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Table of Contents
- Understanding How Edibles Work In The Body
- What Factors Influence How Long THC Stays In Your System?
- Do THC Gummies Show Up On Drug Tests?
- What About Delta-8 THC?
- The Bottom Line On How Long THC Gummies Stay In Your System
If you’re enjoying a THC gummy, how long can you expect the THC itself to linger in your system? It’s an important question, especially if you need to take a drug test. THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, has a half-life of roughly 1 to 13 days, depending on how often you consume, but it can be detectable in your system for much longer than that. So what gives?
You can blame the wiggle room on the fact that cannabis edibles, like gummies, affect different people differently. That means the length of time that THC from a gummy remains in your system varies, thanks to all sorts of factors, from potency to dosage to individual metabolisms. Still, there are general guidelines that might be helpful, so let’s take a closer look.
Understanding How Edibles Work In The Body
Before we get into how long THC hangs out in your body, let’s back up for a quick look at the method of consumption. Eating a THC gummy, or any type of THC edible, is different from inhaling THC. Both deliver THC into the body, but ingested THC stays in your system longer than inhaled THC. Even after the psychoactive effects wear off, THC levels take time to drop, and how much time varies on factors we’ll cover below.
Here’s how ingested THC works. After it’s been chewed and swallowed, marijuana edibles make their way through your digestive system in a series of stages. In your stomach, they're broken down by digestive enzymes before moving to the small intestines, where most of the cannabinoids are absorbed into the bloodstream through the lining of your intestine.
From there, the cannabinoids pass into the liver, where something interesting happens. It’s known as first-pass metabolism, which means the THC is converted into a more potent form called 11-hydroxy-THC. It creates a longer-lasting, more intense effect than cannabis that’s been smoked or vaped.
This new, concentrated form of THC is then circulated throughout the body, which is when effects become noticeable. Depending on your metabolism, the effects may take anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours after you eat the gummy. But even after these psychoactive effects fade, THC metabolites in the body remain elevated. They're just no longer interacting with your brain. The time it takes for them to fully clear your bloodstream and fat stores varies, which we'll cover next.
What Factors Influence How Long THC Stays In Your System?
Effects from ingested THC are relatively short-lived when you consider how long THC metabolites stay in your system. And again, that timeframe varies, thanks to a handful of factors that play direct and indirect roles.
Potency and Dosage
Both have a direct influence on how long the THC will ultimately linger in your body. As you might have already guessed, higher potencies and dosages take longer to metabolize than lower potencies and smaller dosages. The more THC you consume, the more you have circulating in your system, and the longer it takes to fully clear.
A Cornbread Hemp THC Gummy, for instance, has 10mg of THC. It’s considered a moderate dose. Each gummy can be cut in half for a 5mg dose, which is a great starting place if you’re new to the psychoactive effects of THC or to THC edibles in general (pro tip: It’s an entirely different experience than vaping or smoking cannabis!).
You can generally expect to notice results within 30 minutes to 2 hours, and effects typically last between 3 and 4 hours. But as to how long the THC remains detectable in your system? Well, that's a different story. Consider the other things in play.
Metabolism
Your metabolism is another big player in how long THC will stay in your system. Some people simply metabolize THC more efficiently, which moves it through and out of their system more quickly.
Tolerance Level and Frequency of Use
Regular cannabis users are similar to people with high metabolisms. Frequent use often builds a higher tolerance level to THC, which means you metabolize it faster. That reduces the length of time it stays in your system.
But there’s a catch. It takes time to eliminate THC from the body. If you’re regularly using cannabis products, traces of THC can be detectable for extended periods because your body doesn't have sufficient time to clear it entirely.
Body Composition
Your body's muscle-to-fat ratio, as well as your body mass index (BMI), also influence THC metabolism. THC is fat-soluble, meaning it’s stored in body fat. The more body fat you have, the longer THC may linger, especially compared to someone with a lower body-fat percentage. That's because higher body fat concentrations often result in a slower metabolism of cannabis.
Females naturally tend to have a higher body fat percentage than males, which is why gender plays a potential role in how long THC stays in your system.
Other Factors
Like your body composition and gender, personal factors such as your hydration level, overall health, activity level and lifestyle, and genetics all affect how long edibles stay in your system. Being dehydrated, for example, can increase concentrations of THC in the body, while leading a very active lifestyle that burns fat means fewer areas for THC metabolites to be stored and flagged in drug tests. Clearly, there are a lot of things to consider when you’re wondering how long THC stays in your system.
Do THC Gummies Show Up On Drug Tests?
Most people searching for how long THC stays in the body are thinking about drug testing. That’s fair! While THC gummies are federally legal as long as they’re derived from hemp and contain no more than 0.3% THC by dry weight, legality varies from state to state.
It’s smart to be informed, and you’re right to assume that consuming edibles like THC gummies can mean a positive drug test. They can, and they do, but different types of tests are more sensitive than others.
Typical Detection Windows For THC In The Body
- Urine test: After you eat a THC edible, like a gummy, THC can be found in your urine between three and seven days. If you’re regularly eating THC gummies or another kind of cannabis edible, that timeframe can extend up to four weeks or even longer.
- Saliva test: After eating an edible, THC is detectable in your saliva up to about 72 hours later. But that depends on how much THC you ingested and how quickly your metabolism works.
- Blood test: In your blood, THC lingers between just a few minutes and up to about two days.
- Hair follicle test: This is where THC can be detected the longest, up to about 90 days.
What About Delta-8 THC?
Delta-8 THC is one of the 100-plus identified cannabinoids in the cannabis plant, but it’s found in trace amounts. Unlike the more prevalent and well-known Delta-9 THC, which is responsible for the signature “high” associated with cannabis, Delta-8 doesn’t impart a psychoactive effect. But it still shows up on most drug tests because its chemical structure is almost identical to Delta-9 THC. Both cannabinoids are broken down into the same compounds in the body, which are also screened for by drug tests.
In other words, don’t assume Delta-8 THC products are a smart alternative if you’re worried about drug testing. How quickly it’s metabolized in your system depends on the same factors, including potency, frequency of use, body composition, activity level, and general health.
And keep in mind that the natural scarcity of Delta-8 means it’s largely manufactured. The intensive process involves processing CBD through an acid bath, which produces concerning byproducts and increases the risk of harmful substances. Because Delta-8 THC products aren’t regulated, there are serious concerns about safety, purity, and strength.
You’re much better off with hemp-derived THC gummies, like those from Cornbread Hemp, which are third-party tested for safety and purity. They’re the only USDA-certified gummies in America, with a federally legal THC content of 10mg. Effects are nicely balanced with 10mg of CBD, or cannabidiol, for a mellow experience.
The Bottom Line On How Long THC Gummies Stay In Your System
There’s no single answer to how long THC from cannabis gummies stays in your system. There are just too many variables. Dosing, potency, frequency of use, body composition, metabolism, lifestyle factors, and the type of test you take all play a role.
To play it safe, it’s best to keep general timelines in mind. After eating a THC gummy, you can expect it to be detectable in your saliva for up to about 72 hours, in your blood for up to about 48 hours, in your urine between 3 and 30 days, and up to 90 days in your hair follicles. But whether you're on the high end or low end of those numbers depends on your habits and personal factors.
