Are Edibles Safer Than Smoking?

Cannabis-infused chocolate fountains are flowing at weddings. “Budtenders” are pouring cannabis cocktails. And as sales of edibles are trending up, cannabis brands are emphasizing the idea that the products might offer a healthier alternative to bongs or blunts.

“Edibles allow you to enjoy cannabis without the negative side effects of smoking,” reads the website of Kiva, which makes cannabis chocolate bars and fruit-flavored gummies.

Consumers are increasingly asking whether that’s the case, but the answer is complicated. There’s little research comparing the health effects of edibles and smoking head-to-head. What we do know so far largely comes from limited data, anecdotes and inferences from researchers and clinicians.

“There’s tons of nuance there,” said Ryan Vandrey, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins Medicine who studies cannabis. “You can’t black and white say edibles are safer than smoking, or smoking is worse than vaping — there are different risks for the different routes.”

Edibles are harder to dose

When someone smokes a joint, the high hits almost immediately and then fades within a few hours. But the cannabinoids in edibles take their time traveling through the gastrointestinal tract. It can take anywhere from 30 minutes to several hours for users to feel the effects, said Daniel Barrus, a pharmacologist at the nonprofit research organization RTI International. That timing can vary even for experienced cannabis consumers, because the contents of your stomach affect how quickly an edible kicks in, said Dr. Collin Reiff, a clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at the N.Y.U. Grossman School of Medicine.

As a result, consumers can end up nibbling an extra bite of a pot brownie or eating another gummy to feel more of an effect — and end up way too high when the drug finally kicks in, sometimes causing paranoia, delusions and panic attacks. These effects typically subside within hours, but people can have rapid, racing heart rates, leading some to seek medical attention.