and I can only quote, not respond as someone with direct knowledge (but Backes is very involved with cannabis-based MS medicine and very science-based, not anecdote-based, in response to the doctor who has talked about juicing...



...so he says raw cannabis THC is not as available as when it's already been chemically activated by heat extraction, it seems.

beyond that, it's interesting that, upon heating, THCA decarboxylates to THC - if this is done by smoke, the effect is immediate. If this is done by cooking/ingestion, the effect takes up to an hour - and the intoxication is different because, in the liver, delta-9-tetrahydracannabinol is metabolized into 11-hydroxy-tetrahydracannabinol (a metabolite), while smoking converts THCA into delta-9 and acts directly on the nervous system without liver metabolization - tho, immediately after smoking, THC, too, begins conversion to 11-THC as a metabolites in the bloodstream - which is noticeable an hour after, just as eaten cannabis takes about an hour to take effect. 11-THC is further broken down to the non-psychoactive 11-COOH-THC - which is the metabolite that stays in the body for days or weeks as it is slowly excreted - and this is the metabolite that identifies marijuana use in urine tests.

11-COOH-THC also mediates the effects of THC itself - which is one possible explanation for differences in intoxication between heavy/long time users and those who use cannabis infrequently - iow - the reason people feel higher if they use less often is because their body does not contain the metabolite 11-COOH-THC to dampen the effect of THC itself. This slow release (and dampening effect) is also why THC does not act upon people in the way something like heroin does - physiologically, cannabis provides its own "weaning" - unlike drugs of addiction - while the psychological desire would have to do with the pleasure of the effect of THC, but not, again, from a physical impulse - but the psychological desire would have lesser returns with more use, so there's no reward for such desire through increased use - and, in fact, such reward would be thwarted by constant use.

(This may also explain why those who are heavier users of THC are better drivers than those who use cannabis infrequently.)

At low levels, 11-THC produces drowsiness/a good night's sleep. At high levels, 11-THC can produce hallucinations. It's more likely that eating would produce these high levels because people are more likely to eat larger doses because they can't titrate as accurately as they can with smoked cannabis.

As a metabolite - 11-COOH-THC continues some anti-inflammatory action in the body