CBD Gummies vs. THC Gummies
Long gone are the days in which your cannabis edible selection consisted of the handful of homemade brownies you might be able to find at a dispensary and whatever you could concoct in your own kitchen. In this modern age of online hemp, there are dozens of different CBD gummies to choose from, and even the THC edible market has expanded considerably over the last decade.
What are CBD gummies and THC gummies, and how are they different? Perhaps most importantly, can they be combined? Learn all about how THC and CBD gummies compare in this guide.
What are gummies?
In the supplement and natural health industry, the term “gummy” is commonly used to refer to edible products that have roughly the consistency of an average fruit snack. Fruit-flavored and often even shaped to resemble fruit, gummies can contain a wide variety of different active ingredients. They serve mainly to deliver active ingredients orally while bypassing potentially unwanted flavors.
What are CBD gummies?
CBD gummies are gummies that contain high concentrations of CBD-rich hemp extract. They are widely sold online, and they can contain a wide variety of different ingredients. The best CBD gummies you can buy contain 100% natural ingredients and are flavored with organic cannabis terpenes.
What do CBD gummies do?
CBD gummies deliver the relaxing, non-intoxicating effects of CBD with reasonable efficiency and intensity. The right CBD gummy will provide a powerful CBD experience that comes with an excellent flavor and zero ingredients with which you might take issue. Unlike THC gummies, CBD gummies do not get you high.
What are THC gummies?
THC gummies are more commonly called “edibles” and are (for the most part) only sold in medical and recreational cannabis dispensaries. They may contain similar ingredients to CBD gummies, but due to the significantly different legal statuses of CBD and THC, gummies containing THC are not sold online.
What do THC gummies do?
Especially for new and inexperienced users, THC gummies can provide a profoundly intense high that lasts for multiple hours. It all depends on the dose, though: A 5mg THC gummy won’t even get a newbie blitzed, but a 25mg THC gummy is enough to cause potent psychotropic effects even for habitual weed-smokers.
CBD & THC gummies compared
How are CBD and THC gummies similar and different? Find out how these two types of gummies compare across five separate categories:
— Ingredients
Over time, ingredient quality is normalizing between CBD and THC gummies, but it remains the case that you have access to a wider selection of products when you buy CBD gummies online. While there are also some excellent organic, live resin THC gummies out there, your chances of finding them depend entirely on where you live while anyone can buy CBD gummies online regardless of where they live in the country.
It can also be more difficult to check the ingredients of THC gummy products since they aren’t always listed online. If you have any questions about what’s in a THC gummy you’re considering, simply ask a budtender to show you the back of the package before you commit to a purchase.
— Effects
One of the most considerable differences between CBD and THC gummies is their respective effects. Put bluntly, THC gummies will get you high, but CBD gummies will not — as long as you buy them online.
Medical and recreational cannabis dispensaries often have their own versions of CBD gummies, which can contain cannabinoid profiles comprised of as much as 50% THC. CBD gummies you buy online, however, must contain 0.3% THC or less, ensuring they will provide an entirely non-intoxicating experience.
CBD and THC gummies are similar in their general range of effects. If you chew gummies, they might kick in slightly faster, but chewing up 10-50mg of either CBD or THC in gummy form will result in effects that kick in after around 30 minutes and last for 3-4 hours.
— Legality
Between the two, CBD gummies are considerably more legal than THC gummies. Like other CBD products that contain less than 0.3% THC, CBD gummies are generally considered industrial hemp under the 2018 Farm Bill, a largely unrestricted category of products widely sold on the internet.
THC, on the other hand, remains a federally illegal substance despite a growing majority of states standing in stark opposition to the official stance of the United States government. You can’t buy THC gummies online, and it can be illegal to take across state lines.
— Availability
Despite the rise of cannabis delivery websites in certain states, it remains a fact that THC products are harder to get than CBD products — sometimes even if you live where THC is legal. In Washington state, for instance, cannabis delivery is illegal despite cannabis being legal for adult use, so if residents want to get their hands on gummies with cannabinoids without leaving their homes, buying CBD (or delta 8) gummies online is the only option.
— Price
Depending on where you live, buying CBD gummies online could be the considerably cheaper option. In most cases, comparative pricing between CBD and THC products has stabilized over the last decade. Illinois and certain other states, however, have vastly inflated pricing for THC products, making it much more desirable to simply buy hemp gummies on the internet.
Are there gummies with both CBD and THC?
Now that we’ve compared CBD gummies and THC gummies, let’s tackle a question just as fundamental: Are there gummies with both THC and CBD? Yes, and they’re available in medical and recreational cannabis states.
Some gummies with both CBD and THC contain much higher concentrations of CBD than THC with ratios of 5:1 CBD:THC being the most common. It’s also still possible to find CBD/THC edibles with a 50/50 percentage split as well, but this arrangement isn’t used as often anymore.
Which are better: CBD gummies or THC gummies?
If you want to reliably get your hands on gummies that don’t get you high but still offer many of the benefits of cannabis, CBD gummies are the way to go. If you happen to live where THC is available and intoxication is more what you’re after, THC gummies should be your selection instead.
Then again, if you have the option of selecting either, you might prefer a combination of both CBD and THC gummies. Whether the two cannabinoids are combined into one gummy or you buy separate products with CBD and THC, using multiple cannabinoids together certainly seems better than using them alone.
CBD vs. THC gummy FAQ
What else might you like to learn about CBD and THC gummies?
1. What’s better for pain: CBD or THC?
The jury is still out regarding whether CBD or THC is better for pain. THC has seniority as a pain treatment, but its intoxicating properties are seen as a side effect, and its actual pain fighting potential may be considerably less than that of CBD.
Until we know more, it may simply be best to use both THC and CBD when possible — especially since it appears cannabinoids become more potent when they are used together. If you can only use one, though, you’re probably better off with CBD since it is both more available and most likely more effective for pain than THC.
2. What’s the difference between CBD gummies and edibles?
CBD gummies are simply edibles that won’t get you high. To separate them from connotations with cannabis, CBD treats have been called “gummies'' since the beginning. It’s perfectly reasonable to consider CBD gummies to be edibles, though, since they are, indeed, edible and contain cannabinoids.
3. What is the difference between hemp gummies and THC gummies?
If they are referred to as “hemp gummies,” edibles do not contain THC. As a regulatory category, “hemp” is generally considered to contain every cannabinoid aside from THC, and hemp gummies can contain CBD, CBG, CBN or even delta 8.
4. What are CBD + THC gummies good for?
People generally use gummies that contain both CBD and THC for chronic pain. For people who simply want to get high, CBD has a tendency to reduce the intoxicating effects of THC, so gummies containing both cannabinoids are not useful in this regard. Some people may simply want to use gummies that contain both CBD and THC because they like the effects.
5. What do CBD gummies make you feel like?
Taking CBD gummies should make you feel the same as any other CBD product — relaxed, a little sleepy, and not at all high. The effects of CBD gummies become stronger as you take higher doses, but you will never feel intoxicated, and CBD is generally believed to have very mild side effects.
6. How long does a CBD gummy last in your system?
If you only take a single gummy, all traces of CBD should be clear from your system within 3-5 days. The more CBD you take, though, the longer it stays in your system — along with any minor cannabinoids your CBD gummies may contain, including THC.
