Have you ever wondered how long weed stays in the system? Ask An Expert! Dr. Markus Roggen will tell you all about it and more! This week is all about plant genetics and making sure you are getting the good stuff… into your system and out of it.
Welcome to Season 2, Episode 5 of Ask an Expert!
Season 2, Ask an Expert Episode 5 – You asked and he answered!
How is cannabis grown with no THC (CBD)? Doesn’t every flower produce pollen (at least cannabis flowers)?
These are two questions; how do you grow a cannabis plant without any THC or CBD. If the plant expresses THC or CBD depends on genetics. Through selective breeding, genetic engineering, and crossbreeding, you can bring the cannabis plant to a generation or genetic base where they do or do not express THC.
The second part of the question; does every flower produce pollen? No. Pollen is basically the plant equivalent of jizz, so, only the male plant would do that. The cannabis flowers that you smoke are female plants because, well… the male plants are not that fun. There are cannabis plants that are hermaphrodites so they have both male and female sexual organs on the same plant. They could but these are also plants that you don’t want in your grow. Pollen and cannabis production do not mix. Sorry.
How do you check your marijuana or weed to tell if it’s good when you buy it?
Ah! Finally a chemistry question! In all regulated States and countries where cannabis is sold, there are regulations for quality control. Cannabis is tested before it is sold but your question is how do you tell that the cannabis is still good? You have a few problems:
Problem 1 – The first problem is that normal cannabis testing leads to the destruction of the material so you can’t test it and consume it… so like you can’t have your cake and eat it. So you normally put cannabis into a container and a food processor, totally destroying the flower. You turn it into powder, extract it and then you inject it into a testing instrument. It’s gone. But you want to check it! For that, you need an instrument, one that shoots a laser beam to tell you how much THC is in the flower. This won’t destroy it, just squash it.
Problem 2 – You only know the cannabinoid concentration. For terpenes, these methods are not precise enough and there’s definitely no way of looking at the low levels of pesticides that might be of concern. You have to trust the regulation in your jurisdiction, that they test the cannabis correctly before you buy it
I am 14 years old. Will smoking weed ONCE ruin my developing brain?
I am getting hard questions now. The more you consume, the worse it is. The less you consume, the better it is. How about nothing? If there’s a medical use, sure. But, you’re 14. I don’t know anywhere that would be legal for recreational use… please don’t.
How long will one hit of weed stay in my system? I have a drug test in nine days and I am totally clean.
There is no general or exact rule. A good benchmark is after 14 days, cannabis shouldn’t be detectable in the system but there are exceptions. I know of one case where it was 10 months later and they still detected it. So how do you get cannabis out of the system? One tip, cannabis is stored in the fat cells; if you are losing weight, your body will also shed THC from those storages. So if you are trying to prepare for your drug test and losing weight, you definitely will pop.
Curious about something cannabis-related? Have you got a burning question for Dr. Markus Roggen? Tweet your questions using #askanexpert #askdrmarkus to be featured! Or…comment them below and stay tuned for next week’s episode of Ask An Expert!