The Safest Way to Dose Cannabis Edibles the First Time

Always read the package. You can’t tell how much THC an edible has by looking at it.

If you’re interested in trying edibles, but have never had a cannabis product before, watch the video below to get started on your cannabis journey. At 7 Stars, our first concern is making sure everyone has a good experience with cannabis, especially if it's your first time. People often find edibles (gummies, mints, sodas, and other food products containing cannabis) to be more approachable than smoking for a variety of reasons, but they are very potent and should be consumed with safety in mind. 

Food is familiar, so eating a chocolate or gummy is less of a hurdle than smoking a joint for many people. But sometimes because of the familiarity of food people can get lulled into a false sense of security and take too much. Because edibles can take two hours to kick in, people sometimes take two or three doses before the first one kicks in, thinking the edible isn’t doing anything. They are later surprised by how high a dose they took, and sometimes it’s unpleasant, anxiety producing, or even traumatizing depending on how much they had.

We don’t want to scare you away from trying edibles, but we feel a responsibility to educate you about safe consumption. Just like anything else, if you have too much you probably won’t enjoy yourself, and you could get anxiety or other unpleasant feelings. If you really overdo it, the experience can even be traumatizing. Focus on dosage, and how many milligrams of THC you’ll be consuming, specifically.

This guide will go through a very detailed set of instructions, and walk you through the safest way to take cannabis edibles the first time. Figuring out your dose will ensure that you have a good time and enjoy yourself.

Know How Many Milligrams of THC You’re Taking

A reputable company will use packaging that tells you how much THC each gummy has in it, like this package of 5mg gummies by Kiva.

This guide will walk you through two important things to know before taking edibles for the first time. The first is milligrams (mg) and the second is THC. THC is the psychoactive (also called “intoxicating”) part of cannabis. We love THC, but (like anything) you have to be careful not to have too much at once. 

If it’s your first time trying edibles, take it easy. If you eat 1mg of THC, you may not even feel it. But if you eat 100mg, you’ll have an experience that could be very overwhelming and scary. It’s important for you to know how many milligrams of THC you are taking your first time taking cannabis, and to start at the lowest dose to be absolutely sure you enjoy yourself. 

If you don’t know how many milligrams an edible has in it, don’t eat it. 

Know Your Ideal Dose

Buy a package of edibles that has the milligrams of THC clearly marked on the package. Make sure the package specifies how much THC is in each piece. We’ll use gummies with 5mg of THC in each gummy as an example. Carefully cut the gummy into four equal sections. Each section has 1.25mg of THC. This is considered a microdose.

Here is a method for increasing your dose and resetting your system to find your ideal dose. Start low, and go slow. This is the safest way to find your ideal dose for cannabis edibles, and assumes you haven’t had any cannabis in two months or longer. 

The 24 Hour Method

For the purposes of this guide, we’re recommending a full 24 hour reset between doses. Why? The standard recommendation for beginners is to wait two hours between doses, which for the most part works just fine. But some beginners who have a lower than average tolerance might still take more than is enjoyable because of the overlapping of doses.

Waiting a full 24 hours between doses will allow you to clear your system of THC, so you can accurately determine your ideal starter dose. Once you have it figured out, you’ll have a good baseline to explore other things like how terpenes, CBD, and other parts of the plant interact with THC.

A 5mg THC gummy, cut into quarters, with a total of 1.25mg THC.

Day 1: Eat a quarter of a gummy, for a total of 1.25mg of THC. Wait 24 hours. Most people won’t feel anything with this dose. Some people will feel a mild high. If you like how you feel with this dose, you don’t need to increase your dose. If you felt nothing, proceed to the next step after a 24 hour reset.

A 5mg THC gummy, cut in half, with a total of 2.5mg THC.

Day 2: Eat a half of a gummy, for a total of 2.5mg of THC. Wait 24 hours. Many people will feel a mild high with this dose, some will feel nothing. If you felt nothing, proceed to the next step after a 24 hour reset.

Three quarters of 5mg THC gummy, with a total of 3.75mg THC.

Day 3: Eat three quarters of a gummy, for a total of 3.75mg of THC. Wait 24 hours. You’ll probably start feeling a mild to medium high with this dose. Some people will feel a strong high.

A 5mg THC gummy.

Day 4: Eat a whole gummy, for a total of 5mg of THC. Wait 24 hours. Most people will feel a medium to strong high at this point, but everyone is different. Get to know your body and it’s reaction to THC, and proceed with caution. If you’re enjoying yourself, try taking the same dose the next time without an increase.

Remember, you don’t have to increase your dose if you’re enjoying yourself or feel the desired symptom relief.  

Day 5: Still not noticing anything? Eat a gummy and a half, for a total of 7.5mg of THC. Wait 24 hours. This is a high beginning dose. If you still felt nothing, you have a high tolerance and will require more THC than many people. 

Day 6: If you still haven’t felt anything, you have a higher than average tolerance. Eat two gummies, for a total of 10mg of THC. Wait 24 hours. This is a high dose for beginners, and even regular cannabis consumers. Even many people who consume cannabis regularly will get high on this dose. If you still don’t feel anything from taking 10mg of THC, steadily increase your dose using the same 24 hour method. Increase your dose by 2.5mg each day, until you begin to feel the desired effects. 

Using this method of starting with a low dose and steadily increasing your dose after a 24 hour waiting period is the safest way to take cannabis edibles the first time, and figure out your ideal dose. A little patience will pay off as you learn how your body responds to cannabis. 

If You’re Short on Time

Petra Mints by Kiva have 2.5mg of THC per mint.

We understand that not everyone wants to dedicate this much time to figuring out their ideal dose of cannabis. We recommend this method because, over the years we’ve noticed a pattern with edibles. Sometimes people take too much their first time, and don’t end up discovering the benefits the cannabis plant can bring when used mindfully with an accurate dose of THC. Often they will try other forms of cannabis that have a faster onset, and swear off edibles. But if you’re careful with your dosage, edibles can be a very effective form of consumption.

If you simply don’t have the time a faster approach would be to increase dosage every two hours, forgoing the 24 hour waiting period to clear your system. This method is commonly recommended to people for consuming edibles, but there is the potential for this technique to muddy the waters a little bit if you’re trying to figure out your ideal beginner dose. The delayed onset and potentially overlapping does can make finding your ideal starter dose slightly more confusing. 

As always, be careful and have fun with it! Please get in touch with us if you have any questions, or want recommendations on an ideal edible to try for your first time.