Can You Get High From Eating Raw Weed?

If you love edibles, you may have been wondering: can you get high from eating raw weed? If not, are there any benefits to it at all?
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2013 studyCan you get high from eating raw weed? There’s nothing new about the concept of eating cannabis instead of smoking it. In fact, edibles are one of the most popular ways to consume weed, and they now make up a huge portion of the legal weed industry. But as anyone who’s ever taken an edible knows, when you eat cannabis you’re not actually eating raw bud. But if you did, what would happen? Can you get high from eating raw weed? Here’s everything you need to know about eating raw cannabis.

Will Raw Weed Get You High?

If you were hoping to get high after eating some raw flower, you’re in for a disappointment. Raw weed will not get you high. To understand why, you have to be familiar with a little bit of cannabis chemistry.

Cannabis is full of naturally-occurring chemicals called cannabinoids. When you consume and metabolize weed, these compounds enter your body and interact with your body’s endocannabinoid system.

These interactions trigger all sorts of activity and changes in your body, affecting things like mood, appetite, sleep, pain perception and much more.

The sensation of being high is one of these effects. But you’ll only feel that way if your body gets active THC, and as it turns out, raw cannabis doesn’t actually have THC readily available.

Instead, raw cannabis contains the non-psychoactive cannabinoid THCA. Interestingly, when cannabis is exposed to heat, the THCA is converted into “active” THC, which then makes you feel high.

This process is called “decarboxylation.” This is exactly what happens when you ignite bud, or when you heat it to the point of vaporizing. It’s also why before an edible can get you high, the weed must at some point be decarboxylated.

But when you eat raw weed, this crucial step is missing. As a result, all you’re getting is THCA, not THC, which means you won’t get high.

What Happens When You Eat Raw Weed?

Can You Get High From Eating Raw Weed?

If you’re dead set on eating raw weed, don’t worry. Although you won’t get high from eating raw weed, you still may get other health benefits from eating some leafy green.

In fact, a growing number of people claim that eating raw cannabis can be a great way to access the therapeutic and health benefits of cannabinoids without experiencing any of the psychoactive effects.

Dr. William Courtney is one of the leading proponents of consuming raw cannabis. He believes that ingesting the plant raw is one of the healthiest ways to consume it.

“When it’s consumed as a leafy green vegetable, you get the whole profile of the plant,” Courtney told Fox News.

“I believe this plant, having evolved over millions of years, is put together to support that system. It’s clear that this plant is incredibly important for cell health, which at its best prevents disease.”

Courtney regularly recommends raw cannabis to his patients. To date, he said he’s encouraged somewhere around 8,000 patients to give it a shot. And so far, he’s reported positive outcomes.

“My experience day in and day out is overwhelmingly positive with patients who are using it,” he said.

Juicing Is Best

Can You Get High From Eating Raw Weed?

For many people interested in the health benefits of raw cannabis, juicing is the best option. This approach allows you to get all the cannabinoids and other vitamins and minerals contained in the plant without having to process the fibrous plant matter, which can be difficult to digest.

Many people say it also tastes much better, especially when you mix your cannabis juice with other juice or add it to a smoothie.

Additionally, if you mix your cannabis juice with other healthy, vitamin-rich fruits or vegetables, you can give yourself a super-charged health drink.

To juice raw cannabis, you’ll obviously need a juicer and raw, un-decarboxylated weed. Fortunately, you can juice every part of the cannabis plant, buds, leaves, and all.

Roughly chop your plant matter and add it in batches to the juicer. From there, add whatever other fruits, vegetables, and leafy greens you’d like and enjoy.

Can You Get High From Eating Raw Weed?

Ultimately, there’s no reason why you should avoid consuming raw cannabis. But can you get high from eating raw weed? The answer to that is no. But that doesn’t mean it’s not worthwhile.

Consuming raw cannabis, whether you try to eat the entire thing or you juice it, can be a great way to tap into the medicinal, therapeutic and general health benefits of cannabinoids.

If you’re into the idea of juicing raw weed, there are a couple different approaches you can take. If you don’t care about getting high and you primarily want to get a concentrated dose of cannabinoids, go ahead and juice raw flower.

Alternatively, if you grow your own weed or if you have access to full plants or leftover trim, don’t throw anything away.

After harvesting and trimming your bud, run all that plant matter through a juicer. That way you can get the health benefits of raw weed without wasting your flower.

Eating Raw Weed to Access the Benefits of THCA

Raw weed won’t get high because it has not been decarboxylated. That means that the non-psychoactive cannabinoid THCA has not been turned into the psychoactive cannabinoid THC.

But what happens to you when you ingest THCA? Will it produce any effects?

