What You Should Know About THC Edibles

Long gone are the days of slacker stoners and scrappy, homemade spacecakes; in the last decade, weed has experienced a serious glow-up. As of 2025, half of US states have legalized recreational adult use and/or medical programs. In states like California, which was the first to legalize medical use 29 years ago, along with Colorado and Washington, which both legalized recreational adult use in 2012, cannabis culture is ubiquitous. Even with its current limitations, the nascent category has exploded into a multi-billion-dollar industry brimming with innovation and choices, from artisanal THC-infused confections to sodas or powders you can sprinkle into any drink of your choice. We’ve consulted experts to demystify this new terrain, but first, some necessary precautions:

Cannabis remains federally illegal and is still categorized as a Schedule I drug under the Controlled Substances Act of 1970; in some states, there are individuals who are serving time in prison for small-scale possession crimes. Given this inconsistency, use cannabis products containing THC (short for delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol) where its use is legal. In some instances, there are loopholes; the 2018 Farm Bill law permits states to allow vendors to sell legal hemp-derived products (see glossary below) because the THC therein is not extracted from the cannabis plant yet still elicits similar psychosomatic properties.

The fragmentation of this reality has made things exciting, confusing, and frustrating for the average individual who, when walking into a dispensary for the first time, is confronted with a wall of packages and detailed, jargony labels. Some due diligence is required to understand what happens when your cannabis goes down the hatch, but never fear. We tapped Dr. Riley Kirk, a PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences, cannabis educator, and author of Reefer Wellness, and Dr. Miyabe Shields, a PhD pharmaceutical scientist specializing in the structural biochemistry of the endocannabinoid system and co-founder of Network of Applied Pharmacognosy, to breakdown cannabis essentials.

What is THC?

THC “is the molecule produced by the cannabis plant that is responsible for most of its euphoric and therapeutic effects,” says Dr. Shields. Meanwhile, the terms sativa, indica, and hybrid refer to the genetic lineage/origin of cannabis species. There used to be a greater difference between these designations, but according to Shields, right now, the terms just describe differences in genetics. That said, these are the basics on the most common types:

Sativa

“Sativas are varieties of cannabis with long narrow leaves that typically take a long time to mature,” Dr. Kirk says. “Known for their uplifting effects that are more of a head high than a body high,” Kirk continues, “the effects are often attributed to unique chemistry like the presence of THCV (tetrahydrocannabivarin, a therapeutic non-psychosomatic cannabinoid best known as an appetite-suppressant along with other anti-inflammatory and anti-psychotic properties) and stimulating, aromatic compounds called terpenes [see more in glossary below].”