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PL An edible dosage chart sorts THC doses by milligrams: about 1 to 2.5 mg for a microdose or first try, 2.5 to 5 mg for a low dose, 5 to 10 mg for a standard dose, 10 to 25 mg for a strong dose and 25 to 50 mg and more for very strong doses that only tolerant users take. Health Canada advises people new to edibles to look for products with 2.5 mg of THC or less [1]. Edibles start slowly: effects begin 30 to 90 minutes after eating [2] and peak after 1.5 to 3 hours [3], so wait at least 2 hours before taking more.
Edible dosage chart: THC mg by tier
Onset and peak barely change with dose; how long an edible lasts and how hard it hits do.
| Tier | THC per dose | Onset | Peak | Lasts | Wait before more | What guidance and studies say |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Microdose | 1 to 2.5 mg | 30 to 90 min [2] | 1.5 to 3 h [3] | About 4 to 6 h [6] | At least 2 h, up to 4 h on a first try [1] | Health Canada's starting amount for edibles [1] |
| Low | 2.5 to 5 mg | 30 to 90 min | 1.5 to 3 h | About 4 to 6 h | At least 2 h | 5 mg is the proposed standard THC unit [4], used in US federally funded research [7] |
| Standard | 5 to 10 mg | 30 to 90 min | 1.5 to 3 h | About 6 to 8 h [8] | At least 2 h | 10 mg: clear effects and a faster heart rate, no measured cognitive impairment in occasional users [3] |
| Strong | 10 to 25 mg | 30 to 90 min | 1.5 to 3 h | 6 to 8 h or more [8] | Not the same day | 25 mg: markedly impaired thinking and coordination in occasional users [3] |
| Very strong | 25 to 50 mg and more | 30 to 90 min | 1.5 to 3 h | Up to about 12 h [2] | Not the same day | High tolerance only; 50 mg was the top dose in controlled studies [3] |
Oral THC acts for about 4 to 12 hours depending on dose [2]; a fatty meal can push the peak later.
How to use the chart: start low, go slow
- First try: 2.5 mg of THC or less [1].
- Wait at least 2 hours, up to 4 on a first try. In a controlled study effects did not appear until 30 to 60 minutes and peaked at 1.5 to 3 hours [3].
- Step up on another day: if 2.5 mg did little, try 5 mg next time, then 7.5 mg, then 10 mg.
- Stop at the dose that works. More is not always better: in one trial 7.5 mg reduced distress during a stress test, while 12.5 mg increased negative mood [9].
Standard serving units: 2.5, 5 and 10 mg
2.5 mg is the starting amount in Health Canada's lower-risk advice [1]. 5 mg is the standard THC unit proposed by Freeman and Lorenzetti [4], adopted by the US National Institutes of Health for the research they fund in 2021 [7]. 10 mg is the edible serving in most US states with legal sales, such as California, which also caps a package at 100 mg [5] [10]; Connecticut, Vermont and Virginia used 5 mg servings [5]. Canada caps a whole package of edible cannabis at 10 mg of THC [11].
These units make a label easy to read: a 10 mg gummy is two standard units, and a 100 mg chocolate bar is ten servings, not one.
How tolerance, body weight and food shift the dose
Tolerance moves the chart most. The acute effects of THC are generally weaker in regular users than in occasional ones; tolerance is strongest for cognitive effects and partial for the high and the heart rate [12]. A daily user may sit one or two tiers higher, but no formula converts tolerance into milligrams.
Body weight matters less than people think. No controlled study gives an edible dose per kilogram. The approved THC capsule dronabinol starts at a flat 2.5 mg twice daily for appetite loss; only its chemotherapy nausea dose is scaled by body size, at 5 mg per square metre [6].
Food changes the timing. With a high-fat meal, dronabinol peaked about 4 hours later and total exposure rose about 2.9-fold [6]. An edible after a big meal can arrive late and land harder.
The label may be wrong. Of 75 edibles bought and tested in three US cities, 17% were labelled accurately, 23% held more THC than stated and 60% held less [13]. Homemade batches vary more.
How to calculate the mg in homemade butter or oil
Grams of flower x THCA percentage x 10 gives milligrams of THCA. Heat turns THCA into THC and loses a carboxyl group, so 1 mg of THCA gives at most 0.877 mg of THC (358.5 down to 314.5 g/mol) [14] [15]. Divide by the number of portions.
- Example: 5 g of flower at 15% THCA holds 750 mg of THCA, at most about 658 mg of THC. Infused into butter for 30 cookies, that is a ceiling of about 22 mg per cookie, a strong dose; a quarter cookie is about 5.5 mg.
- Real batches come out lower, because decarboxylation and infusion are never complete at home.