It turns out that THCA could in fact be a very important part of the cannabis plant. Specifically, researchers have identified a number of possible health and therapeutic properties linked to THCA. Here’s a quick snapshot of what research is learning about this cannabinoid:

  • A 2011 study looked at a number of cannabinoids. This included THCA. Researchers found that THCA can function as an anti-inflammatory agent, thereby helping reduce a number of other health complications.
  • A study published in 2012 found that both THC and THCA may have a number of neuroprotective qualities that can promote brain health and fend off certain types of brain cell dysfunction and death.
  • A 2013 study suggested that a handful of cannabinoids, including THCA, could be helpful in slowing the growth and spread of certain types of cancer cells.

There are several other potential health benefits associated with consuming THCA. In fact, access to this cannabinoid could be one of the biggest reasons why a person would want to consume raw weed.

As soon as cannabis heats up, all that THCA disappears, morphing into psychoactive THC instead. So if you want to access the potential health benefits of THCA, you’ll need to get it from raw weed.

(Updated from a previous post.)

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36 comments
  1. This is complete bunk. Speaking from experience. Try eating some leaf with a glass of wine or a bottle beer. You will get ripped.

    1. For sure you’ll get zapped if you eat bud…really zapped…and the effects are not at all like smoking it. Complete body stone, and do not operate heavy equipment either…try eating, say, 5 grams of good bud…you’ll get wrecked, ripped, zapped and/or stoned.

    2. I’ve eaten raw flowers a lot to get high while in rehab against my will so I wouldn’t smell like it but everyone knew I was stoned cuz about an hour later it would hit and hit HARD. it’s works u just need more

  2. I have eaten raw leaves and while I did not get very high, I did feel a slight buzz.
    So I think the above article is wrong.
    I do agree that if you want to get very high, then you do need to cook it or smoke it according to recommended methods.
    But if you just want a microdose, eat a few leaves.

  3. I made hot tea with lemon it took almost 2 hours to hit and then 4 hrs to wear off and it was intense I need to cut back we did add leaf and concentrate and kief need about half as much

  4. It’s embarrassing that this false information is on High Times, especially because a simple test will prove it to you (eat a dime bag and see).

    1. That’s true, I do eat were but it takes up to 5 hours before it kicks in, damn! You won’t be able to control your self!!

  5. I never smoke the stuff anymore. I make Cannabis Chicken regularly. Oven at 275 degrees takes an hour. Plenty time to carbonize the flakes into chicken with basil, garlic salt pepper and sprinkled Sesame-Ginger marinade, both sides. I use boneless, skinless thighs. I use the back side of the chicken, not the outside. Delicious! Kicks in about a half hour, puts me to asleep, still high when I wake up. Cannabis is not a very good taste compared to other herbs. I’m looking for strains for good taste. I’ve done meatloaf. Works OK. But, heat lets the crystals on the surface of anything to cook makes the effect. Cold left over chicken still works for chicken salad sandwiches.

    1. That is amazing thanks for your idea! After watching cooked with cannabis on Netflix I am all in! As a Bipolar self-emplyed man being able to wind down and enjoy the anxiety relief is huge. However always having to go outside to enjoy is overrated.

      Thanks again!

  6. This is utterly untrue! Just try it! You get a very heavy couchlock stone, which comes on gradually over about an hour. It is intense.

    This information is just rubbish. Kind of embarrassing for you honestly.

    1. I am no marijuana expert, but this is sounds like complete bull. I am pretty sure that the THCA often decarboxylates into delta 9 THC during the curing process. Most of the time, when I get a lab report with my flower from a dispensary, it is high in delta 9 THC and very low in THCA (sometimes the opposite is true).

  7. Sorry but it’s not true that you have to cook cannabis to decarb it. I’ve been a daily cannabis user for 55 years and always thought you couldn’t get high eating raw bud. Until about five years ago when my good friend and legendary Blueberry breeder DJ Short, introduced me to a medical doctor friend of his. I gave this guy some bud that I’d grown and he immediately slipped it into his mouth and started chewing. I kind of freaked and told him he was wasting really good bud. He laughed and informed me he wasn’t. He told me if you chew it in the back of your mouth like a cow chews a cud of grass for at least 15 minutes before swallowing, it would become decarboxylated. I tried this the next day without smoking anything beforehand. I stuck about a gram of good bud in my mouth and chewed on it for about 15 minutes and then swallowed it. About an hour later I wished it had only been about a half gram or less. I’ve had acid and mushroom trips that didn’t send me nearly as far out there. I’ve been eating raw bud ever since. Since then I’ve considered smoking it to be kind of a waste because I’ve never gotten as high from smoking it as eating it.

