With all the other ways of introducing marijuana into the body (edibles, supplements, etc.), why is smokable marijuana prescribed? It just seems to be not healthy to me as you’re inhaling smoke, which cause all kinds of other health issues. Is there some benefit that smoking it has vs ingesting it?
In: Biology
https://herb.co/learn/happens-liver-eat-edibles/
Oral THC is less bioavailble than inhaled, but it’s more complicated than that.
Either oral THC or edibles is going to be delta-9 THC, and for the cast of inhalation, that’s mostly what it stays at in the body, but the liver will turn a minor % of it to 11-hydroxy-THC which is more potent and acts faster than delta-9 THC.
Oral delta-9 THC takes it into the digestive system. This is intake is slower than inhaled, but ALL of the THC first goes straight to the liver, where almost all of it transformed into the more potent 11-hydroxy-THC, which, once in the blood, is supposed to cause its effect faster than the delta-9 THC in the blood.
So, the oral path turns it into a similar, but notable different form. It is not well studied scientifically, but the 11-hydroxy-THC may not just be about speed and “potency”, but act differently in its nature and may act differently than what you need of it.
Before you ask, if you put it up your butt, it will probably stay delta-9 THC similar to if you’d inhaled it. But, feel free to try it and disagree.
There’s also the “new” delta-8 THC, oral or inhaled. There’s a lot of people saying it acts differently than marijuana’s delta-9 THC.
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