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The Disclaimer

Marijuana is illegal whether you smoke it or cook with it if you don’t have a prescription for it

Do not eat cannabis and drive. Do not drink and drive. Hell, don’t bother driving at all if you can help it, because it puts unnecessary wrinkles on your face.

Know your tolerance, whether you have never tried pot or have been using copious amounts for years. The first time you try eating cannabis-laced food you should eat just a small amount and wait for an hour and a half. At that point you will be feeling the effects of the THC; take note of how you feel and the next time you ingest, adjust the dosage. Always eat the amount recommended in each of the recipes, not more. Eating marijuana gives the same effects as smoking it, but often lasts two or three times longer, which you should keep in mind at all times.

Don’t eat pot on an empty stomach. Sure, some people will tell you it’s better on an empty stomach but in my opinion it’s best to have something to eat beforehand. Even a glass of milk is a good start. Having something in your stomach seems to help prevent you from eating too much or getting hit too hard. To quote Martha Stewart, “It’s a good thing.”

You must be patient; don’t just keep eating your medicated pasta until you feel the effects. I can’t say this enough: it will take a while for it to hit you. Make very sure that when you get the munchies you don’t eat more. Please do not create a six- or eight-course Italian feast and have every dish include some form of pot. The dishes in this book are designed for consumption with other dishes that don’t contain cannabis. If you’re making an eight-course extravaganza based on the courses outlined in this book, just have one course include a cannabis-laden dish. Care must be exercised, as the delayed response time when eating pot can encourage overdosing in people who are not used to ingesting marijuana. If you eat too much pot you can feel very rough; experiencing panic and anxiety reactions is bad enough, but you can also have to endure physical discomfort, too.

Absorption of THC though the stomach is slower than through the lungs, which is why you need to be patient. It can take well over an hour and a half to be absorbed into the body and for you to feel “high.” THC gets absorbed at a different rate every time you eat it. The effects of eating cannabis can last several hours, while they tend to wear off within an hour when smoked. If you fall asleep or pass out please remember that your digestion will slow down, which means you could wake up still high.

Make no mistake, you can eat far too much pot and the results of that are unpleasant, to say the least. If you do have a dose that is really too high, it can last a long time, possibly as long as ten hours. This is not as fun as it sounds; if you’re in the wrong place or with the wrong people it can become very upsetting and you can even pass out. Pot is meant to be fun and relaxing, and dizziness, sweating, nausea, vomiting, possible crying and freaking out are definitely not fun.

If you do eat too much there are a couple of things you can do. Stay low to the ground, to avoid nasty head rushes, and try taking a high dose of vitamin C (200mg or more) to help to make you feel better. You can also try eating something relatively heavy—a slice of pizza rather than a salad—or something quite sugary. The best antidote is to crawl into bed and go to sleep.

You, as the consumer, have responsibility in three areas: your situation, health and safety. The situational responsibilities include the avoidance of risky situations, not using it when you’re alone and not using it because someone persuasive talked you into it. Health responsibilities include not eating too much or mixing it with other drugs, attentiveness to all the possible health consequences of drug use and not using a drug recreationally during periods of excessive stress in order to self medicate. If you are self-medicating, in my opinion you have a problem that eating pot isn’t going to help. Safety-related responsibilities include using the smallest dose necessary to achieve the desired effects, using only in laid back surroundings with supportive friends and not doing anything ridiculous like operating heavy machinery after eating pot.

I am highlighting responsible drug use as a chief prevention technique in my personal harm-reduction drug policy and because I care. We all want to enjoy pot, so just don’t be stupid and have fun!