    1. There are people who decarb weed with citric acid. Your stomach acid is way stronger so that is probably why eating raw weed gets you high.

  8. Like many of the other commenters, I personally prefer to eat weed, and I was surprised to see that this myth that it doesn’t get you high being perpetuated on the internet. Where did this nonsense come from? So glad to read the other comments. Thought maybe I was insane after reading the same “unfortunately, eating raw weed won’t get you high,” misinformation in all the top google hits.

    I’m ate some 30 min ago and I can assure you, I ain’t sober!

  9. I know for a FACT that eating marijuana gets you high!! When I was in rehab I found a rolled joint outside of my psychiatrist office so I grabbed it & his it for a whole week struggling to find a way to smoke it bc I didn’t want to get caught with it either so I decided to eat the whole joint & swallowed it down. Before I knew I was high as hell so I went & took a nap bc I was scared to get caught high in rehab lol. I’ve got 3yrs clean time now but I am a medical marijuana patient.

  10. All of you in the comment section need to educate yourself! If you eat fresh non cured herb you WILL NOT GET HIGH! Smoke non dried and cured herb you will not get high either!
    Curing herb will allow it to decarb. ( heat or time) Deer will eat fresh herb and never get high. Cured herb will naturally decarb. The HT staff i met 25 yrs ago were a bunch of Rochester ny fks and were real uneducated on herb. But not 1 of you ( who claims you get high by eating it) ate fresh non cured herb. Again curing it will naturally decarb thca into thc..

    1. Yikes. How removed are you that you think ALL these people commenting need to EDUCATE themselves.. haha.
      That’s so condescending!
      You’re saying their experiences aren’t true.
      Go back to your cave.

  11. Definitely false article as I for one find it difficult to smoke it so instead I eat it and I got to say even I can feel the affects of this drug within a hour or so depending on how much of it I eat. Every time I eat it I seriously can’t stop laughing it truly makes me laugh at everything.

  12. I love all you beautiful fellow stoners🙏💚 these comments sure turned my frown from this article upside down! I knew i wasn’t mad!! 😅

  13. This article should be taken down. It’s clearly wrong. If weed don’t get high when you eat then why do animals eat it and get fucking launched to the moon? I’ve been round dogs that have eaten whole branches off plants and they’re done for the whole day. Just zapped

  14. In my experience eating raw bud is more of a trip in comparison to what i have felt from smoking. Smoking comes on fast and goes relatively fast. Eating it comes on a bit slower and then seeps its way into your system taking you on a ride. It’s my preference to eat the bud. The introduction into your body feels more natural compared to smoking. Most important for me is the therapeutic effect, it’s longer lasting. Crucial factor for all of us out there in need of relief from this world.

  15. I’ve juiced freshly cut buds for years and have never felt high, only dry mouth, so I can relate to the article

  16. LUV eating/chewing dried herb — used to just smoke it but this is a new great revelation! SO doesn’t belong in cookies, food and crap.

  17. All I do is eat my weed raw and I get a more euphoric body high then when I smoke it, it’s amazing it last way longer than smoking it too so maybe y’all should try eating it before you do a fucking article stating you don’t get high cause I get high as fuck

  18. I love it stoners unite y’all get the man we’re tired of him holding our drugs from us fuck the government legalize weed in Georgia!!!

  19. This article is bunk and because of it, I chose to eat raw cannabis instead of smoking it thinking I wouldn’t get high. As a result of eating the raw cannabis, I got so wrecked that I blanked out and had an unfortunate incident with the law. I wish there was more research done to explain the effects I experienced.

  20. I’ve learned a lot over the past 50 years on growing smoking and cooking weed. I can tell you as fact that you can get high from eating hash. When I was 17 and backpacking Europe I bought about a quarter oz of blond hash in Amsterdam for a pittance. My brother and I smoked what we could in. 3 day span but we planned to hitchhike out of the Netherlands after that we probably had 4 or 5 grams left and didn’t want to cross the border with it. We decided to eat it. Each of us ate about a gram. After 30 minutes nothing happened. Decided to eat all the rest. Still nothing after about an hour. Then it started to hit me 90 minutes later. I got so stoned i literally couldn’t stand up to hitchhike any longer. I actually got so high I saw visual patterns similar to acid. I now understand how carbonization works and I’m not sure why I got so stoned , but it happened.

  21. Activated pot works when eaten. Raw has worked for me sometimes, especially when mixed with alcohol. But beware that eating pot unfortunately wrecks your digestion. Weird that it’s not common to find information online about that and everything u find written is just the positives

  22. This article is crap. It gets you super high. Also you can grind the raw or dry flower into a yoghurt.

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