edibles.
This research is based on 45 semi-structured interviews with informants who self-identified as having a bad experience with a cannabis edible. The purpose of this study was to examine the sources, characteristics, and coping strategies associated with bad edibles experiences, as well as the implications for subsequent use.
Though there are no documented cases of a lethal cannabis overdose, bad experiences with cannabis edibles often generate knowing laughter from other users. Yet for those who have intentionally or unintentionally eaten an edible, the experience can be truly terrifying. Many users described believing that they would never be normal again or that they were going to die. Coping with their experience in a variety of ways, users reflected on how their bad edible experience altered or discouraged subsequent use. My findings highlight the ways in which the psychopharmacological effects of cannabis edibles are moderated by the mindset of the user and the setting in which use occurs.
Dr. Josh Meisel is a Professor of Sociology and co-director of the Humboldt Institute for Interdisciplinary Marijuana Research at Humboldt State University in Arcata, California. Based in a bioregion well known for cannabis cultivation, Dr. Meisel’s prior research examined visual representations of the local cannabis industry, student employment in cannabis related jobs, and news media coverage of cannabis issues. His current research is concerned with reducing harms associated with cannabis edibles and the relationship between cannabis and tobacco use. Dr. Meisel is co-author with Dr. Dominic Corva of “The Routledge Handbook of Interdisciplinary Handbook of Cannabis Research” (Forthcoming).
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