How Long Does Cannabis Stay in Your System?
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How Long Does Cannabis Stay in Your System?

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Cannabis 101
Published On 22-10-2021

How Long Does Cannabis Stay in Your System

"There is no typical window of detection," says Ryan Vandrey, an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral science at Johns Hopkins University. "It is highly variable from person to person, and it varies based on the frequency of use and the amount of use. So there is no way of predicting or knowing how long someone would test positive with any certainty."

Although some say it can last for at least 1 to 30 days, the answer is not straightforward. Many drug tests have different sensitivity levels and periods to detect how long Cannabis stays in your system.

What Are The different Drug Tests Used to Detect Weed in Your Body?

Drug tests measure the amount of weed in your body by measuring the contents of weed residues or metabolites. These metabolites can remain in your body for long periods after the weed high has gone away. There are several methods by which you can track the residues. Some of the tests are given below:

  1. Urine Testing: Weed can be detected in your body by Urine testing. This can be detected after the following amount of time of last use:
  • Occasional Users (three times a week): 3 days
  • Moderate Users ( four times a week): 5 to 7 days
  • Chronic Users (Daily): 10-15 days
  • Chronic Heavy Users (Multiple Times a day): more than 30 days

Weed metabolites are fat-soluble, which gets attracted to fat molecules of the body, resulting in a long stay in your body. This testing method is considered the most common method.

  1. Blood Testing: This is the testing method that is used in the laboratory to indicate the recent use of weed. Weed is typically detectable in the blood for 1-3 days. But in some cases, it can be detectable after 25 days.

Weed can be detected in the bloodstream just seconds after inhalation. The weed, after inhalation, gets distributed in the tissues. In this way, some of the residues get reabsorbed by the blood and get broken down. Therefore the remains of the weed stay in the blood for days.

  1. Hair Testing: A Hair follicle can capture the remains of weed for up to 90 days. Weed residues travel through the small blood cells to the hair follicles. Therefore there are high chances to trace the amount of weed in the hair. Since hair grows approximately 0.5 inches per month, a 1.5-inch hair segment taken close to the scalp can provide a window of weed use for the past three months.
  1. Saliva Testing: You can detect the use trace of weed by tasting your saliva. Weed remains in the following amount of time after last use:
  • Occasional User: 1 to 3 days.
  • Chronic Users: 1 to 29 days.

After inhalation of weed, its metabolites are only found in the saliva, and weed can only enter the saliva through smoking and exposure to smoke. In the places where weed is legal, oral testing can be used to detect on the go, like if you're pulled over on the roadside by police.

It's also important to remember that "occasional" and "chronic" cannabis users each represent opposite sides of the usage spectrum, and most consumers would likely fall somewhere in the middle.

What factors affect how long it stays in your system?

Several factors can tell how long weed or Cannabis can stay in your body system. The several factors include:

  1. Regularity of consumption of Marijuana
  2. Quality of Marijuana you intake
  3. The body fat present in your body system
  4. The drug test sensitivity

Let's discuss it in detail so that you can understand it better. Some factors like your age, gender, and body mass index (BMI) can tell the duration of the stay of Marijuana not directly, but the way your body processes and metabolizes the drug can tell the duration. Other factors like intake of higher doses and more frequent use tend to increase the amount of time to eliminate Marijuana from your system.

Marijuana that has a higher value of THC can result in a much longer stay of this in your system.

How long does it take to feel the effects of weed in your system?

If you smoke, vape, or eat Marijuana, the effects are usually felt within 5-30 minutes. You can feel the sensation of being 'high.' Common effects that occur in the body system include the following:

  • Well-being
  • Relaxation
  • Sense of everything getting slow down
  • Sense of giggling or verbosity
  • Sense of increased appetite
  • Coordination problem
  • Drowsiness
  • Heaviness
  • Agitation
  • Fast heart rate
  • Dryness in mouth and lips
  • Craving for liquid things
  • Sense of skepticism
  • Puzzled or confused
  • Sense of being faint or sick
  • Anxiety or paranoia

If you are taking or consuming Marijuana regularly or having high doses, you can potentially face the following problems.

  • Hallucinations
  • Delusions
  • Psychosis
  • Memory loss
  • Learning Disability
  • Cardiovascular disease
  • Respiratory illness
  • Depression and Anxiety

How long does the effect of weed remain in your system?

Short-term consumption of weed doesn't stay for a long period of time. It stays for about 3-4 hours, but this depends on how frequently you consume. Researchers debate how long the effects of chronic use last. Long-term effects can last days, weeks, or months after weed use has ended.

FAQ's

What is the cutoff level for drug tests?

Drug testing cutoff levels can be measured in nanograms per milliliter (ng/ml). For example, an initial screening of Marijuana must show at least 50 ng/ml, and after that, confirmatory tests must prove at least 15 ng/ml.

What is hash oil used for?

Hash oil contains a high amount of THC, which is considered the main active chemical in Cannabis. Butane Hash oil is considered the main type of hash oil is very common in the market. These are highly potent forms of cannabis are used to smoke on top of cannabis flower or can be vaped, or smoked by itself with specific devices.

What does a 10-panel drug test for?

Standard 10-panel test: typically looks for cocaine, Marijuana, PCP, amphetamines, opiates, benzodiazepines, barbiturates, methadone, propoxyphene, & Quaaludes. 12-panel test: often administered as an extension to the 10-panel test.

What does inconsistent mean on Drug Tests?

Different drugs are found, but none of the prescribed drugs are detected, but at least one other drug, non-prescribed or illicit, is detected. No drugs are found, and none of the drugs prescribed for the patient are detected, and neither are any non-prescribed or illicit drugs. The illicit drug can badly affect the human body.

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