Dear Cheri,
Help! My homemade marijuana edibles make me sleepy but don’t get me buzzed. What am I doing wrong?
Donna
You aren’t necessarily doing anything wrong (although you might be). There are some people who simply always get sleepy when taking edibles, and if you are one of them, there won’t be much to do about it. That said, those people are in a minority, and there could actually be a preventable reason this is happening.
If your edibles are putting you to sleep but not giving you a buzz, one or more of the 3 factors discussed on this page could be at play, and if they are all at play, you could inadvertently end up making some super sleepy edibles.
Any of these factors can increase the sleep quotient of your edibles. Likewise, those who want to use edibles to help with insomnia should take note, as much as those who are trying to avoid it. This is the beauty of making your own edibles. It might take a while to get it dialed in, but you can customize them to your own individual needs.
If your homemade edibles are making you sleepy but not buzzed:
1. Your dosage might be too high. Dosing is the trickiest part of cannabis cooking because each person’s needs are different. For many people, too high an edibles dose immediately puts them to sleep, so one thing to try would be to adjust the dosage downward. My Free online edibles dosing class can help you get it dialed in.
2. The strain might not be right. In the old days, we used to say indicas were “sleepy” while sativas were “energetic.” We now know these generalities are not true and it is, in fact, each plant’s individual terpene and cannabinoid makeup that creates its effects. For instance, if you are cooking with a strain that is high in the terpene Linalool, the effects will be far more sedative than when cooking with one high in Limonene. A well-trained budtender should be able to help you choose. Terpenes and their effects and flavors is a topic I cover in greater detail in my comprehensive online course Cannabis Cooking for Home Cooks.
3. You might have over-decarboxylated. Decarboxylation, the process that converts THC-A into its psychoactive counterpart THC is an essential part of cannabis cooking, if you hope to get a buzz. But in cannabis that has been over decarbed, some of the THC will convert to CBN, a more sedative cannabinoid. For insomniacs, this can be a very good thing. For others, not so much. Check your oven temperature to make sure you are not over decarbing, or alternately use a device like the Ardent Nova Lift decarboxylator, which takes all the guesswork out of the process.
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