- Mix evenly, or one piece gets a strong dose and the next almost none.
The edible dosage calculator does this per serving, the potency calculator works from oil or tincture volume, the cannabutter calculator works per stick of butter, and calculating homemade potency shows each step. A 0.01 g scale gets the first number right.
Every edible dosing page
- Edible dosage guide: milligrams, onset and duration in depth.
- How many THC gummies should I eat?
- How long to wait before taking more edibles
- Microdosing THC: what counts as a microdose.
- First time: how long the high lasts
- THC capsules vs gummies
- 11-hydroxy-THC: why eaten THC feels different.
- Can you overdose on THC? and greening out
Frequently asked questions
How many mg of edible should a beginner take?
2.5 mg of THC or less, the amount Health Canada names for people new to edibles [1]. Wait at least 2 hours, up to 4 on a first try, before deciding whether to take more.
Is 10 mg of THC a lot for an edible?
For a first try, yes: four times the starting amount. In people who rarely use cannabis, 10 mg gave clear effects without impairing cognitive performance, while 25 mg did impair it [3]. For regular users 10 mg is an ordinary serving.
Is a 50 mg edible too much?
Without high tolerance, yes. Doses of 25 mg and above already impaired thinking and coordination in occasional users [3], and large oral doses can act for up to about 12 hours [2].
How long should I wait before taking more edibles?
At least 2 hours, up to 4 on a first try. Effects peak 1.5 to 3 hours after eating [3] and full effects can take up to 4 hours [1].
Does body weight change the edible dose?
Less than tolerance does. No study sets an edible dose per kilogram; even dronabinol starts at a flat 2.5 mg for appetite loss [6].
What is a good edible dose for high tolerance?
Regular users feel less from the same dose [12], and many sit in the 10 to 25 mg tiers. Start a new product or batch at 10 mg or less anyway, because labels are often off [13].
Sources
- Health Canada. Cannabis: lower your risks. Government of Canada, modified 2019-06-14. canada.ca
- Grotenhermen F. Pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of cannabinoids. Clinical Pharmacokinetics. 2003;42(4):327-360. doi:10.2165/00003088-200342040-00003
- Schlienz NJ, Spindle TR, Cone EJ, et al. Pharmacodynamic dose effects of oral cannabis ingestion in healthy adults who infrequently use cannabis. Drug and Alcohol Dependence. 2020;211:107969. doi:10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2020.107969
- Freeman TP, Lorenzetti V. 'Standard THC units': a proposal to standardize dose across all cannabis products and methods of administration. Addiction. 2020;115(7):1207-1216. doi:10.1111/add.14842
- Swinburne MR. THC limits for adult-use cannabis products. Network for Public Health Law, updated 2022-10-10. networkforphl.org
- US National Library of Medicine, DailyMed. Dronabinol capsule, prescribing information (revised 11/2022): dosage, onset and duration, food effect. dailymed.nlm.nih.gov
- National Institutes of Health. Notice of information: establishment of a standard THC unit to be used in research, NOT-DA-21-049 (5 mg of THC). 2021-05-07. grants.nih.gov
- Vandrey R, Herrmann ES, Mitchell JM, et al. Pharmacokinetic profile of oral cannabis in humans: blood and oral fluid disposition and relation to pharmacodynamic outcomes. Journal of Analytical Toxicology. 2017;41(2):83-99. doi:10.1093/jat/bkx012
- Childs E, Lutz JA, de Wit H. Dose-related effects of delta-9-THC on emotional responses to acute psychosocial stress. Drug and Alcohol Dependence. 2017;177:136-144. doi:10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2017.03.030
- California Code of Regulations, Title 4, section 17304, THC concentration limits. law.cornell.edu
- Health Canada. Backgrounder: final regulations on new cannabis products. Government of Canada, 2019-06-14. canada.ca
- Colizzi M, Bhattacharyya S. Cannabis use and the development of tolerance: a systematic review of human evidence. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews. 2018;93:1-25. doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2018.07.014
- Vandrey R, Raber JC, Raber ME, et al. Cannabinoid dose and label accuracy in edible medical cannabis products. JAMA. 2015;313(24):2491-2493. doi:10.1001/jama.2015.6613
- PubChem. Tetrahydrocannabinolic acid, CID 98523 (molecular weight 358.5). National Library of Medicine. pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/98523
- PubChem. Tetrahydrocannabinol, CID 16078 (molecular weight 314.5). National Library of Medicine. pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/16078
Related: the edible dosage guide, the edible dosage calculator and how long to wait before taking more.
Educational dosing information from the sources cited. If you take medication, are pregnant or have a heart or mental health condition, ask a doctor first.
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